“So they mutilated your genitals, why are you still afraid?” says US Government
Thursday, March 20th, 2008It claims that female genital mutilation is no basis for allowing asylum claims, as once the mutilation has already occurred, there is no reason to believe that you would be further persecuted.
Make jihadists community college students, not suicide bombers
Sunday, March 16th, 2008Here’s the math:
About 1.8 million Islamic Jihadists (although only about 300,000-400,000 on the government list)
About 1 Trillion for the war (conservatively)
$1 trillion/1.8 million = $555,555 each
That’s enough to get a Mullah to retire and move to Scottsdale.
Bullying and Harrassment in the Restaurant Industry Bork Bork Bork
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008When in Sweden, show your waiter some love: they may be bullied by other restaurant employees. Mathisen et al. report that workplace bullying is a serious problem in the Scandinavian restaurant industry, with significant societal consequences.
The Swedish Chef (click photo for link to Muppet Wiki)
Scand J Psychol. 2008 Feb;49(1):59-68. The occurrences and correlates [...]
(Updated) Lorcaserin - probably the “Chevy” of weight loss meds, but victim of “truthiness”?
Monday, March 10th, 2008Is this a perfect drug? No. From an industry perspective, this is the perfect storm: you have the market data already. You know how big the market is. You know pretty much about any other side effects (except the heart binding, which is eliminated). You know market acceptability. You know safety and efficacy — if the heart receptor binding is eliminated.. . . And, you know mode of action, pretty much — that’s better than 90% of the drugs out there that work, but we have no idea why. The FDA and medical establishment still seems to think that body fat deposition is predominantly a matter of lifestyle choice — and so they are “eat less exercise more” focused rather than on getting this anti-obesity med throught the clinic and reversing the diabetes tidal wave.
And, you have virtually no competition in probably the largest therapeutic area ever (but who knows what’s coming up on the heels of lorcaserin.)
Your family is more likely to pull the plug if they’re happy with the ICU
Friday, March 7th, 2008Say you’re on life support, and, you are just racking up the ICU bills. Will your family be a little too enthusiastic in pulling the plug?
The hospital admin knows these bills won’t get paid, since the debt dies with the debtor, in most cases. So what do they do? The butter up your [...]
The “Clinton Neuron” and why Pamela Anderson should get a cabinet post
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
The Clinton Neuron
Neurodemocracy, you gotta love it. Branding, celebrity and politics — all evoke neurological responses in primitive brain areas. How can the candidates best position themselves to have the best neurological response in swing voters?
I have some advice. Free! For Senator Clinton, first, promise Pamela Anderson a cabinet post.
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The Neuropolitics of Hillary: Stay at home moms penalize successful women
Thursday, March 6th, 2008[I'm reposting this post from 01.26.08 in view of the democratic elections - see what you think - Swivelchair]
One of my litmus tests for people is to see how they react to Senator Clinton: if there is irrational hostility and negative attributional bias (not based on any knowledge of the substance of her positions), I [...]
Airborne® lawsuit settlement - once you find out something doesn’t work.
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008Being in the biopharma business, I’m always amazed at the direct-to-consumer adverts on TV. It looks like unmitigated chutzpa to me, to advertise that you can get rid of stubborn belly fat or that you apply directly to forehead. Now, I feel a little vindicated. Except I wonder if taking away hope that a [...]
A Few of My Favorite Things - Select Posts from Research Blogging Members
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Raindrops on Roses by leobaby 727 on Flickr
Some selected posts from others in Research Blogging that I found of particular interest (thank you fellow bloggers):
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Mistake in DOI cites report on lap dancing rather than white collar crime
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008In a previous post about white collar crime, somehow the”DOI’s” got mixed up on Research Blogging and the following study was cited instead:
MILLER, G., TYBUR, J., JORDAN, B. (2007). Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by lap dancers: economic evidence for human estrus?☆☆. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(6), 375-381. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.06.002
I think this is the [...]
If men did equal housework employers wouldn’t have this problem.
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Professor Henry Higgins:
Noted Wonderer of “Why Can’t A Woman Be More Like A Man?”Whereas the More Economically Efficient Question Would Be “Why Can’t A Man Be More Like A Woman?”
Selmi, M.L. (2008). The Work-Family Conflict: An Essay on Employers, Men and Responsibility. University of St. Thomas Law Journal, 1(1), 1-24.
SSRN suggested citation: Selmi, [...]
How powerful people avoid criminal labels: steroids, backdating and stolen museum artifacts
Monday, February 18th, 2008Jose Canseco, the noted baseball player and author of “Juiced“, was busy as a bee pollinating major league baseball with knowledge and practices for steroid and growth hormone use. (Here’s the link on Docuticker). This strikes me as similar to the stock option backdating scenario — interlocking boards of directors and using the [...]
Supermax is the new normal
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008Hartman, K.E., “Supermax Prisons in the Consciousness of Prisoners,” The Prison Journal 88: 169-176 (2008) DOI: 10.1177/0032885507311001
The US prison system has over 7,000,000 prisoners participants, with about 2MM incarcerated at any given time. [thank you "jak-king" (what a nom-de-internet -- is that "car jak king"?) for the correction 02.14.08][New 03.01.08: about 1 in 100 people [...]
A “How’s My Driving?” For Everyone, For Everything
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
I lurve Social Science Research Network, and this is why: a paper proposing doing away with many laws, in favor of a “How’s My Driving?” system for everyone and everything.
Strahilevitz, Lior, “‘How’s My Driving?’ for Everyone (and Everything?)” . NYU Law Review, Vol. 81, p. 1699, November 2006 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=899144
Full abstract after the [...]
NYT: This is your brain on NASDAQ
Friday, February 8th, 2008 “Dopamine Futures” original art by Swivelchair
(all rights, if any totally waived, copy it all you want).
If you compare a screen shot of on-line gambling with a screen shot of on-line stock trading, they look very similar. That is probably because humans are hard wired for rewards — if you hunt and are successful, [...]
Why Microsoft is a Dysfunctional Narcissist acting like IBM from the ’70s, and Yahoo is an enabler, but Google knows what is going on and so Microsoft is smearing it
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008Boy was that Scientific American article on good v. evil companies timely. So, after being branded as the “evil empire” for years, why am I again repeating this? Because Microsoft is positioning itself as a victim. It is not. Microsoft is an evil narcissist. IMO.
Narcissus
Over the years, Microsoft has forced me to pay [...]
Neuro review: Do All Companies Have to be Evil?: Scientific American
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008Do All Companies Have to be Evil? Enron, Google and the evolutionary psychology of corporate environments, By Michael Shermer, Scientific American Mind February 2008
If you are at all interested in workplace psychology, read this article, it is great.
I’ve tried to articulate what goes wrong in corporations, but Mr. Shermer puts it all together, and [...]
“Neuromarketing Blog” - New Blogroll Link
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Neuromarketing Blog is a blog (affiliated with NeuroscienceMarketing.com) that I try to catch once or twice a week. Professional, polished and clear, its a quick way to scan the neuromarketing up-to-the-minute news.
I’m in the biopharma business, and sometimes deal with marketing or sales folks — so strictly speaking, marketing is not my line [...]
Neuromarketing: Neural Correlates of Conspicuous Consumption in Groups Vulnerable to Social Injustice
Sunday, January 27th, 2008There are lots of studies as to why people purchase luxury goods, but these are mostly directed at individuals in isolation. What about group behavior?
Manhattan, Harlem, Lenox Ave.
Ray Fisman, an economist, has an interesting article in Slate about why African-Americans (and other ethnic minorities) in the US spend disproportionately on status-seeking items. As quoted in [...]
The Neuropolitics of women: Stay at home moms penalize successful women
Saturday, January 26th, 2008One of my litmus tests for people is to see how they react to Senator Clinton: if there is irrational hostility and negative attributional bias (not based on any knowledge of the substance of her positions), I figure that person has a whole bunch of hostility somewhere, and tend to avoid them. And I’m [...]
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