Writer's Block

Thanks, in part, to a new post by Ben Goldacre my "writer's block" has been cured.

Below is the first and only page of a paper by Dennis Upper from 1974:

The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer's block”

According to PubMed Central this paper has been cited only once, in 2007, in another seminal paper by a collaboration of researchers from around the World.

I encourage you to take the time to read both papers in full.

Is this big enough for you?

Is The Economist becoming radicalised? Or was J.F. just stating the obvious yesterday when, wondering why conservative Americans "lament the loss of the America they grew up in," they tagged conservatismǂ and racism as currently inseparable

I tend to agree with the sentiments in the above article. Conservatives can readily be viewed as a group who are "loss[ing] of their own social privilege" and trying to claw it back.

This idea ties in very nicely with a post today, by W.W., and shows just how this idea of social privilege is perpetuating World problems.

In summary W.W. is replying to an an article by the USC's Neal Gabler (seemingly the sociologists' everyman) which claims that: "Big ideas are almost passé."

In a wonderful rebuff W.W. quotes an article by NYU economist Michael Clemens which argues that "barriers to emigration place one of the fattest of all wedges between humankind’s current welfare and its potential welfare."

Unsung Heroes

The BBC is running a short series on scientists at the moment. More Tribes of Science follows The Tribes of Science, looking at the variety of scientists hidden behind the labcoats and coloured liquids.

Among others the Scientists of the Diamond Light Source, an interest of mine, take the spotlight for one episode. I encourage you to listen to the series.

The past week's episode featured The Statisticians.

Ubuntu Tinkerings 1: Zotero, NTFS and missing devices.

Recently, following a hiccup with my Internet connection, I decided to completely reformat my laptop and start again*.

I use a 3 partition system: An ext3 (now ext4) primary partition containing Ubuntu; an NTFS primary partition containing Windows 7; and an extended partition containing my swap partition and an NTFS data store.

Following the reinstall I encountered a couple of problems setting up Ubuntu.

Preyed Upon

The BBC has recently reported how a Mac owner recovered his laptop by using Hidden. Hidden, however, costs $15 per year (just over £9), and can cost up to $400 for a more comprehensive service.

What the Beeb fails to mention is that there is a program that does this for free, on most operating systems (including android mobile phones).

This program is called Prey.

AV Facts

Earlier this month I attended the UCL AV Debate. Blogs about the debate are available from the Grauniad and the organising UCL Constitution Unit; I will let you read these for yourself.

More importantly, 1 week from today you will be going out to vote (hopefully). If you are reading this you've probably decided whether to vote Yes, or No.

But if you want more info I will provide the executive summary of a brief by Dr. Alan Renwick and the Political Studies Association. Dr. Renwick was not the most eloquent speaker at the debate, but, like all good academics, he had brought his reference list, and proceeded to explain why both campaigns are lying to the electorate. The following summary contains most of his points:

Driven to Distraction

On 1st December 2003 a law came into effect in the UK making the use of a hand-held mobile phone illegal while driving. The law covers all communication equipment other than "two-way radio", and most uses of such equipment including video calls, internet access and text messages.

At the time the law allowed police to issue £30 fines, this rose to £60 in 2007.

Despite this 20% of drivers admit to having texted while driving, despite texting being perceived as the most dangerous distraction while driving. The true number is probably much higher; would you readily admit to committing a driving offence?