It turns out that the less control a person feels, the more likely they are to see patterns or make connections that don't exist. The good news is there is a way to fortify yourself against this sort of hard-wired self-deception.

Insecure Minds Wired for Pattern-Finding : Discovery News

Conservatives and liberals leave behind distinct "behavioral residue" that can be picked up by savvy scientists and possibly other observers, according to the study by New York University psychologist John Jost and his colleagues. The results are set for publication in a forthcoming issue of the journal Political Psychology. nullnull

Conservative or Liberal? Workspace Reveals All | LiveScience

Sources told CNBC that, last week, officials with the world's largest shoe and apparel maker told college swim coaches who they have contracts with, that the company would no longer be developing the latest and greatest for championship swimmers. Those suits, for obvious reasons, are used by swimmers at the majority of top programs whose coaches have a Nike contract.

Nike Pulls Out of Olympic Swimwear Battle - Sports Biz with Darren Rovell - CNBC.com

Induces that dull pain at the back of the head that I believe to be the result of brain cells crawling away to die of embarrassment.

10% !

My Best Friend's Girl Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

"It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is — from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to ... to our state," she said.

Oh, again, no. Planes take a great circle path. They would have no cause to enter Alaskan airspace unless they're going to Alaska... and why would they do that?

Palin defends Alaska-Russia foreign policy remark - Yahoo! News

Their work forces are of similar size and composition. Employees perform roughly the same tasks: operating trains, punching tickets and maintaining tracks.

And yet in one area — debilitating illness and injury — the difference is so vast as to almost defy medical explanation.

One example: disabilities resulting from arthritis and rheumatism. From 2001 through 2007, Metro-North had 32 cases, compared with 753 at the L.I.R.R. In one year, Metro-North had just 2 cases. The L.I.R.R. had 118.

For certain diseases of the musculoskeletal system, like a herniated disc, Metro-North had 49 cases. The L.I.R.R. had 850.

No one at the two railroads, at the transportation authority or at the Railroad Retirement Board could explain these gaping differences, nor were they even aware of them.

A Disability Epidemic Among a Railroad’s Retirees - NYTimes.com

A side-by-side comparison of the language changes on Obama's Technology position. Not good... and do they imagine there is not versioning software out there to highlight this? These are not just linguistic changes.

But then again, I guess he's running on Change...

Versionista: Page comparison

"There are certain limits on swimming speed that are imposed irrespective of power," explains Iosilevskii. One of these is the frequency at which the swimmers can beat their tails to propel themselves forward.

The other is the formation of microscopic bubbles around the tail, a phenomenon known as "cavitation". According to Iosilevskii and Weihs, for animals such as dolphins that have nerve endings in their tails, cavitation can be the most important limiting factor.

Dolphins swim so fast it hurts - life - 28 March 2008 - New Scientist

Dartmouth professor says economic crisis is all the Valley's fault

My dad made Valleywag... how weird is that. He now has a tag, even.

Meltdowns: Dartmouth professor says economic crisis is all the Valley's fault

Mention a name or theme -- Brett Favre, the Patriots under Belichick, Lance Armstrong's comeback, Venus and Serena -- and anyone who cares about sports can have a very sophisticated discussion about the ins and outs and myth and realities and arguments and rebuttals.

People who don't like sports can't do that. It's not so much that they can't identify the names -- they've heard of Armstrong -- but they've never bothered to follow the flow of debate. I like sports -- and politics and tech and other topics -- so I like joining these debates. On a wide range of other topics -- fashion, antique furniture, the world of restaurants and fine dining, or (blush) opera -- I have not been interested enough to learn anything I can add to the discussion. So I embarrass myself if I have to express a view.

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.

James Fallows (September 12, 2008) - The Palin interview (Politics)