Psychology and Crime News (A blog CSI lovers will like!)

Everyone of my long time readers is well aware of my obsession with Forensics-here is a blog that about crime and psychology. The best part of the blog is the blogroll which lists a number of Psy blogs I was unaware of. What follows is a post of the third most famous scientific experiment from psychology!

Psychology and Crime News Blog Archive British replication of the Stanford Prison Experiment - new publications:

"Back in December 2001 British social psychologists Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher conducted a replication of Philip Zimbardo's classic Stanford Prison Experiment.

Fifteen male participants were divided into prisoners and guards and kept in a specially constructed prison for eight days, in order to explore theoretical ideas about the psychology of power and resistance, tyranny and order.

The whole experiment was filmed by the BBC and broadcast in the BBC2 programme. The Experiment. The study was controversial, not only from an ethical standpoint, but also because it challenged many of the original Stanford findings, and Reicher and Haslam had to devote a fair amount of energy to defending themselves."

Prayer making heart patients sick!

Like we needed more proof that god does not exist...
Karma/prayer are all religious convictions and by defintion that makes them superstitions.

Sploid: Prayer making heart patients sick!:

"In the largest study of its kind, the Templeton Foundation has shown that prayer does nothing to aid those undergoing heart surgeries.

In fact, if a patient knows he's being prayed for, that very knowledge leads to a jump in complications.

A group of 1,800 patients were divided into three camps: those who knew they were being prayed for, those who knew they might be prayed for and were, and those who knew they might be prayed for and didn't get any prayers. "

Surprising Food Expiration Dates.

Question: "Is this luncheon meat any good?"

My answer: " Um...I don't think luncheon meat should have a head."

Re-question: "So I should probably just ditch it then, huh?

Me: "Well ya, just make sure you don't wake it up."

A handy, who-knew guide for 77 foods, beauty products, and household goods. (source: Fark.com)

With help from experts and product manufacturers, Real Simple has compiled a guide to expiration dates. These dates are offered as a rough guideline. The shelf lives of most products depend upon how you treat them. Edibles, unless otherwise indicated, should be stored in a cool, dry place. (With any food, of course, use common sense.)

Household cleaners also do best in a dry place with a stable temperature. After the dates shown, beauty and cleaning products are probably still safe but may be less effective.

Demonstrators bring France to a standstill over youth employment law

NOBODY should get fired just cuz they suck at they Job.Go team France! And the French youth are gonna make sure it happens!

CBC News: Demonstrators bring France to a standstill over youth employment law


In France, systematized revolt! (story by CSM)

Source: Sploid!

Anonymity complete GUIDE

Anonymity complete GUIDE:

"Nowadays, everyone wants privacy on the web, because no matter where you go, someone could be watching you. Someone like your employer, someone trying to hack your system, companies gathering all your info to sell to yet other companies, or even the government, may be on your track while you peacefully surf the web. Thus, anonymity on the web means being able tu use all of its services with no concern about someone snooping on your data. "

Sploid: America hates atheists

Sploid: America hates atheists

The Drug Nazi is back!

I was one of the original readers of this blog and
it was quite a funny blog.

One day it went quiet. Then quite inexplicably, The Drug Nazi started it back up again. And then he changed his name to the Drug Monkey.

If you enjoyed the original Self Help Center's humor i.e. bagging on clients and your worksite then you might like ...

Your Pharmacist May Hate You.

The Future Of Presidential Politics, more on the movement to end the Electoral College system!

The Future Of Presidential Politics:

"The latest effort to do away with the Electoral College is one that could have legs. Detractors have been around since the dawn of the Republic. The split decision between the national popular vote and the Electoral College in the 2000 election gave these folks fuel. And 2004 was only half of a football stadium away from a similar circumstance, flipping Republicans to the short end of the electoral vote stick. "

A proposal to get "rid" of the Electoral College

Electoral College Drop-Out -

It goes without saying as a true "democrat" I support any attempt at ending this archaic nonsense.

"Intriguingly, another solution is now in the offing, one that ingeniously circumvents the Electoral College without actually getting rid of it. It's the brainchild of John Koza, a computer scientist and Stanford professor who has been fascinated with the Electoral College ever since he invented a computer game based on it in the mid-1960s.

It has been embraced by electoral reform groups including Common Cause and the Center for Voting and Democracy, and championed by a handful of prominent elder statesmen including Birch Bayh, the Indiana Democrat; John Anderson, the Illinois Republican turned independent presidential candidate; and our very own Tom Campbell, the former Republican congressman and economic adviser to Governor Schwarzenegger.

Here's how it works: The Constitution says that states have to appoint a slate of electors to the Electoral College, but it does not specify how they appoint them.

As Antonin Scalia pointed out somewhat sinisterly in the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore ruling, voting for the president on a state-by-state basis has come about by tradition, not by constitutional fiat. The Constitution in fact makes no provision for a right to vote at all. "

Play around with an electoral map here.

Human quadrupeds! Part Duex!

More controversy has been stirred up about the my favorite 4 legged family according to the folks at Mind Hacks.

There are now claims that the family was paid off, "and that other scientists weren't allowed access to the family members and tempers are starting to fray."

Nothing scarier than fraying tempers from scientists of the biological ilk I'd say. I used to date a biology major and whenever I brought up a threesome, she would punch me in the belly.

Here are some more tasty links:

Link to post and discussion on Carl Zimmer's The Loom
(see point 3).

Link to coverage of the story on World Science

200 yahoo searchers a night can't be wrong, This is your complete source of Quadrepeds info!!

Mind Hacks: Consciousness exists to make itself unnecessary

Mind Hacks: Consciousness exists to make itself unnecessary

This is my favorite kind of animal...

All six of my readers know me as an animal hater. That's just not true. Sure I despise most of 'em like: pigs, dogs, cats, cows. But it's also true that some animals have their place. Like monkeys who shoot pistols and and headless chickens being headless ( and chicken).

Sure I like to eat a few animals, I mean...I can't tell you how many I have eaten just today. All 7 of my meals had at least one animal in it. Ancient peoples often worshiped the divine sacrifice that an animal's life gave to them as they devoured it, I like to buy ground beef and just wash it down the garbage disposal for the hell of it.

But I just saw a story on a medical practice in the news that really disturbed me. It was about a vet who gives cats kidney transplants. I know what you're thinking...jeez there must be some controversy here, and you'd be right:

"Pet kidney transplant does not come without controversy, though. Animal rights groups say it's a violation of the donor animal because its organs are taken without its permission."

That's the fucking controversy?

"These cats don't give their consent to have their kidneys removed, nor have they given consent to be research subjects at UC Davis," said Animals Protection Institute spokeswoman Michelle Thew."

Maybe we can just get them to sign a release form, make it easy get on them and get them to sign up as organ donors when the cat gets his license.

Fuck. If my kidneys went to shit, I wouldn't even get a transplant. And we are seriously spending resources on animals with a two week life cycle? I am not an open advocate for terrorism, but if was on the jury of the guy who burned down this lab, I 'd let him go. That's all I'm saying.

Human quadrupeds discovered in Turkey - Yahoo! News

Human quadrupeds discovered in Turkey - Yahoo! News:

"Researchers believe the five brothers and sisters, who can walk naturally only on all fours, may provide new information on how humans evolved from four-legged hominids to walk upright."

"He believes the siblings, who range in age from 18 to 34, are evolutionary throwbacks—a "missing link" to our forebears. (Related reading: "Was Darwin Wrong?")"

Proud to be your source for world news of 4 legged humans!

Here is the the National Geographic page which talks about the special airing on the BBC. And here is another article from the Times!

Related stories:

(See "Fossil Pushes Upright Walking Back 2 Million Years, Study Says.")

Americans are stupid!

BBC NEWS World Americas Simpsons 'trump' First Amendment:

"Americans know more about The Simpsons TV show than the US Constitution's First Amendment, an opinion poll says.

Only one in four could name more than one of the five freedoms it upholds but more than half could name at least two members of the cartoon family."

ScienceDaily: People Use Separate Brain Mechanisms To Make Ambiguous And Risky Choices

ScienceDaily: People Use Separate Brain Mechanisms To Make Ambiguous And Risky Choices:

"Distinct regions of the human brain are activated when people are faced with ambiguous choices versus choices involving only risk, Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered."