This morning when leaving the Munich underground, I could hear Ivan – the best accordion player in the world. There are numerous videos at YouTube, so listen if you like Continue reading Ivan Hajek – there is no better accordion player
Category Archives: Joke
Our lives are unrepeatable experiments lacking a control
a prosaic quotation from the recent Nature correspondence section that highlights why genetics has been leading us into nowhere.
Our lives are unrepeatble experiments lacking a control. Myriad external factors interact with genetic and epigenetic factors and with chance to determine whether we are well or ill, smart or dull, successes or failures.
Yea, yea.
Fail!
The non-scientific world doesn’t have any problem to show failure. Have a look at
failblog.wordpress.com
www.doingitwrong.com
www.shipmentoffail.com
Why is failure of science Continue reading Fail!
If pigs could fly
is a book that I am currently reading. There is also a brief German/English account how this sentence came into life. What the hell did you expect when reading the title??
Something like “winners don’t punish”? A smart letter in this week’s Nature with the 3 options of Cooperation(C) – Defection (D) and Punishment (P)?
"nice people" player 1: C C C C player 2: C C C C top payoff! "punish and perish" player 1: C P P P P player 2: C D D D D extremely bad! "turning the other cheek" player 1: C C C C C player 2: D D C C C payoff still positive!
we should have known this earlier…
Addendum
link to an earlier post here on “tit for tat”
link to “vengeance is ours” at Edge
link to “sermon on the mount”
Central limit theorem
The central limit theorem states that a sum of independent identically distributed random variables (lets say allele counts in genomewide association scans) of finite variance will be approximately normally distributed. Unfortunately the maximum of the distribution will not reflect the true value … or did I get it wrong?
I am number eight
The trouble with coauthors, a wonder poem
I am not sure exactly
how I came to be where I am,
number eight among eleven authors…
The full text is at the link above, yea, yea.
Why blog writing is something different from writing a paper
This may be obvious, at least if you have read Daniel Gilbert
In 2002, Jane Ebert and I discovered that people are generally happier with decisions when they can’t undo them. When subjects in our experiments were able to undo their decisions they tended to consider both the positive and negative features of the decisions they had made, but when they couldn’t undo their decisions they tended to concentrate on the good features and ignore the bad.
When reading my own writings a second time, I always discover typing errors, crude sentences, and other poor habits – blogs as snapshots of less happier minds?
Edge Question wrong
Here comes the second comment on the Annual Edge Question 2008.
When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that’s theology.
When facts change your mind, that’s science.
What have you changed your mind about? Why?
I would have done it in a different way: Continue reading Edge Question wrong
Lazy option is best
It is always a tough decision when to start a research project. The research question is often obvious for a long time but when should you go for it? Or continue waiting if somebody else is doing all this work and write Continue reading Lazy option is best
thcs n phrmctcl cmpns
Thr r stll tw rmrkbl pcs frm th lst yr hr n my dsk – n s bk rvw by Dr. Jrm Kssrr (th frmr NJM dtr) nd th scnd s bt bk by Dr. Rchrd Smth (th frmr BMJ dtr – s nly Dr. Rchrd Hrtn frm th Lnct s mssng frm ths lst f th mst nflntl mdcl dtrs drng th pst dcd).
Wht mks m wndr tht bth dtrs hv rthr crtcl ccnt n phrmctcl thcs. Dr. Kssrr s wrtng n pn Mdcn Continue reading thcs n phrmctcl cmpns
Baut Eure Städte an den Vesuv
If computers don’t lie, here are some stats for 2007: I read Continue reading Baut Eure Städte an den Vesuv
Punch line
I have seen the first user looking here for the BMJ Christmas edition already 2 weeks ago — clearly the annual highlight in the biomedical world since 2000. But only today, the 2007 issue is being online. As a former recumbent owner, I can assure you that Professor Shuster’s observation is correct. Even with my folding bike in the Munich S-Bahn I get many responses from the public, usually technical questions by men but also price inquiries by women. Continue reading Punch line
Why men die earlier
It took me nearly one hour to locate also this series of pictures on the net after having seen them recently in the talk of a Spanish colleague.
Yes, there are also more serious comments for example in the Behavioural Issues Blog Continue reading Why men die earlier
Link to nightmare
Sorry, I have no permission to reproduce any of the photos here but you can check the links below for some cod liver oil photos
nightmare | double use | evil woman.
First we take Manhattan
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I’m coming now, I’m coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I’m guided by a signal in the heavens
I’m guided by this birthmark on my skin
I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin…
(thanks to Leonard Cohen for a true science motto