Political Commentary

Now Here’s A Stupid Test

I scored a 31, but it’s really meaningless, because for many of the questions, in my mind, the answer was “neither of the above,” but that wasn’t an option. Of course, one knew right out of the box that it was a stupid test, because it assumes that people can be put on a one-dimensional scale of “liberal/conservative.” I’d like to know how Glenn answered differently from me to get a lower score.

I agree with him, in that I don’t consider myself anything on that scale, and certainly not a “moderate.” There’s a cretin over at sci.space.policy who, whenever I inform him that I’m neither a Republican or Democrat, or Conservative or “Liberal,” invariably says, “then you’re a moderate?”

No. As Glenn says, I’m an extremist, but an eclectic one.

[Saturday morning update]

Volokh has more. Note the commenter who has analyzed the Javascript, and found liberal bias:

You start out as fully liberal, and whenever you give the conservative response, it gives you a certain number of points. Therefore, not answering a question is equivalent to giving the liberal answer. All responses give you one point except the first, which gives you two. If a liberal would check a checkbox, its value is ignored, so even if you don’t check it, it doesn’t affect your score.

So, if I’d done what I wanted to do in many cases, and left the question blank, because it was so mindless, I’d have probably scored as a “liberal.” Note all the idiot stereotypes and false choices implied by the questions. As many noted, if I were teaching a political science (now there’s an oxymoron) class, I’d flunk whoever came up with this thing.

Political Commentary

Now Here’s A Stupid Test

I scored a 31, but it’s really meaningless, because for many of the questions, in my mind, the answer was “neither of the above,” but that wasn’t an option. Of course, one knew right out of the box that it was a stupid test, because it assumes that people can be put on a one-dimensional scale of “liberal/conservative.” I’d like to know how Glenn answered differently from me to get a lower score.

I agree with him, in that I don’t consider myself anything on that scale, and certainly not a “moderate.” There’s a cretin over at sci.space.policy who, whenever I inform him that I’m neither a Republican or Democrat, or Conservative or “Liberal,” invariably says, “then you’re a moderate?”

No. As Glenn says, I’m an extremist, but an eclectic one.

[Saturday morning update]

Volokh has more. Note the commenter who has analyzed the Javascript, and found liberal bias:

You start out as fully liberal, and whenever you give the conservative response, it gives you a certain number of points. Therefore, not answering a question is equivalent to giving the liberal answer. All responses give you one point except the first, which gives you two. If a liberal would check a checkbox, its value is ignored, so even if you don’t check it, it doesn’t affect your score.

So, if I’d done what I wanted to do in many cases, and left the question blank, because it was so mindless, I’d have probably scored as a “liberal.” Note all the idiot stereotypes and false choices implied by the questions. As many noted, if I were teaching a political science (now there’s an oxymoron) class, I’d flunk whoever came up with this thing.

Political Commentary

Now Here’s A Stupid Test

I scored a 31, but it’s really meaningless, because for many of the questions, in my mind, the answer was “neither of the above,” but that wasn’t an option. Of course, one knew right out of the box that it was a stupid test, because it assumes that people can be put on a one-dimensional scale of “liberal/conservative.” I’d like to know how Glenn answered differently from me to get a lower score.

I agree with him, in that I don’t consider myself anything on that scale, and certainly not a “moderate.” There’s a cretin over at sci.space.policy who, whenever I inform him that I’m neither a Republican or Democrat, or Conservative or “Liberal,” invariably says, “then you’re a moderate?”

No. As Glenn says, I’m an extremist, but an eclectic one.

[Saturday morning update]

Volokh has more. Note the commenter who has analyzed the Javascript, and found liberal bias:

You start out as fully liberal, and whenever you give the conservative response, it gives you a certain number of points. Therefore, not answering a question is equivalent to giving the liberal answer. All responses give you one point except the first, which gives you two. If a liberal would check a checkbox, its value is ignored, so even if you don’t check it, it doesn’t affect your score.

So, if I’d done what I wanted to do in many cases, and left the question blank, because it was so mindless, I’d have probably scored as a “liberal.” Note all the idiot stereotypes and false choices implied by the questions. As many noted, if I were teaching a political science (now there’s an oxymoron) class, I’d flunk whoever came up with this thing.

Technology and Society

Quite A Breakthrough

…if it really works:

Associate Professor Michael King of the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering Department has invented a de-vice that filters the blood for cancer and stem cells. When he captures cancer cells, he kills them. When he captures stem cells, he harvests them for later use in tissue engineering, bone marrow transplants, and other applications that treat human disease and improve health.

It’s not clear from the article how close it is to actual use on humans.

Space

One Good Thing

…from the new Congress. A much-needed name change:

As part of a rules package passed by the House yesterday, the House Science Committee has been renamed the Science and Technology Committee.

That committee always dealt with much broader issues than science, and it’s nice to see it formally recognized. It may help in breaking this automatic equation in peoples’ minds between space and science, as though there’s no other reason to have space activities. It would also help, though, if we could lose the phrase “rocket scientist.”

Political Commentary

No Longer Ruling The Waves

One more sign that that age of the British Empire is long past:

A senior officer, currently serving with the Fleet in Portsmouth, said: “What this means is that we are now no better than a coastal defence force or a fleet of dug-out canoes. The Dutch now have a better navy than us.”

Defence sources said it would be unlikely that the Navy could now launch an armada of the kind that retook the Falkland Islands in 1982.

Steve Bush, editor of the monthly magazine Warship World, said the MoD was bankrupt following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“After 10 years of Labour government, the Royal Navy is on its knees without immediate and proper funding. I cannot see how it can recover

Popular Culture

The Physics Of Cooling Porridge

I think that Jonah is overanalyzing the situation:

Also, I have another peeve. Aside from the talking bears living in a nice middle class house, doesn’t the story defy the laws of nature? If the Papa bear’s porridge is too hot, that logically should be because it’s the biggest bowl and therefore would take the longest time to cool. The mama bear’s porridge should be “just right” because it’s the medium-sized one and the baby-bear’s should be too cool. Or, as is so often the case, do I have my physics wrong?

One overanalysis deserves another. He’s basically got it right, but it depends on the shape of the bowls. For any given shape, the larger the blob of porridge, the longer it will take to cool, because of the square-cube law. The volume of the porridge (which represents its heat capacity) goes up as the cube of the critical dimension (e.g., a diameter for a sphere) whereas the surface area (which is directly proportional to how fast it loses heat) goes up as the square.

For example, a cube of porridge an inch on a side will be one cubic inch of hot porridge that is cooled by six square inches of sides (assuming it’s floating in, say, a space station, and can have all six sides exposed to air). A two-inch cube has eight cubic inches (eight times as much) of hot porridge, but only twenty-four square inches of cooling surface (six sides of four square inches, that is, only four times as much). So if you double the size of the critical dimension, you double the cooling time as well.

Of course, if you have a spherical blob of porridge, and a large thin pancake of it, you could have a larger amount of porridge that cooled faster in the latter case. If, for example, we took the eight cubic inches from the previous example, and spread it out to an eighth of an inch thin in a pancake shape, then you’d have something with sixty-four square inches on each side (a hundred twenty eight) plus the side area (an eighth times the circumference, which would be the square root of 64 divided by pi times 2pi, or 2 times the root of 64, or about two square inches). So now we have eight times the volume of the one-inch cube, but over twenty times the surface area, so it would cool much faster.

So if Momma Bear’s porridge was in a wide flat bowl, and Baby Bear’s in a higher, narrower one (perhaps with a picture of a Teddy Human on it), it’s certainly conceivable hers could be colder than the baby’s.

Porridge and bears aside, this is the principle employed when one pours hot tea into a saucer to cool it (the metaphorical function of the Senate, in the Founders’ estimation, which would temper the urges of the House).

Why yes, I am in fact avoiding writing a proposal that’s due next week. Why do you ask?

[Update mid afternoon]

Welcome, Corner readers. Just curious, though, why no comments from any of you? No one in the comments section except the regulars, so far. Does this say anything about Corner readers?

War Commentary

So You Want A Chickenhawk?

Here’s a chickenhawk:

I also appeal to my Muslim brethren everywhere to respond to the call for jihad in Somalia. I appeal to the lions of Islam in Yemen, the state of faith and wisdom, I appeal to my brothers the lions of Islam in the Arab Peninsula, the cradle of conquests, and I also appeal to my brothers the lions of Islam in Egypt, Sudan, the Arab Maghreb, and everywhere in the Muslim world to rise up to aid their Muslim brethren in Somalia through offering sacrifices, money, opinion, and expertise so as to defeat the slaves of America that it sends to death on its behalf.

I appeal to the Muslims everywhere to rush to support their brother mujahidin who are being encroached upon and are being fought by America and its slaves for they chose the law of Islam instead of the law of looting, plundering, theft, bribery, corruption, and treachery.

Like Howie, I wonder why they had to use a still pic of Zawahiri.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!