October 28, 2007, 3:06 PM CT

The coevolution of parochial altruism and war

In The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War appearing in the October 26 issue of Science, SFI researcher Samuel Bowles and colleague Jung-Kyoo Choi of Kyungpook National University in South Korea suggest that the altruistic and warlike aspects of human nature may have a common origin.

Altruismbenefiting fellow group members at a cost to oneselfand parochialismhostility toward individuals not of ones own ethnic, racial, or other groupare common to human nature, but we dont immediately think of them as working together hand in hand. In fact the unexpected combination of these two behaviors may have enabled the survival of each trait as per Bowles and Choi.

They show that the two behaviorswhich they term parochial altruism may have in fact coevolved. On the face of it joining parochialism to altruism is puzzling from an evolutionary perspective because both behaviors reduce ones payoffs by comparison to what one would gain by avoiding them. Aggression consumes resources and risks death; altruism, especially toward those with whom we have no direct relationship, has the effect of helping other genes advance at our expense. But parochial altruism could have evolved if parochialism promoted intergroup hostilities and the combination of altruism and parochialism contributed to the success of these conflicts......... Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:29:14 GMT

A tale of horror

1.
I always have a hard time sleeping this time of year, when the nights grow long and cold and the crickets stop chirping well before midnight. It’s been raining, too, preventing me from going to work for most of the past week, so I’ve had to cut back on meals, too.

So let’s just say I was in no mood to be awoken this afternoon — much less to have my bed jolted violently and turned on its side. I’d heard this place might be haunted, but I never expected anything like this. “Hey!” I yelled. “Leave me the hell alone!” The next thing I knew, an enormous white face was looming over me, with awful staring watery eyes as big around as my head, and a mouth that emitted deep rumbles I could feel in my chest.

I screamed.



2.
I needed to move my woodstove about six inches to the right, and decided that the easiest way to accomplish this was by picking up one end and shoving an iron pry bar underneath it, propping both ends of the bar up on concrete blocks, then rolling the stove across the bar. I think if you live in the country for any appreciable amount of time, concrete blocks begin to seem like an all-purpose solution to otherwise insurmountable problems, kind of in the same league with duct tape and WD-40. The steps into the shed where I went to get the pry bar, for example, consist simply of three layers of stacked blocks — a temporary fix some 25 years ago that somehow never got an upgrade.

Our main supply of blocks is in the lower part of the barn, inside the second set of double doors. It’s cold and damp and dark in there, and I couldn’t really see what I was doing, but that’s O.K — I could find my way around this place with a blindfold on. I grabbed two blocks from the top of the pile, but after only a couple of steps, decided maybe I’d be better off carrying one at a time, instead. Besides, one of the blocks had begun making high-pitched noises, halfway between a rusty hinge and a shriek. I noticed something small and dark a few inches from my arm, and quickly set the block down on the bench outside the door. BAT!

I ran. Posted by: Vianegativa      Read more     Source

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:46:25 GMT

10 Jelly Beans Theft Charge

A man was charged with petty theft after being caught on a surveillance camera taking jelly beans out of a bin and eating them before he got to the cash register.The 34-year-old Fort Walton Beach man was buying groceries at Albertson’s when he stopped at a bin of candy and put an unspecified number of jelly beans in his mouth, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office report.

The store manager on duty told the deputy that he wanted charges brought against the suspect, who was also issued a trespass warning.

The jelly beans were priced at $6.99 a pound. The deputy estimated that the 10 jellybeans would have had a value of about $2.

A store manager contacted Thursday confirmed that the store has a "zero tolerance" policy against shoplifting.
Our tax dollars at work.... Don't you just love it?

source

For more daily new posts visit source Posted by: Joy A      Read more     Source

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:43:56 GMT

Arthur Kornberg passed away

Arthur Kornberg, the pioneer of human genetics and the winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize, passed away on the 26th of October, 2007 at the age of 89. He shared the Nobel Prize in medicine with Severo Ochoa “for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid”.

What a great family he had (from Wikipedia):

They had three sons: Roger David Kornberg (1947) (currently Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University, and the 2006 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Thomas B. Kornberg (1948) (who discovered DNA polymerase II and III in 1970 and is now a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco), and Kenneth Andrew Kornberg (1950) (an architect specialising in the design of biomedical and biotechnology laboratories and buildings).

According to Brisbane Times:

“He was an extraordinary scientist,” said Paul Berg, a professor of cancer research at the university who won the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry, also for DNA work.

“His accomplishments might be called legendary. The style in which he did his science was inspirational,” the university statement quoted Berg as saying.

Rest in Peace! Posted by: Bertalan      Read more     Source

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 21:35:43 GMT

NYFF. Views. 3

Following up on his first and second pieces on the Views from the Avant-Garde sidebar of the New York Film Festival, Michael Sicinski focuses on five "modern masters at mid-career."

In film criticism, exposure (and overexposure) is relative. Certainly where experimental cinema is concerned, any reasonable and nominally sympathetic observer would have to concur that no one working in the field has ever received the attention they deserved. Fortunately no one except Matthew Barney makes experimental film in the hopes of conquering the universe and getting a spread in GQ; the respect of a small but devoted audience is usually enough to sustain most of the a-g's hardcore lifers. Naturally it's difficult to sustain one's career as grant monies become increasingly scarce, film stocks are discontinued left and right, and the demands of academia (where many experimentalists find refuge) inevitably pull one's time away from the work itself. Posted by: dwhudson      Read more     Source

October 25, 2007, 10:05 PM CT

Decision-makers seek internal balance

A researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine suggests that psychiatry experts may need to approach the therapy of psychiatric patients from a new direction by understanding that such individuals behavior and decision-making are based on an attempt to reach an inner equilibrium.

In a special section in the October 26 issue of the journal Science, Martin Paulus, M.D., professor in UCSDs Department of Psychiatry, has compiled a body of growing evidence that human decision-making is inextricably associated with an individuals need to maintain a homeostatic balance.

This is a state of dynamic equilibrium, much like controlling body temperature, said Paulus. How humans select a particular course of action may be in response to raising or lowering that set point back to their individual comfort zone. In people with psychiatric disorders or addictions, the thermostat may be broken.

Up to now, as per Paulus, psychiatry experts and others have looked at the decision-making process as a considered series of options and values.

What has never been considered closely, but should be, is the state of the decision-maker, Paulus said. As per the researcher, this homeostatic state the tendency to maintain internal stability, due to the mind and bodys coordinated responses to any stimulus that disturbs the normal condition is altered in individuals with addictions and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia or anxiety. This disturbance of homeostatic balance leads to dysfunctions in decision-making which helps explain why such patients make seemingly bad choices, he said......... Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

October 25, 2007, 10:02 PM CT

Housing development on the rise near national forests

Americas national forests and grasslands provide the largest single source of freshwater in the United States, habitat for a third of all federally listed threatened or endangered species, and recreation opportunities for people (about 205 million visits are made annually to national forests).

These and other benefits could be altered by increased housing growth. The population of the United States is projected to increase by 135 million people between 2000 and 2050. Americans are moving closer to national forests and other public lands because of the amenities they provide. As a result, housing density is expected to increase on more than 21.7 million acres of rural private lands located within 10 miles of national forests and grasslands by 2030, as per a recent study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Forests, farms, ranches, and other open spaces are rapidly being developed as more people are choosing to live at the urban fringe and in scenic, rural areas, says Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell. This development is affecting our ability to manage national forests and grasslands as well as our ability to help private landowners and communities manage their land for public benefits and ecosystem services.

The recently released, National Forests on the Edge: Development Pressures on Americas National Forests and Grasslands, provides information on rural residential development to private landowners and communities as they work to manage and conserve open space......... Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:46:03 GMT

Chris Gilmour: Cardboard Sculptor

The work of British artist Chris Gilmour provokes surprise and amazement beyond what could appear to be a mere process of reproduction.

Packaging cardboard is, by its very nature, intended to contain but it is then discarded. Gilmour, however, uses it to contain the work's own identity and to highlight the displacement between the original object and the one made in cardboard.

(via ReubenMiller) Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source

October 24, 2007, 8:29 PM CT

Location, location, location

As housing developments sprout across the United States, smart growth proponents have urged communities to cluster developments in concentrated pockets, instead of the more standard and familiar sprawl. Cluster developments create a far smaller footprint on the environment, affecting a smaller portion of the land area than dispersed houses. The initial motivation for cluster development was to protect open space, farmland, and rural character. Yet few studies exist that empirically demonstrate that such concentrated development patterns are indeed better for the surrounding environment.

Now a study in this months Ecological Applications, a journal of the Ecological Society of America, finds that while cluster development is indeed much easier on the surrounding environment, the location of housing developments is key.

Charlotte Gonzalez-Abraham and Volker Radeloff (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and his colleagues focused their study of housing patterns and habitat loss on Northern Wisconsin over a 50+ year time period. While the number of houses in the study area increased by 353 percent from 1937 to 1999, the amount of habitat lost was far lower than expected, underscoring the effectiveness of cluster development in minimizing habitat loss.

Supported by federal grants from the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, the scientists determined the environmental impact of cluster development by mapping 27,419 houses from historic aerial photos for five time periods in 17 townships in northern Wisconsin......... Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:27:11 GMT

Why Is This Girl Not Smiling

Out of a lifetime of changing jobs I managed to survive one career for 30 years. I was a copywriter, then a creative director, in the advertising agency business. Much of my work in Toronto, New York and London was on car accounts where the preferred medium was television. So you can appreciate that I know a good car commercial when I see one, which is a rare occasion these days as contemporary North American car advertising is the pits. The British, however, have been masters of TV commercials for decades. They understand how to use humor and they'll take risks. Here's a wonderful example, now viewable on YouTube (the lady in our image above gives a hint of what to expect).



This is probably the funniest car commercial I've ever seen. And it's brilliant, not simply because of the humor, but because it makes a statement about the Toyota Rav4's appeal to young people of both sexes. Click on the YouTube image for 60-seconds of side-splitting fun. (Thanks to my old friend Leonard Vis for putting me on to this one. Len and I met when he was a "suit" at Young & Rubicam and I was an irascable copywriter.) Posted by: Philip Powell      Read more     Source