Delicious LiveJournal Links for 4-5-2010

[andrewducker]

• Mephedrone: the anatomy of a media drug scare
  (tags: mephedrone drugs media)
• When Less is More: The Case for Teaching Less Math in Schools
  The lack of knowledge amongst maths teachers staggers me.
  (tags: education math learning teaching children)
• What men are really thinking
  In response to a post about how men are really boring and don't have interesting conversations with their girlfriends.
  (tags: funny relationships women sex men stereotypes)
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Chapter 1: A Day of Very Low Probability
  (tags: harrypotter funny rationality)
• Girls today are three times more likely than boys to be non-heterosexual. Why?
  (tags: sexuality lesbians homosexuality culture)

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Girls today are three times more likely than boys to be non-heterosexual. Why?

And (not unsurprisingly) nowhere in the article is any hint that one of the obvious reasons is sexism - both in that female sexual choice is widely devalued and thus considered non-threatening because many people don't consider it "real", and male homosexuality is considered far more of a taboo in most Western nations, so the social pressures against it are considerably stronger & so female homosexuals and bisexuals face dismissal and derision, while male homosexuals and bisexuals face can easily face hatred and potential violence. The body of the article avoided the usual evo psych nonsense about female sexuality being inherently more flexible, but it crept into the notes.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

This.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

"He chose schools in the poorest neighborhoods because he knew that if he tried this in the wealthier neighborhoods, where parents were high school or college graduates, the parents would rebel."

Somewhat dubious

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

> Why would a man show any interest in a woman who is no longer of child-bearing age? What possible purpose could such interest serve? Natter on to each other you old hens and leave us alone.

LOL and MIAOW.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

That Harry Potter fanfic is really rather impressive. Also quite hard work - he/she's heading into "Conneticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" territory fast.

[andrewducker]

Which would, in many ways, be a more interesting place to take it than where JK did :->

I particularly liked the bit on arbitrage.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

The thing with HP books, however, is that they're mostly fun, easy going, and a relaxing read. The reimagining here is sometimes fun, but also sometimes bloody grim.

It's very well-written, and damn good work. But I wouldn't see it being as popular as the originals...

[andrewducker]

Oh, me either. But it will entertain me, so that's ok :->

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

I'll be reading future installments too, provided the very-nasty-things factor doesn't go up too much more.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. I was slightly squicked by Draco - but I think that was the intention. If it goes any further than that I'd stop enjoying it.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

There's been enough discussion of people's early math education at my lj that I think it's safe to conclude that math education in the US is bad, but not quite that bad in general.