crows using meta-tools

Crows get smarter the more we study them. From a primitive theory of mind to relatively sophisticated tool use, crows continually surprise. Now, crows have been observed using meta-tools in a laboratory setting.

Working with captured wild crows, Russell Gray and his team from the University of Auckland in New Zealand hid a treat in a box so that a crow could only extract it with the help of a long stick. This kind of task is easy for the tool-using crows.

But then the researchers added a twist by placing the long stick in a cage, out of the crows' reach. No problem: the birds used a second, shorter stick, to get the first one, then took it back to the box to get the food.

"Six out of seven crows tried straight away to use the short stick to get to the long tool. There was no trial and error," says Gray.

The seventh crow has been held back a year, despite his parents' wishes.

Update: Chris of Mixing Memory notes,

Recognizing that the long stick is sufficient, but the short one isn't, when looking at the placement of the food, and then understanding that the short stick is sufficient to retrieve the long stick is pretty impressive. I'm not sure it requires analogical reasoning -- association might be sufficient -- but I suspect that future studies will sort all of that out. However they're doing it, it's clear that crows are pretty damn smart.

lead it like Beckham

[clip via the AV Club]

David Beckham's greatest asset isn't kick-bending, or even superstar magnetism, but leadership, writes Andrea Canales. In Beckham's first sustained action for the LA Galaxy since his injury, he took over the captain's role from Langdon Donovan--at Donovan's insistence.

"I'm not stupid," Donovan said. "[Beckham has] been a captain for England, one of the better teams in the world. For me, it's not as important to wear the armband. I'm going to play the same way and act the same way towards guys whether I have that or not. I think it made him immediately part of the team in a real sense, not just on the field. I think guys looked at him differently, and he could say things to guys differently. I told him that if he was ready for it, I thought it was appropriate that he wear it and that I thought it would help us right now....

"He's a leader on the field and brings a lot out of everybody, including myself," Donovan said. "When he's out there, he's so competitive. 'Edson, your ball, win it! Abel, your ball, win it!' He likes to compete, he likes to win. If that's him at who-knows-what-percent of his real self, I can't wait until he's fully fit and his ankle is fully healthy."

Even more impressive than Beckham's ability is Donovan's humility. It takes a real man to step aside for the sake of the team.

the prayer of a self-righteous man

Kent Hovind might be a weasely tax dodger, but he's got nothin' on this pastor:

Wiley S. Drake, a Buena Park pastor and a former national leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, called on his followers to pray for the deaths of two leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The request was in response to the liberal group's urging the IRS on Tuesday to investigate Drake's church's nonprofit status because Drake endorsed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for president on church letterhead and during a church-affiliated Internet radio show.

Drake said Wednesday he was "simply doing what God told me to do" by targeting Americans United officials Joe Conn and Jeremy Leaming, whom he calls the "enemies of God."

"God says to pray imprecatory prayer against people who attack God's church," he said. "The Bible says that if anybody attacks God's people, David said this is what will happen to them.... Children will become orphans and wives will become widows."

Apparently Drake has never seen the difference between what one prays for and what one gets.


[via Obscure Store and PZ]

Skeptics' Circle goes gamer

Did you know you can weaponize a fallacy? (Did you know that "weaponize" is a verb?)

what's right with Washington's math education

We can't get enough students to pass the WASL, but at least our ACT results are 3rd-highest in the nation. Of course, a disclaimer is required:

This fact is not incongruous with the failure of many Washington students to meet the standard in the math section of the statewide graduation test, because many students taking the ACT test are high achievers aiming toward college who probably also passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

And yet...

In 2006, Washington public and private school students averaged a combined SAT score of 1059, an average score of 527 in reading and 532 in math. That put Washington at the top of a list of 23 states in which more than 50 percent of high school students take the SAT.

Even without a strict WASL math requirement, we're number one. But then there's overall "college readiness":

The percentage who met the benchmark for all four subjects — including reading and science — was 34 percent, compared to 32 percent last year. Only 23 percent met this benchmark nationally.

Bad as things might be, at least they're better in Washington.

Mark Trail: mad for squirrels

Josh (the Comics Curmudgeon) wondered if the artist illustrating Mark Trail was recycling squirrels--squirrel drawings, that is.

As Curmudgeon reader Flipper's marvelous montage proves, Mark Trail is more than a little squirrel-happy.

A just society ought not use the death penalty as a form of punishment: the September-October LD topic

Thanks to a tip from blog neighbor Okie Debater, I've been pulled out of summer LD lethargy to report that the new NFL September-October LD topic is in:

Resolved: A just society ought not use the death penalty as a form of punishment.

Obviously, the overwhelmingly important definition in this (lovely, philosophical, non-policyesque for once) resolution is the meaning of "just."

Get your brain back in gear with a trip to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's article on Legal Punishment.

Some terms to consider: retribution, restoration, prevention, deterrence, desert, consequentialism.

More coming soon.

Update 8/17: I ask some mathematical questions about executing innocents.

Update 8/20: I parse the resolution.

Update 8/26: What's the relationship among capital punishment, democracy, and a just society?

Update 8/29: I tentatively delineate the distinction between private morality and public justice.

Update 9/1: How can a satirical newspaper illuminate our understanding of the death penalty?

Betty when you call me you can call me Allah

A deity by any other name...

watch the Olympia School Board District 4 candidates

Not sure which candidate you should choose in the Olympia School Board District 4 primary? Watch them square off in a League of Women Voters forum. tctvjohn has the video. For the record, the Olympia Education Association endorses incumbent Carolyn Barclift. (Challengers are Tom Hill and Lucy Gentry-Meltzer.)

baseball nerds, rejoice!

A new era in second-guessing is upon us. Nate DiMeo reports:

Enhanced Gameday is a whole new (yet still poorly animated) ballgame. MLB.com has installed cameras in 22 of the league's 30 parks that provide data for Gameday's pitch-location chart. Previously, some guy in the press box had to guess, Hmm, that looked like a curveball, maybe four inches inside and a couple of inches above the knees. Now the computer generates all of this automatically--how high the pitcher's throwing hand was off the ground when he released the ball, how fast the ball was traveling both when it left his hand and when it crossed the plate, to what degree and in what direction the ball diverted from a straight path on its way to the plate, and finally, if the pitch really was four inches inside and a couple of inches above the knees.

There are also rumors of plans to install cameras to track fielders; DiMeo calls this the "last great statistical frontier."

Not quite. What will still be missing: the role of the batter in a pitcher's success. Until we can apply equally rigorous statistical analysis to the mechanics of the swing, we're getting, at best, only half of the equation.

Man, am I a nerd.

random questions to ask a girl

Somehow I have become one of the world's foremost authorities on random questions, which obligates me to help searchers improve their conversations with a jolt of the unforeseen. So, for those seeking to impress and entice, here is a list of 30 random questions to ask a girl.

1. What's your name?
2. Who's your daddy?
3. Is he rich like me?
4. What's the frequency, Kenneth?
5. How can I convince you it's me I don't like?
6. How long?
7. How long must we sing this song?
8. How long?
9. How does it feel like to wake up in the sun?
10. How does it feel like to shine on everyone?
11. Who's going to throw the very first stone?
12. Who's going to reset the bone?
13. All the lonely people: where do they all come from?
14. All the lonely people: where do they all belong?
15. When you sleep, where do your fingers go?
16. What do your fingers know?
17. What do your fingers show?
18. Is this love, or should I close the door?
19. How do you afford your rock-and-roll lifestyle?
20. Can't you hear those cavalry drums?
21. Ain't it hard, ain't it hard to want somebody who doesn't want you?
22. Hello, hello, hello, how low?
23. Am I your fire?
24. What's cooler than bein' cool?
25. How you gonna win when you ain't right within?
26. How will I ever get to heaven now?
27. Am I too dumb to refine?
28. Why can't this crazy love be mine?
29. We talked all night, oh, but what the hell did we say?
30. Why wouldn't you waste the afterlife?



[146th in a series]

Great Wall Motor Company

If you're going to publish a website in English, shouldn't you have an English speaker vet the site?

Hover CUV incorporates the features of passenger car, SUV and station wagon, and meets the desire of urban appealing for off-road.... Incorporating the features of commercial vehicle and off-road, Hover CUV owns strong traffic ability.

(It will also keep you from manufacturing a truck called the Socool: "First class technology and omnipotent equipment redefine the concept 'Pickup' and bring consumer more care.")

Capital High School football preview, 2007-2008

These are exciting times for Capital High School football fans. Coming off one of the toughest seasons in recent memory, the Cougars are looking for a fresh start. Leave it to J.D. Johnson, a Vegas transplant, to bring a new offensive look: out with the Wing T and in with the spread-option.

We'll even have a new announcer, to be named later, since the Voice of the Cougs, Dave Shipley, retired at the end of June. First game is Friday, August 31 at home against the always pesky Wolves of Black Hills High.

For more info, check out The Olympian's capsule preview and the always useful Cougar website.

Update 8/15: Today The Olympian focuses on the new coach.

"They didn't have a big off-season program where they were expected to commit to the weight room, expected to get bigger," said Johnson, who vacated the head coaching position at Shadow Ridge High School in Las Vegas. "That's been the overall change that's taken place.

"They realize that I'm a 24/7, 365-day football coach. If I'm here, they're expected to be here."

The Capital athletes were given the opportunity to participate in the interview process, so they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into with Johnson.

So far, there's no regret to speak of.

"That was one of the greatest days of high school," said junior Riley Wall of the day the team chose Johnson. "I never have looked back on that day and said I wish we would have picked someone else.

Every student I've talked to about the upcoming season has been equally optimistic.

Update 8/30: The Olympian has a preview of the entire Western Cascade Conference available. I add my take here.

Rubik's Cube solved

Speedcubers take note: any Rubik's Cube configuration, no matter how well or poorly mixed, can be taken down in 26 moves or fewer.

Kunkle and Cooperman used a supercomputer to figure this out, but their effort also required some clever maths. This is because there are a mind-numbing 43 quintillion (43,000,000,000,000,000,000) possible configurations for a cube - too many for even the most powerful machine to analyse one after the other.

So the pair simplified the problem in several ways.

Click through to find out how. But wait, there's more:

This isn't the end of the matter, though. Most mathematicians think it really only takes 20 moves to solve any Rubik's cube - it's just a question of proving this to be true.

You have your mission, Forrest.

for the love of a feral cat

Just watched Penn and Teller's take on "Pet Love," which includes a visit with Bonita Berger, a self-described "cat rescuer." She claims to have over twenty cats in residence, but isn't a "hoarder" because she continually gives them up for adoption. Still, if my theory holds, her zeal for saving feral felines places her at risk of developing full-onset cat-ladyism.

In the episode, Berger notes that her social life has dwindled to nothingness, since feeding, injecting, cleaning, and otherwise babying cats is her second occupation. Her house is filled with cats of all shapes and sizes, with litter boxes in various rooms. She sleeps with cats as her blanket. One might attribute this solely to love, but it also allows for a different etiology: infection by Toxoplasma gondii, a zoonotic disease. Feral cats, Berger's specialty, are a major vector. T. gondii has been implicated in an an interesting personality change: a decrease in "novelty seeking," probably caused by altered dopamine concentration.

Is there a connection in Berger's case? I'm not a biologist, psychologist, or physician, so my answer is obvious: I don't know. It should be equally obvious that not all people who rescue feral cats are going to turn into cat ladies--and Berger, though coming across as a little kooky, otherwise looks and sounds healthy. I view her case more as further inspiration to uncover the origin of true cat-ladyism, and its putative connection to Toxoplasma gondii. Paging Dr. Glickman....

we're back

Our two-week venture to Chicagoland is done. Normalcy returns apace.

beaks

Jamie Moyer really, really needs to lop those locks. He's starting to look like Sam the Eagle.


Bonus: remember Emperor Palpatine?

the dogs of summer vacation

Banshee cowers behind a recliner whenever a thunderstorm rolls through--which is often. Last night, quite by accident, someone left her locked out on the deck during an epic inundation. She was pretty quiet this morning, but by the afternoon had rebounded, returning to her perch atop the Dog Sofa. (That's owner Heather at right.)


Cody looks scary and has a rumbly growl--but she's just talking to you, mostly when you have appetizing food on your plate. "Appetizing food" means "anything edible." Watch your toes around Cody--she's liable to lick them clean.

Together, Banshee and Cody are an inseparable unit I call Prewash, after their role in the dishwashing cycle.

a day of surprises

Jeff Weaver pitching a complete game shutout on the road? Surprise.

Rush Hour 3: The Deadening is the number one movie in America? Surprise.

Tiger winning the PGA Championship? No surprise. That it's his first major victory in 2007? Big surprise.

The Mariners leading the wild card race? Surprise and delight.

the loneliest Mariner fans

The crowd was stomping and clapping and shouting, "Let's go White Sox, LET'S GO!" Bases loaded, nobody out, Sox down 7-2, hot hitting Josh Fields at bat, hard throwing J.J. Putz brought in to douse the flames. Nope. The crowd exploded as Fields homered to center, and raised its voice when Jim Thome's bat cracked in a hard liner to right--but was silenced when Jose Guillen scooted in to make the catch. Two strikeouts later, all the 38,000-odd Sox fans had left was the free fireworks.

It was much closer than it should've been, mostly because McLaren stuck with O'Flaherty through the 9th, which isn't his usual role, giving up a couple bloop singles, and George Sherrill uncharacteristically walked his only batter. But we held on to win on a muggy August night, keeping pace with the Angels and staying just barely atop the wild card race. What a game.

Photos below. Click the timestamp or the title to see more than three.


New Comiskey, otherwise known as U.S. Cellular Field.


All that's left of the old Comiskey, which now serves as a parking lot. Here, a shadow of the past stands in.


Gotta pay the bills.


We've been staying with Heather and Chris for the past week and a half, so we took them out to the game as thanks for tolerating us. Here, Chris contemplates Carlton Fisk's bronze athleticism.


A less cluttered view of the field.


The M's take BP.


Chris spent most of batting practice shouting "Aw, c'mon, throwithere! C'mon!" to the three Mariner relievers who were shagging flies.


Out of Ryan Rowland-Smith, Sean Green, and Eric O'Flaherty, only Ryan would toss a baseball to whining kids. Hey Aussie, how about a little love for the only Seattle fan in the right field bleachers? Geez.


The shadow lets you know that the sun beat down upon us with the fury of a Roger Clemens hot dog.


Mmm... brats... Easily the best concession in the park. Heather and Chris usually go during the 4th inning, but we couldn't wait.


Jones in Ibanez's spot. I wonder if he would've gotten the same abuse from the drunken lout who heckled Raul all game before departing in the 9th. ("I'm a Sox fan, born on the South Side, raised on the South Side, f--- the Cubs." And he leaves early?)


The Mariners celebrate after Putz fans Erstad to close out the game.


The 6:05 games have a spectacular fireworks show afterward.


A fine way to end the evening: victory and exploding phosphorus.