“Carl Zimmer”:http://www.corante.com/loom has a good discussion of the discovery that the embryonic stem-cell lines approved by the Bush administration appear to be “contaminated”:http://corante.com/loom/archives/of_stem_cells_and_neanderthals.php with sugars from the substrate they were originally grown in. He has a nice angle on whether the Intelligent Design types who disagree with stem cell research will try to rely on the paper describing the discovery, which demonstrates the problem with the the cell lines by drawing on evidence about molecular evolution.
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Kieran Healy
“Josh Chafetz”:http://oxblog.blogspot.com/2005_01_16_oxblog_archive.html#110641393348933333 says:
bq. NEW HAVEN IS FORECAST for 10-15 inches of snow tonight.
Is this a colloquial construction I’m unfamiliar with, or just backwards?
“P.Z. Myers”:http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/sexist_calvinism/ saves me a great deal of trouble by writing the post I had in mind about Larry Summers’ under-informed views about the gender division of labor. I’m particularly glad he takes the time to deal with Steven Pinker’s “much quoted”:http://www.thecrimson.com/today/article505366.html line that “Perhaps the hypothesis is wrong, but how would we ever find out whether it is wrong if it is “offensive” even to consider it? People who storm out of a meeting at the mention of a hypothesis, or declare it taboo or offensive without providing arguments or evidence, don’t get the concept of a university or free inquiry.” As Myers says, “If people started walking out on presentations of fact-free, unsupported hypotheses, Pinker wouldn’t have a career.”
In the spirit of adding a bit of empirical data to the discussion, have a read of Erin Leahey and Guang Go’s paper “Gender Differences in Mathematical Trajectories” which reviews a lot of evidence about the gender gap in math and analyzes some big data sets to find that it’s not nearly as large as you might think. (Erin is a colleague of mine at Arizona, by the way.) And to echo one of Myers’ points, the relationship between the distribution of measurable properties like math scores and the “phenomenology of attainment within the social structure”:http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000555 is (a) a very difficult question, and (b) something you might want to read up on, if you’re inclined to throw hypotheses around innate differences between women and men.
The “True Cross is coming to Tucson!”:http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/56896.php
bq. The [“Relics of the Passion”] exhibit is part of a six-state tour that will take place during Lent. The eight relics include what are believed to be remains from Jesus’ crown of thorns, a piece of exterior wrapping from the Shroud of Turin that some say was Jesus’ burial sheet, and a sliver from the cross used to crucify him. A replica of one of the nails used to hang Christ on the cross also will be part of the display. Though it’s not an actual nail used in the crucifixion, organizers say it’s made from shavings of some nails that were.
bq. “Certainly, if people saw the movie, now it’s time to venerate the relics,” said tour organizer Richard Jeffrey, past state deputy for the Arizona Knights of Columbus …
I wonder how much they’ll be charging people to see them. If it’s cheap enough, I’ll have to go along. The tour is being organized by the “Apostolate For Holy Relics”:http://www.apostolateforholyrelics.com/home.php, an organization based not in the Vatican City, but out of a “Post Office Box in Los Angeles”:http://www.apostolateforholyrelics.com/contact.php. You can save yourself a trip and “see photos of the relics”:http://www.apostolateforholyrelics.com/ahr-projects/passion-tour/relic.php on the AFHP’s website, though mostly you just see the reliquaries of the relics.
I’m in Ireland at the moment, where the much-needed light relief in the news is being provided by “Prince Harry and his Nazi Uniform”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4170431.stm. I’m less familiar with the ecology of royal commentary than I used to be, so it’s harder to sort out the toadies from the critics from the critics who are really toadies and vice versa. Happily, “Sarah Ferguson”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4173453.stm has intervened today to clarify thing, saying that “It is time for the press to back off. I know what it is like to have very bad press and be continually criticised — it is very tiring and unpleasant.” (For “very bad press” read “terrible judgment” and for “continually criticised” read “always making PR gaffes.”) Similarly, “Comedy Prankster” Aaron Barschak adopts the “Aw lay orf the lad”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/monarchy/story/0,2763,1390274,00.html approach, saying “I can guarantee that had anyone other than Prince Harry worn a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party, no one would have blinked an eye.” If he doesn’t want the responsibility he can always renounce his position as 3rd in line to the throne, refuse a public subsidy, move to a bedsit somewhere and do whatever he likes.
Controversies like this point to the fundamental uselessness of the Royal Family, other than for entertainment value. I think the next step should be for Harry’s non-apology apology (“I am very sorry if I caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone”) to get a bit more amplification. I suggest one or all of the following:
* My family are all German anyway.
* Bugger off, you oiks (but don’t cut my subsidy).
* I’m only 20, or approximately the same age as many of the men killed fighting the Nazis during the war. Whenever that was.
I think it was the late Queen Mother who, after Buckingham Palace was bombed during the Blitz, said, “I’m glad it happened — at least now I can look the East End in the Eye.” The gin-soaked old horse-fancier was no less useless than Harry, of course, but even she seemed more aware of her position in life. Barschak has the cheek to invoke the grand tradition of popular dissent in Harry’s defence. “The rebellion of the individual against society is quintessential to democracy.” But as any royalist will tell you Aaron, the problem with this is that Harry isn’t the individual, he’s Society.
Just before Christmas, a new cafe opened up outside the main gates of the “University of Arizona”:http://www.arizona.edu/. The coffee is good and it’s a shorter walk than the alternatives. The people are friendly, too. One of my colleagues was chatting with the owner, Danny, last week — he’s often behind the bar serving customers. Danny asked whether my friend taught at the university, and then in what department. “Sociology,” my friend said, which is usually enough to move the conversation to some other topic. But instead Danny said “Oh, my uncle was a sociologist — he was pretty well known in Europe years ago, but you’ve probably never heard of him. “What was his name?” asked my friend. “Oh, Mannheim,” says the owner. “Karl Mannheim?!” says my friend. “Wow, you know his first name!” says Danny. Small world. Sociologists know that already, but the point of that insight is precisely that you don’t know about every case. There are probably other connections of this sort in my acquaintance network that I’m completely unaware of. Yours, too.
“Sam Heldman”:http://sheldman.blogspot.com/ seems to have returned to blogging, after more than a year away. I think that’s great. If you remember his old blog, you’ll probably think it’s great, too.
Voting is underway for the 2004 “Koufax Awards”:http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/001581.html. If you have a mind to, vote for CT in the “Best Group Blog”:http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/001591.html and “Best Overall Blog”:http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/001590.html categories.
*Update*: Also “Best Writing”:http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/001594.html.
Not only is it “MLA Season”:https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/003045.html, it’s also time for the meetings of the “American Philosophical Association’s Eastern Division”:http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/divisions/eastern/. The APA meetings are scheduled at this time of the year because, as is well known, philosophers hate Christmas — even if a good number of its senior wranglers do their best to look like Santa. So here I am in Boston. This year I even have a professional excuse to be here, because I’m doing some work on the relationship between specialization and status amongst philosophy departments.
Unlike most academic associations, the APA doesn’t have a proper national meeting, just regional ones. But the Eastern APA is the biggest, partly because there’s a high concentration of philosophers on the East Coast,[1] but mostly because the job market happens at it. Like the MLA, Philosophy departments interview their shortlist of 10 to 15 candidates at the meetings, with a view to whittling them down to three or four for campus visits. Personally, I don’t believe this stage adds any useful information to the recruitment process, unless you are interested in whether a candidate can sit comfortably in a cramped hotel suite.
I nearly got an interview at the APA myself a few years ago, when I accidentally sat at the wrong table in an empty conference room, put my feet up and started reading some book or other. After about half an hour some people started filing in to the room, but I wasn’t paying attention. Then two guys (one with a Santa beard-in-training) sat down at my table. “Mr Robertson? We’re from East Jesus State University,”[2] said one of them, “Shall we begin?” I should have said yes, but of course instead I was a coward and mumbled something about not being Mr Robertson. Pity: I’ve become quite good at bluffing my way amongst philosophers, and I might have gotten a fly-out.
fn1. Every single Mets fan, for instance.
fn2. Not its real name.
It’s Christmas here at Crooked Timber, though this does not mean we are “Republicans”:http://www.slate.com/id/2111014/#red. I can’t hope to match Maria’s “instant-classic Christmas post”:https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/001013.html from last year — for one thing, it’s harder to stir up the ole Christmas cheer in the “Sonoran Desert”:http://www.branimirphoto.ca/gallery/arizona/sonoran_desert.html than the “Champs Elysees”:http://travel.guardian.co.uk/gallery/image/0,8564,-10304117908,00.html. But it’s not impossible. Last year we had a thread about the “Most Annoying Christmas Songs”:https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/000943.html, and my feeling is that being down on Christmas music is so over.[1] Here instead are four Christmas songs I like. Besides being songs for the season, they are all songs for two voices in conversation — or argument.
With one “pretty bad tempered thread”:https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/003005.html going strong and evidence of “another one”:https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/003015.html tipping over into trolldom, it may not be worth worth adding to the “already extensive body of commentary”:http://www.google.com/search?q=blogging+gender&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 about the gender gap in blogging. But fools skate without paddles on thin ice near the edge of volcanoes, etc. I hope we can keep things civil.
Via “Slashdot”:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/16/005256&tid=126&tid=193, news that the FCC has “voted to allow”:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20041215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fcc_air_travelers wireless internet on flights, something that’s been available outside the U.S. here and there (e.g., on Lufthansa, I think). On the upside, this is one amenity that they’ll have a hard time restricting to first and business class. But the realm of Court Cases You Will Hear About Soon on the Volokh Conspiracy now includes the one about the guy who started browsing pornographic sites a couple of hours into the flight. My prediction is that the first offenders will be in business or first class, where they’ll think they have enough room to chance it.
Two posts sit side-by-side at “the Volokh conspiracy”:http://volokh.com at the moment. In one, Eugene Volokh updates a post “making fun of some women”:http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_12_14.shtml#1103132740 protesting about not being picked for parts in a production of _The Vagina Monologues_:
Auditions Are So _Patriarchal_: Early this year, I blogged about a controversy related to The Vagina Monologues, in a post titled “Life Imitates The Onion.” An excerpt:
… In flyers handed out to audience members at the show, University graduate Nicole Sangsuree Barrett wrote that while there was “diversity” in the show, it was minimal. Women of “a variety of skin colors, body sizes, abilities and gender expressions” were not adequately represented, she said. …
… It turns out that variety of abilities really did mean variety of abilities …:
… Pete said the committee will select people who are “not necessarily drama-oriented” in favor of “people who work (toward) ‘The Vagina Monologues’ mission of ending violence against women.” … “The fact that they had auditions means that some people are automatically excluded,” [Women’s Center spokeswoman Stefanie Loh] said.
Not just some people — some vaginas! “Not all vaginas are skinny, white + straight,” or, apparently, have acting ability.
But just to show that identity politics is a game anyone can play, Orin Kerr “raises an eyebrow”:http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=http%3a%2f%2fvolokh.com%2farchives%2farchive_2004_12_14.shtml%231103130461 at the “sad tale of an oppressed conservative assistant professor.”:http://chronicle.com/jobs/2004/12/2004121501c.htm Forced to sit through the odd joke about Michael Moore, park his Honda alongside Volvos and Subarus, and endure a “semiotics of exclusion” (i.e., Kerry-Edwards and anti-war bumper stickers on the Volvos) he suffered grave emotional pain when “anti-Republican tenor” at the lunch table “ached its zenith with this vehement comment from one colleague, ‘I’m not even going to watch [the convention]. I can’t stand it’.”
*Update*: The going theory in the comments is that our “oppressed conservative”:http://chronicle.com/jobs/2004/12/2004121501c.htm is a hoax. The internal evidence for this is pretty good.
Nominations are now open for the “2004 Koufax Awards”:http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/001502.html. If you think we deserve it, head over and nominate CT for any or all of *Best Blog*, *Best Group Blog*, *Best Writing,* *Best Post* and *Best Looking*. I think that last one is a category.
As “Brian notes”:https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/002985.html (via Kevin Drum), there are “some people”:http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-kranna12dec12,1,4469435.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary who think that
bq. [Clarence] Thomas is one of the few jurists today, conservative or otherwise, who understands and defends the principle that our rights come not from government but from a “creator” and “the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” as our Declaration of Independence says, and that the purpose and power of government should therefore be limited to protecting our natural, God-given rights.
My feeling is that objections to Clarence Thomas’s jurisprudence should focus on what we think people’s rights are, substantively, rather than where we think they come from. But let me comment on the God vs Man question anyway. Actually, let Roberto Mangabeira Unger comment on it, from his “Politics”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841317/kieranhealysw-20/ref=nosim/:
bq. Modern social thought was born proclaiming that society is made and imagined, that it is a human artifact rather than an expression of an underlying natural order.