monkey's uncle

When one becomes an anthropologist, one expects to have travel adventures.  Somehow, I never expected to have a travel adventure when plying my trade as a panelist for the National Science Foundation in the wilds of Arlington, Virginia.  Bear in mind that Arlington is just across the Potomac River from Washington DC and is served by two [...]

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As a follow-up to my post on science and the Obama Inaugural, I wanted to note a terrific essay  by Dennis Overbye on the civic virtues of science in the New York Times. He argues that virtue emerges from the process of science: “Science is not a monument of received Truth but something that people do to look for truth.” [...]

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In President Obama’s Inaugural Address, “data” and “statistics” were the 247th and 249th words spoken. Science was very much foregrounded in the President’s address:
We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its costs.
We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to [...]

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The fabulous Cambridge-based singer-songwriter, Mieka Pauley turns out, like Pete Seeger and Bonnie Raitt, to be a Harvard graduate.  Mieka attended Harvard when I was a grad student, concentrated (Harvardese for “majored”) in biological anthropology, and took a class I taught when I was a lecturer there for the 2000-2001 academic year.  I just got back in touch [...]

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We at monkey’s uncle (i.e., me) try to keep things serious, devoting our attention to matters of scientific import and technical interest.  Every once in a while something comes along that I can’t but help writing about.  This is one such occasion, by way of blogadilla. What in the Pleistocene could have possibly selected for [...]

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Using the tag cloud widget for WordPress, I find that my most commonly used tag currently is “economics.”  How can that be?  It’s not even one of my categories. Perhaps it is my broad definition of economics?  Perhaps it is my frequent discontent with the way that human behavior gets discussed in the economics literature? [...]

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  The ongoing quarter and my travel schedule have interfered with posting.  
I just discovered a super cool organization known as the Guild of Scientific Troubadours.  In order to become a member of the Guild, you must pledge  ”to write, record and submit one song per month based on a [...]

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Here’s a crazy idea from venture capitalist John Doerr: Don’t kick foreign students whom we have trained in science and engineering at our elite universities out of the country after they graduate.  Let them work in the United States where their education has almost certainly been subsidized in some way by the government and, ultimately, American taxpayers [...]

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Does this mean they have lawyers too?

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“There is no agony like watching your son pitch.”  Kevin Cool, editor of Stanford Magazine and coach of my son’s Fall ball team.  Guess who was pitching. Profound stuff…

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