Rotundus.com

Water, Water Everywhere: So why should I worry about wasting it?

As the report notes, not all water usage is the same. Typically where water is treated and then returned to the source (e.g. diversions from a river vs. water evaporating after being sprayed on a lawn), it's not as bad. While water can be returned to rivers with relative ease, it's difficult to return it to aquifers (i.e. groundwater). You may now thank me for my commitment to the environment by refraining from washing my car on a regular basis. Water management actually can account for a large percentage of energy consumption as well - I've heard figures as high as about 20% in the past, but I'm feeling to lazy to try to dig up some more sources on that at the moment.

Congratulations to Peter Diamond on Winning the Nobel Prize in Economics

Why is it that I so often hear stories similar to the following?

Diamond often would fall asleep in seminars, often for large chunks of time. What was amazing, however, is that he would open his eyes and then make by far the most insightful comment of the entire seminar!

How many of these are true, and how many are simply legend? Or is falling asleep in talks a key to academic success?

Study: Girls Do Understand Math, but We Don't Want Them To

A lot of the arguments about why there are relatively few women in sciences seem to revolve around distributions of male and female intelligence having a similar mean, but the male intelligence distribution having a larger standard deviation [i.e. more male idiots and more male geniuses]. However, apparently in some other countries math scores for girls have similar variation as in boys, suggesting that this is more of a cultural issue. (Note: this comes via Fox News... feel the ever over-hyped conservative bias. Once you separate pundits from news, I don't really find them worse than any others)

Fox primary: complicated, contractual

Here's a crazy quote: "With the exception of Mitt Romney, Fox now has deals with every major potential Republican presidential candidate not currently in elected office." (i.e. beware the pundits... but that's the same with pretty much any place out there)

No right to lawyer during questioning, SCC rules

So, suspects can't be forced to participate in an interrogation, but have no right to have a lawyer with them if they so request. Of course, the court's statement that "[po]lice must give the detainee an additional opportunity to receive advice from counsel where developments in the course of the investigation make this necessary" seems a bit ambiguous.

There Goes the Neighborhood: Rage against the ‘breeders.’

"One dog owner interviewed by the Post said that she wished the kids could be confined to a fenced-in area of the park." - That's funny. I wish dogs could be confined to a fenced-in area of most parks.

Extremist Engineers: Why are so many jihadis engineers?

So 44% of those with discernable academic backgrounds in militant Islamic groups were found to be engineers - particular electrical, civil, and computer. The authors of the study that this IEEE Spectrum article covers suggests that engineers are a relatively conservative bunch. I wonder, though, if a large part of the reason for this could be that engineers might be useful recruits for the sort of activities that these groups plan to engage in.

6-year-old boy suspended for toy gun at school

It was a "bright orange and yellow Nerf gun" ... obvious this would be likely mistaken for an assault rifle.

The Wall Street Journal is but one of many sources reporting upon analysis of recent information released by the U.S. Census Bureau:

... for the first time the proportion of people between the ages of 25 and 34 who have never been married exceeded those who were married in 2009—46.3% versus 44.9%, according to an analysis by Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a non-profit research organization in Washington.

My question: how much, if any, should you care?

e.g.

Case 1: you could get mildly intoxicated (but not too intoxicated to legally be unable to sign a contract) on a weekend trip to Las Vegas, and get "married" at 2am by a guy dressed up as Elvis to an individual you met just a few hours before. That would be legally a "marriage" - although you could also get a divorce a few hours or days or weeks later if so inclined.

Case 2: On the other hand, vows taken in front of a group of friends and/or family aren't legally a "marriage" unless you've got a government stamp of approval.

I'd argue that the latter case seems like something that could more legitimately be called a marriage than the former. Martin Luther would seem to agree.

What does the legal status of "married" mean anymore that makes it different from "common law"? (Other than perhaps as acting as a bit of a bureaucratic shortcut - wills, living wills, etc.).

Man stabbed by friends who wanted to suck his blood

I think that this guy needs to find some new friends. The article does note that "[t]he victim, identified as 25-year-old Robert Maley, says he has let his friends suck his blood on previous occasions"

Rape charge anonymity pledge dropped

This sounded like an interesting idea: keeping the identities of those accused of rape anonymous before trial. Apparently the idea has been dropped though.

Top reason for Facebook unfriending: Too many useless posts

Not too surprising. I wonder what the hide vs. unfriend ratio is.

Human error is biggest obstacle to 100 percent flight safety

Pilot error has been accounted as the primary cause of two-thirds of air crashes around the world. But, given the low probability of crashes it doesn't really seem worth cheering.