![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif){kind=small}
The New York Times has a good article on some recent replications of Milgram's infamous conformity experiment where he ordered participants to give what they thought were potentially lethal shocks to an actor pretending to scream in pain.
They're not quite replications, because Milgram's experiment as it was actually run is considered unethical, but they're pretty close and the results are frighteningly similar.
There's also an interesting twist in one of the studies, that suggests people who go on to give the more dangerous shocks think about responsibility differently, assuming they are not responsible because they're being 'ordered'.
In the other paper, due out in the journal American Psychologist, a professor at Santa Clara University replicates part of the Milgram studies — stopping at 150 volts, the critical juncture at which the subject cries out to stop — to see whether people today would still obey. Ethics committees bar researchers from pushing subjects through to an imaginary 450 volts, as Milgram did.
The answer was yes. Once again, more than half the participants agreed to proceed with the experiment past the 150-volt mark. Jerry M. Burger, the author, interviewed the participants afterward and found that those who stopped generally believed themselves to be responsible for the shocks, whereas those who kept going tended to hold the experimenter accountable. That is, the Milgram work also demonstrated individual differences in perceptions of accountability — of who’s on the hook for what.
I recommend the picture on Jerry Burger's webpage. I swear he must of practised that movie villain grin especially for the Milgram replications.
Link to NYT article 'Would I Pull That Switch?'
Bleah!
In other news they finally got a new on/off switch for the BOD robot we requested/mentioned was a bit squiffy about 1.5 months ago. Nice they waited till it physically stopped working until they bothered to get an electrician in. I had a very large CBA feeling for most of the last week, luckily my leave is soon and I should shake it off shortly.
Kate is leaving tomorrow, I have her leaving card at work (signed by the other staff) and her random assortment of gifts purchased with donated money here on my desk. I need to get a nice way of carrying it on a motorbike. Joy! On account of her leaving I dont imagine we will get much work done tomorrow and I expect her leaving presentation thingy (at the pub) will overrun past out 45 minutes alloted time. I have a small assortment of amusing things to say at her presentation though no specific script. This means Ill likely just shove a box of gifts in her general direction mumble somthing about being sad then go cry somewhere. I will be sad to see her go, but we will still meet up and stay in touch which I am happy about. When I return form my holiday I will be visting the nearby Frome to meet her mother and have a look around. Like pretty much every place in England that hasnt been built recently or is a City.. its a "historic market town". That makes it sound interesting until you realise so is Chippenham.. and that was a shithole. Anyway, getting back on Track, Kate is leaving, I am sad.
Holiday
After tomorrow I am off work for 17 days returning JUST in time to be paid. This means if anything breaks or whatever neither myself nor Kate will be there to fix it. I am also going on my Chartered cruise around the Norweigan Fjords on a 1926 95ft sailing yacht that just had £1000000 dropped into its refurbishment. Its owned by my friend's dad.
while this is an oppertunity in a lifetime for me (its free other than flights and would normally cost me £2500 approx) I simply cant muster up the energy to care. I honestly do feel its wasted on someone like me and i admit i am somewhat dreading how I will find the time to entertain myself on a small boat in the middle of nowhere for a week... dispite the fact I have a Gormet Chef, a Hostess and 3 crew to amuse me as well as the other 5 people going with me.
I am though hoping to see at least one whale and go to some truely amazing scenery such as Preikesolen.
Ho hum, better start making a list of waht to take with me.
oh yes.. tomorrow I also have two work experience students to look after. I beleive thier chosen careers are: "Stoner" and "football hoolligan/chav". Its clear neither of them give a crap about SCIENCE!!!!1 but the company policy is to show them around anwyay. Seriously if the company wants to look good to the public then THEY can show them around. When they clearly dont give a crap its a waste of both thier time and my time and what with the BOD robot being down for a day when it was being repaired, the lack of staff due to sickness etc and LIMS errors blah blah blah...
I lost my train of though because I just found a 20 inch long hair on my keyboard. Sure as hell isnt mine... guess it must be my sisters.. which would make sense if this wasnt a new PC.
RAH!
SPORTS!
- Mood:
depressed
Hi Failers,
Based on your feedback, we made a small, but significant change to the layout of the site today. The square ad that appeared below the first post has now been moved to the top right corner. This means that posts will load faster and you can browse quicker.
Thanks to all of you, FAIL Blog has grown at a spectacular rate — we now rank #1,563 in the Technorati rankings. We’ll continue to read every single one of your 200+ submissions a day, even if we don’t get a chance to respond. So thank you for all your submits.
Keep sending us your fails to failpictures@gmail.com.
We’re working on a few new tools for you:
1) A new submission system for easy submission uploading.
2) Integration with the Cheezburger platform, so you can save your Favorites, keep track of submissions, etc.
3) Tools for editing your fail submission, so you can add arrows, circles, etc.
Keep Failing,
FAIL Blog
Thx Ivanov
Google Maps FTW (Thx Qwertz):
Here’s the location. You can even see the signs on the street view, although someone seems to have run over a part of the signs on the left… no doubt trying to read it.
For you Big Brother fans Battlefield: Bad Company is the Jen of the gaming world.
Anyway, I've just completed my second day of internment at the new job. As some of you may or may not know, I'm up here in York Mon-Fri staying in a hotel for about four to six weeks until the team moves down to London.
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
hauntedunix has been brilliant when I've had dumb questions, and I have to say that I'm very pleased to be working with the majority of the people on my team. The first class train travel, hotel and expensed breakfast and evening meals are all nice touches, though obviously I'd rather be at home with the lady.The job's pretty much as previously expected, and then some. it's not just Sky Anytime, but also the sky.com website, their STB provisioning and service systems, their broadband provisioning and assorted ephemera and a bunch of other little infrastructure things for them too. It's going to be a challenging position, but I think it's going to be an interesting one. It's definitely a huge step up in scale and complexity from Inspired.
I'm being slowly lead in, sitting in on things getting done when people offer and just browsing the Sky wiki and twiddling with a Solaris 10 VMware image to get some Solaris-fu up. The hotel's a mixed bag - small room that overheats a bit easily for my tastes, but the food at the hotel is absolutely stunning and the staff cannot be faulted.
Lily and the nice removals gentlemen moved all her (and my) shit into our new flat today. A decision she's made (I'll let her go into detail if she wants) means that she's feeling a lot more relaxed at the moment, so I'm glad she'll have a chance to enjoy the novelty of the new place properly. And unpack before I get back on Friday night. And make me a sammich.
My asthma is ACTUALLY killing me, but I'm on a steroid inhaler and antibiotics (strikes me as slightly counterproductive should it be an infection, but whatever) and hopefully things will improve soon. I'm intending on giving myself a week or so after I finish up in York and have a chance to get into a routine in London, then I'm going to be quitting smoking on a continuous basis. I'll still probably end up partaking when I go out, but I won't be smoking in the flat or at work or during the day at all.
Which has to be a good thing.
So yeah. A few more minutes and then I'm going to saunter off to the hotel - probably walk it again, as I did this morning. It's half an hour's walk away, but it's very pleasant and has cows.
What's going on in your life, Internet?
- Mood:
busy
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
Semiotics
[sem-ee-AH-tix] –noun-
1. the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior;
the analysis of systems of communication, as language, gestures, or clothing.
2. a general theory of signs and symbolism,
usually divided into the branches of pragmatics, semantics, and syntactics.
Dictionary.com entry for semiotics
Over the past three decades the semiotics of men's athletic wear has been puzzling.
Back in the 1900s, when I was a kid, their basketball shorts and swim trunks were as short
as the day is long. God Bless America.
Online Etymology Dictionary entry for semiotics
study of signs and symbols with special regard to function and origin, 1880, from Gk. semeiotikos "observant of signs," adj. form of semeiosis "indication," from semeioun "to signal," from sema "sign."
Contrarians-- Everyone is already aware of what all is wrong with everything under the sun -- make good use of yourself and come up with a better example sentence for that word, and /or explain to me what the parachute-dimension of men's shorts is all about, as a communicative gesture of the past several years... please and thanks!
- Mood:communicative
LAst night's setlists were as follows :
1)
Phillip Boa & The Voodoo Club - On tuesday's I'm not as young
The Ting Tings - Great DJ
Robots in Disguise - The sex has made me stupid
Icon of Coil - Former Self
Mesh - Crash
Nine Inch Nails - Only (Sebastian Komor mix)
2)
Pendulum - Propane nightmares
Faderhead - Dirty Girls / Dirty boys
Leaether Strip - Kill a raver
Covenant - Stalker (club mix)
Chemlab - Exile on mainline (extended dance mix)
Revolting cocks - Do ya think I'm sexy?
Ministry & Co conspiritors - What a wonderful life (Fast version)
Frontline ASsembly - Circuitry (Alien mix)
Uberbyte - Total war
Atari Teenage Riot - Sick to death
- Music:And One - Sexkeit
Everything is busy. Almost typed everything is busty, but that would probably be a bit wierd. I mean, if EVERYTHING was busty, no-one would ever get anything done I'm sure. I'm vey vey busy at work, despite my manager (and the rest of his kind, pointy-haired and all) having quite the hands-off approach to my allocation. Coming round to the idea that Maven (which I moaned about lots, ages ago) is actually quite cool. It's the way of things, apparently.
I should post short updates more often. I really really should. Dren Warrior is now lv52, started a Paladin as well to remind myself how burst damage and healing feels. You'll still find me on the EU Argent Dawn.
LOVING FFTA2! :D
- Mood:
blah
Super-fucking-chuffed at work right now. I have arranged a new business appointment with one of the world's largest and most successful PR agencies. I'll be going to that meeting for sure, meeting with their one of their Partners / CEO's (who is usually US based but over here for a while) and 6 of their account directors.
Blimey. You don't do that sort of shit if there's no interest!
- Location:Home (desk)
- Mood:
accomplished - Music:sleepy
nt]clothing; apparel; attire.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/r
She was very upset that after going on the hike, all her raiments were ruined. Now what was she going to wear?
Psychology Today have asked a group of leading thinkers to discuss their 'impossible experiment', if the impractical, unethical or unattainable was not an obstacle to the ultimate mind and brain study.
Presumably riffing on the BPS Research Digests' search for the 'most important psychology experiment that's never been done', they've gathered proposals that involve everything from brain swapping to behavioural mega-economics.
My favourite is from psychologist Bella DePaulo who has come up with a cunning way of studying the psychological effects of marriage:
I'd like to take couples who are living together and randomly assign half of them to marry and the others to stay unmarried. Then we could really know something about the implications of co-habitation vs. marriage. More outrageously, take people who are not in a serious romantic relationship, and assign half of them, at random, to marry. Single people are randomly assigned to a spouse who is chosen at random, or to a spouse who fits their description of their perfect partner, or to stay single. Who do you think would end up the happiest a decade later? Same for divorce. If married parents are already at each other's throats, is it better for the children if they divorce, or stay together? Randomly assign half of them to divorce, and half to stay together; then we'll see. Now take married couples who say they are happy and are not considering divorce. Randomly assign half of them to divorce! Now who will be happier ten years hence?
There's plenty more blue sky thinking, and a curious video involving a mannequin.
Link to 'Impossible Experiments'.
I've not slept incredibly well due to the heat at the moment and then having to work a full day, this is not the life of luxury and ease I've become used to. For some reason Kat has had very little sympathy for me over this. :( Back to working from home tomorrow though, so a nice lie in and then a day of working and watching films as my life is meant to be. ^_^
Spending a lot of my evenings involved in various game dev projects. A wiki text adventure, trying to finish up our previous abandoned game on my own and should really do some more work on the new game I'm working on with Subi. I'm really enjoying doing creative stuff again. Really enjoying it, I think by the time Trophis stuff faltered I'd somehow managed to suck all the fun out of it and turn it into grinding hard work. Right now with this game project we had abandoned I'm just experimenting with it, trying out various ideas playing around to see what's fun and cool and it's been great. I hope in a few weeks I can start sharing some early alphas for other people to try out.
So wow really, what a dull LJ post. Come on guys, you all tell me of exciting things to top this bland slice of London life. ^_^
made me laugh anyway.
Work today was crap, my machine was broken and it took all day to come up with a work around and use that to read off the work done 5 days ago. because of my general mood at the moment i really coulnt be assed with it all but I at least got the work done. It was a bit late to put any for next week though.
Blah!
Blah
more blah stuff.
going back upstairs to watch the Silver surfer.
Neurophilosophy has secured an interview Heather Perry, a lady who has drilled a hole through her own skull as part of a self-treppaning ritual, and is asking readers to suggest questions.
Treppaning is an ancient art but for obvious reasons, it's rarely done these days except during brain surgery.
Nevertheless, a dedicated band of devotees argue it has spiritual and psychological benefits.
I have to admit, I'm more than a little sceptical of these benefits, but I'd be fascinated to hear from anyone whose had it done.
So if you've got any burning questions, head on over to Neurophilosophy and Mo will select the best ones from the comments to put to Heather.
Link to Neurophilosophy call for trepanning questions.
Poll #1216070 Should moderators be able to:
Open to: All, results viewable to: All
View and change the community's settings
168 (29.7%)Change the community's customizations
Invite and remove members
Ban users
Approve or reject requests for membership (if it's a moderated-membership community)
Delete entries or comments
Freeze or screen comments, and see screened comments
Create tags for use in the community
Edit and delete entry tags on community entries
Also, what about a feature that would not let a maintainer remove a maintainer who had been appointed before them (like a seniority of maintainers)?
Poll #1216071 Maintainer removal
Open to: All, results viewable to: All
Make it so that maintainers cannot be removed by newer maintainers
We'd like to hear what you think - comments are welcome!
What comment below do you think best represents your position? (Click "Link" that's right after the time and date in the comment you like best, and cut and paste the URL here. You can change your response at any time by clicking on the poll number, and then clicking the [ Fill out Poll ] link at the top of the page.)
Poll #1216072 Goat vote
Open to: All, results viewable to: All
Link (URL) of comment you most agree with
- Mood:awake
I cannot find some episodes of the 21st season?
Can anyone help me ?
Much appreciated !
(because torrenting doesn't bloody work)
