I decided to set this journal to friends only, going forward, except for the driest of political stuff. Leave a comment here if you want permission to read the better stuff. I've also disabled anonymous comments, and I've also enabled IP tracking (for those who may be ultra-sensitive about privacy; I don't even know what to do with the IP addresses, but I'll figure it out real quick if I need to). If you don't have an LJ and want to comment, my e-mail should be listed under my profile; shoot me an e-mail.

I just finished up an interview with British skeptic Chris French. We talked about Shirley Ghostman; work he's done using psychology to explain paranormal experiences; and specifically the role of memory, sleep paralysis, and psychopathology in explaining alien abduction experiences. I intended it to be a discussion specifically about alien abductions, but I think it turned out to be much more, and much better, than I thought. The episode should go up by the middle of next week.

I'm a O88-C69-E15-A27-N37 Big Five!!

That is: High in openness to experience and conscientiousness (as I stay up past my bedtime to work on a new episode of my science-based Psyconoclasm podcast), and low in extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (did I mention that I'm sitting here alone, writing a critique of a journal article, and throwing in some sarcastic humor into the script as well?). Hello, P.T. Barnum!

A slightly edited version of a poem I wrote a few Springs ago that keeps popping into my mind. It's a good metaphor, I can't seem to nail the poem down completely though.


Today I walked by a pile of snow
Dirt covered on top and below
Unaltered by the heat and sun
It bothered me

"How dare you remain!"
"Your presence? Profane!"
Unmoved by my protests
It bothered me

Another long winter has passed away
The snow, a phantom on this warm, sunny day
Unaffected by the warmth I feel
It bothers me

Today I posted the latest episode of Psyconoclasm, an interview with Dr. Glenn Perry, an astrologer who criticizes the scientific approach. Let me know what you think!

It was a good movie. Excellent special effects. I saw it in IMAX. My advice: if you see it in IMAX, sit toward the back. It's such a fast movie with intentionally shaky film work that it'll give you motion sickness if you're too close to the screen. I usually hate time travel plots, but this one was a little easier to stomach for some reason. I think they handled it well, especially with what they did (or, rather, didn't try to do) at the end. The plot was decent. It wasn't an elaborate morality tale, like Insurrection so epitomized. It was much more character-driven. The acting was good. Scotty (played by Shaun of Shaun of the Dead) was a pure comedy figure, and was well-acted. Quinto (playing Spock) did a good job conveying the tension between his Vulcanity and humanity, something that was always bubbling below the surface in Nimoy's Spock, but came to center stage in this reboot of the series. The new Kirk was much more hotheaded and brash than Shatner's character, but you could see in Shatner's Kirk those qualities, usually tempered by time and experience.

The best analogy I can come up with is that it's like the recent reboot of the Batman series: take characteristics of these icons, mix them up just a little, intensify some of them and drop others, change the characters' circumstances, and see what happens.

Why is it that I can accept faster-than-light travel, but I can't accept the alternative worlds theory of time travel (a la Sliders)? They did some interesting things with silence during space scenes (which is what you would really hear if you were outside a spaceship). I liked the new warp effect. One of the guys I saw the movie with noted that whoever designed the new Enterprise bridge must have been a Mac fan.

There were some "shout-outs" to the fans: Sulu's fencing, Bones' "I'm a doctor, not a [blank]," Scotty doing the impossible with the engines. Plus Leonard Nimoy's appearances, I think they did that well. And oh, when Nimoy gave his dying line from Wrath of Kahn, it was a special moment. Kirk had some Shatner-like scenes in a good way (there's one scene where he's in the captain's chair, leaning toward one side, and he looks up at someone and gives them a curt reply, and it was like Shatner was doing it).

All in all, I was pleased with the movie. I hope they make another one in this vein.

In no particular order: I read a few books, went to a Red Sox game, maintained a relationship with a great girl, survived mono, went to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (yay Stravinski!), kept my job, won my 18-month battle for a free Zune, watched a few seasons of 24, saw Watchmen, met up with my old choir director, started cooking from a Rachel Ray cookbook, started going to the gym semi-regularly, bought a Mars Volta CD, received Nightmare Revisited (a cover album of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas), and . . . .

Started a podcast called Psyconoclasm!

Valve is having a big sale. You can buy Left 4 Dead for $38, Team Fortress 2 for $10, and Portal for $5. Portal for $5 is a real steal, you'll get way more than $5 worth of entertainment, if you're into great puzzle games. The highly acclaimed BioShock is $5 too, if you're interested in first-person shooters. If you get TF2, friend me (tag is braddogg, of course)!

Did anyone catch the Rick Roll today at the Macy's Day Parade? It was pretty epic. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

I'm working on a new project. I'd like to start a podcast looking at psychology from a scientific perspective. It would be aimed at the layman. I'm very flexible with the format, but in my mind I thought a half-hour weekly podcast discussing a specific topic in psychology would work very well. The focus would be on topics of interest to skeptics generally, such as the role of cognitive biases, as well as topics more specific to psychology, such as critical examinations of psychological therapies and pseudoscientific psychological theories. I like the "intelligent amateur talking with credentialed professional" approach taken by some podcasts. I'd be playing the part of the intelligent amateur, but I need one or more psychology Ph.D.s (professors or clinicians) to make it work. I think the format would work with one Ph.D. joining me, but I think it could be more fun and dynamic with two or three.

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please pass this along to them! They can e-mail me at: davidfbradley@gmail.com. Or if you have any suggestions of people I should approach, topics the podcast should cover, what feel would work best, general reaction to the idea of a psychology-based skeptical podcast, or any other advice or suggestions, I'd love to hear it.

The lady who drives the bus I take to work is a nice lady. On Monday, she sounded like she had a cold or something, so I asked her as I got on if she was feeling alright. "Oh, I'm not feeling too good." I made a sympathetic noise and asked her what was wrong. "I had my flu shot, and I always get sick after getting the flu shot." Really, I asked. "Yeah, I mean, they stick the flu virus right into you." I pointed out that the flu virus they use is very dead. "I know, but still, I got this shot two weeks ago, and the flu shot always makes me sick." I did a double-take. Was she seriously blaming a flu shot she received two weeks ago for her new, slight head cold? She dodged my objection, and I grumbled a little bit as I reinserted my ear buds, retreating to the sweet, soothing voices of Russ Roberts and Arnold Kling.

I know there are a bunch of you who voted for Obama. And I know you know I'm a total cynic when it comes to politics. But I'm not going to argue, I'm genuinely curious.

1. What policies do you hope Obama will enact?
2. What policies do you expect Obama to be able to enact?
3. If Obama does (or fails to do) ______ (in terms of policy), I will be deeply disappointed.

My brief answers:

1. End the drug war, avoid military excursions, end attacks on civil liberties.
2. Avoid military excursions, make the income tax more progressive, expand Medicaid and S-CHIP, establish a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, expand science funding.
3. Pulls out of or renegotiates existing free trade agreements, makes national service compulsory.

Ending the war on drug users, at least marijuana users, is something Obama seems sympathetic with, but I doubt it'll happen. Obama supported FISA, so he's no friend of civil liberties. Obama campaigned hard on wealth redistribution, and I think he's going to make progress on that, but the effects will be minimal. He also campaigned on healthcare reform, but I don't expect any major changes, though there will be expansion of existing government programs. He had some anti-free-trade rhetoric in the campaign, and I really hope it's just rhetoric. Same with the national service stuff.

To humor my cynical side: I am so glad Obama didn't lose. The fall out in terms of race relations in America would have been huge. For the next decade, America would have been considered a racist country, and racial hostilities would have flared. I don't think it's absurd to say that Obama would not be president-elect right now if he was a white man. Not because McCain is a better candidate than White Obama, but because Obama was a state legislator from Chicago in 2004 when he gave his speech at the Democrat National Convention, and there's no way he gets that prime speaking spot if he's white. Without the speech, there's no national name recognition, and he'd be just another first-term U.S. Senator right now.

All that to say, I'm sort of glad he won, and I look forward to four interesting years. I'm probably missing stuff from my list above; please feel free to suggest additions to my list -- things you think I care about and would want on my list -- as well as give your own in the comments.

I survived another goddamn election cycle. PHEW. I think this is the only post I've made about the general election, too. Anyway, congratulations to the new boss, Barack Obama. America, you just got fooled again.

I came across an old a cappella song on my computer, and it reminded me how great 90s chick rock could be. The song:



This live, full-orchestra rendition is amazing. I don't know the lyrics, it could be gibberish like Adiemus (speaking of the 90s), but it just sounds really, really powerful and pretty cool, in that haunting way.

Economist (and fascinating character) Tyler Cowen points to a website asking what you do to stay sane. Tyler hugs people unexpectedly and avoids TV ads. To stay sane, I read his blog, amongst other things (listening to science-based podcasts at work, reworking the themes of my future first novel, cracking wise as often as possible). I think the best piece of advice I've picked up from Tyler Cowen is to be comfortable abandoning books (and other projects, like podcasts). His philosophy: If what you're reading isn't the best thing you could be reading, it's okay to put down the book and pick up something better. That attitude does two things: 1) it prevents me from wasting my time on stuff I don't enjoy, and 2) it opens up opportunities to explore (because if I pick up a book that is abnormal, I can feel comfortable putting it down if it sucks; I'm more likely to try more things). I remember my father never left a Red Sox game until it was officially over. Part of that was because you never know for sure how a baseball game is going to end (even if the opposing team is up 13-1 in the 9th inning), but it seemed like there was a broader, more principled aspect of that line of thought, that it's important to finish what you started. I think that's what drove me to get my Eagle Scout award and to finish college. I had considered ending both pursuits, but decided to push through to the end, no matter the cost. Looking back on it, I'm glad I have the Eagle Scout award and the B.A (the pursuing the Eagle Scout award required more arm-twisting by my parents and myself, and is the one I regret more: I dumped a lot of time and effort into that, and if the Boy Scouts found out I was an atheist or an anarchist, I would have my award stripped from me). There's a certain wisdom in perseverance, but there's also a great freedom in feeling free to alter your previous decisions.

So what do you do on a daily basis to keep sane? I daydream about my future, listen to science-based podcasts, and make wisecracks. If my boss banned any of those things (without giving me more meaningful work), I'd give my two-weeks notice on the spot; I'm an emotional intellectual at heart, and that heart has to have some sort of outlet. How about you? What do you do to keep sane?

It's been a month since my last entry. So, here's a meme!

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 50 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing. (or two lines if they are hard; skip instrumentals or songs where the first line is the title)
Step 3: I'll strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly
Step 4: Looking them up on Google will make your computer explode!
Step 5: If you like the game post your own!

( Read more... )

What books have I been getting into?

A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. A socialist weaves a tale of class conflict and oppression from the time Columbus landed to the present day. I've just finished the Civil War era. It's an interesting read, and it (or a version of it) should be read alongside standard texts in high school U.S. history classes. I obviously don't agree with a lot of the moral undertones, but the facts seem honest, if selective. It's a good book, but I have to take it in doses.

Myst: The Book of Ti'Ana, by Rand Miller. The second of three books written about the Myst series of games. I've blogged about the first book before (twice, actually), and the second book seems to be the same as the first in terms of style. It's character-driven, and I enjoy getting into the fantasy-style world.

Critical Thinking About Research: Psychology and Related Fields, by Julian Meltzoff. This is a book published by the American Psychological Association (the APA, the governing board for psychologists). It outlines various methods, standards, and practices for psychology research. I haven't gotten very far into it, but it seems like it's going to cover a lot of the ground I've already examined by listening to skepticism podcasts and reading science blogs.

The Price of Everything: A Parable of Prosperity and Probability, by Russ Roberts. Alright, I haven't received the book yet, but I'm a regular listener to his EconTalk podcast, and I've read some rave reviews by other economists. Russ Roberts is a professor of economics who writes fiction books to make arguments about economic theory. This book, released two or three weeks ago, has been hailed as being his best. I look forward to reading it.

The 7th Son trilogy, by J.C. Hutchins. This is an audiobook released in podcast form: a podiobook. It's about 35 hours long. It's a heart-pounding adrenaline rush. There was a fiar amount of character development. I teared up at the end. The opening sentences: "The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy." The rest of the book follows the tale of seven clones who try to unravel the mystery of the Presidential assassination -- a mystery that sends them across the country, and is part of a plot that spans the world. J.C. isn't afraid to kill off his main characters, which makes the action sequences tense instead of trite. I had to try to suspend my disbelief about the science and psychology underlying the book's premise (one clone is a gay marine, another a priest who knows martial arts, another a "wild child," another a scientist, another an obese schizophrenic conspiracy theorist hacker). There's a lot of birth order woo too (the wild child is, of course, the seventh cloned, and the leader marine is, of course, the first cloned). But if you're not afraid of a little gore, this is a great thrill ride.

I have a few more audio books I'm listening to, but I'll write those up later.

Microsoft has been trying to promote its search engine, Live Search, for the past year or so. Part of their promotion has been a series of small word games on their website called the Live Search Club. The games involve a lot of use of the search engine: if you get a word right, it does a live search for it. Collect points, get prizes. Pretty nifty way of promoting a product.

About a year ago, I started using the Live Search Club thing. After a few months, I earned enough tickets to get one of the big prizes: a Zune (mp3 player). I turned in my tickets for the Zune in the beginning of November. The estimated shipping date was December 29. It came and went. No worries, I say to myself, they probably ran out. February comes around. I send them an e-mail. They say, Okay, sorry, we'll get that out as soon as possible. March comes around. I send another e-mail, and they say they're all out, with no projected send date. Whatever. End of April, I send another e-mail, and they tell me to hold tight, it'll be shipped out in three weeks. End of May, I'm getting pissed, and write a note to that effect. I get the form reply ("We're looking into it"). A week later, I write again, get the same reply. Two weeks later, end of June, I write again, they tell me to send them my shipping info. Nothing. A month later, end of July, I write another letter ("Will I ever receive this prize, or should I just give up now, become eternally bitter toward your company, and save all of us time? With growing aggravation, David"). Standard form reply. I just sent another letter. Will they respond? Will it be another form letter? And will I boycott Microsoft products as long as I live if they fuck me over? All signs point to "yes!" on all counts.

I have to admit, I don't like watching the Olympics like I used to. But there's something absolutely fantastic about watching an expert excel. I just watched Phelps swim the 400m individual medley (link is to high-quality NBC video of the race; the actual race starts at about 3:30), and what a sight. Check it out.

From essays on an AP US History test:

"Like the Titanic, America was thought unsinkable--until she hit the evil icebergs of Vietnam."

"The South is the skidmark on the underpants of America."

"Poll taxes kept blacks from voting, just like AP classes keep kids from college."

And this one isn't a metaphor, just a gut-buster, in response to a prompt about presidential elections from 1928 to 1948:

"In conclusion, the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 marked the end of oh fuck it says 1928."

Been there, kid, I feel your pain.