Letters to the Editor
Silenced
Published Letters: 1358 Editor's Choice: 75
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They get failing grades on their own issues
[Read the article: Congress to New York (and Chicago and L.A.): Drop dead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bin Laden was still alive to gloat on the sixth anniversary of 9/11. Shame on Republicans for veering so far off target.
Using federal funds to control state and local laws is just a backwards way to make the federal government bigger. Shame on Republicans for this big government attack on state and local rights.
And especially shame on them that this federal extortion of state and local governments involves anti-terror funding.
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Two pieces of information you need to call it science
[Read the article: The science of strippers' tips]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What was the sample size and how big were the error bars?
The women dressing story had a sample size of N=30. If you pick the right thirty college students, you can prove just about anything.
So just how ridiculously small was the sample population in this so-called study?
No answer.
This article proves that Psychology Today is not qualified to report on science.
I'm really sick and tired of this sloppy, stupid way people are talking about gender science these days.
No sample size, no error bars, nothing remotely scientific that might interfere with the drama of the so-called conclusions.
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You're right Godmonkey
[Read the article: The science of strippers' tips]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But still, our behavior is largely determined by our primate background.
Of course, it's obvious. That's why we live in trees, masturbate with sticks and eat fruit all day.
And primates don't give samples sizes or error bars when they publish scientific studies either.
It all falls into place when we remember our primate background.
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I remember a lab class I took once
[Read the article: The science of strippers' tips]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you reported conclusions of an experiment and didn't give your sample size or provide error bars for your measurements, the instructor would rip those pages out of your lab book and throw them in the trash and make you start all over again.
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There is a monthly cycle that matters quite a bit in stripping
[Read the article: The science of strippers' tips]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's called "the day the customers get paid."
I'm curious how the scientist who did this study isolated the payday effect on tip size from the variation in tip income she assumes comes from ovulation.
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See, the the thing that bugs me about evolutionary psychology
[Read the article: The science of strippers' tips]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]They don't produce much in the way of meaningful error bars yet they insist on calling the field a "science."
And if you object to their lack of error bars, their typical response is to level an accusation of political correctness.
There seems to be no notion of scientific rigor operating in the field that I have been able to detect as yet.
Perhaps this is the fault of poor science reporting. More likely it is the fault of poor science, period.
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Halloween is about getting up close to death
[Read the article: Eek, it's Sexy Anna Rexia! ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it's absolutely appropriate to wear an anorexia costume on Halloween, since anorexia is very much connected to death.
In the Dia de Los Muertos tradition, the female embodiment of death is called La Flaca, the skinny woman. So there's even a precedent for this in Mexican culture.
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One of those days
[Read the article: Maybe the "wide stance" was a better argument]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]when I want to hug a judge.
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Something I've always wondered
[Read the article: Barney Frank quotes Karl Marx]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]People seem to assume that the dialectical process is like some convergent and well-behaved series. Why?
It's like 19th century math. Why should the world work according to 19th century math?
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Hemp seed doesn't provide DHA, only fish does that
[Read the article: The fish-eating conundrum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hemp seed has all the short chain EFAs you need, but I haven't seen any research suggesting that your body can turn those short EFAs into DHA.
I think only fish provides DHA. DHA is the EFA that's been associated with neural protection in scientific studies.
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Barbarians are NOT chasing you down with scalpels
[Read the article: Plastic mommies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As someone whose postpartum curves would make a prime scalpel target for this sort of barbarity
You're an actual TARGET of barbarian scalpels, eh?
Save the drama for your mama.
This is the kind of emotional manipulation and intellectual dishonesty that keeps me away from organized feminism.
Just because SOME women prefer to have tummy tucks after giving birth, and the New York Times HAPPENS to report on this FACT, does NOT mean that anyone is going to FORCE this on YOU.
I think you've got some control issues, frankly. It's like you believe if you can't control everyone else, then they're necessarily controlling you.
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I like the song
[Read the article: Britney Spears' "Gimme More" video makes it online]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's a good song, surprisingly. Not really interested in the video though, sorry.
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I'll share my secret for becoming a girl math whiz
[Read the article: Gaming makes women smarter?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I sat down and did the work. It's like becoming a great tennis player. You have to train and train and train and train.
First you have to WANT to do the work, and then you have to want it enough to achieve a freakish level of focus on the work.
I don't see how achieving a freakish level of focus on video gaming is ever going to make someone good at math.
The time they're spending becoming good at video games is time they're NOT spending learning math.
There seems to be a bit of magical thinking going on here. You can't become good at math without actually doing math.
Video games are not magic. They don't teach you calculus or differential geometry in your sleep.
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Sorry I forgot about algae
[Read the article: The fish-eating conundrum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's because it creeps me out, I guess.
I'm afraid to try to any vegan-type products after the horrible mess soy made of my life. Four years on 20 mg of prednisone, that wasn't fun.
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Here are two things that really bother me
[Read the article: Gaming makes women smarter?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Professor Ian Spence, one of the study's researchers, believes this could be key in "helping to attract more women to the mathematical sciences and engineering."
1. None of the major math and physics geniuses I know have ever played video games or ever displayed any interest in playing video games.
2. As American children have spent increasing time playing video games, they've been showing decreasing interest in careers in math and science.
That's why we have to import a huge chunk of our math and science talent from countries where the kids didn't have access to video games when they were growing up and instead endured very strict instruction in formal mathematics.
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Good point Splendide
[Read the article: Gaming makes women smarter?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm thinking about Helen of Troy and her ancient textile factory that the Greeks rowed all the way to Troy to seize.
Seriously, the loom was the first programmable technology.
You have to think mathematically in order to plan and execute a piece of fabric on a loom.
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Helen and all her possessions
[Read the article: Gaming makes women smarter?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Her looms and spinning wheels and expert weavers and spinners.
Helen wasn't what the Greeks demanded. They demanded Helen plus Helen's productive capacity in manufacturing luxury textiles.