Web Stuff Friday: Hard Times

Ze Frank has a series of short videos called Hard Times.

• Holes
• Free iPhone app
• Affordable button
• Outsource
• Art Hour

They aren't all hilarious, but there is some good stuff in there. My favorite is "Outsource."

Web Stuff Friday: Passive Aggressive Blogs

Passive Aggressive Notes is a site I have heard about for a while, but hadn't visited until a friend at work sent me the link. There are some really funny ones in there, but one of my favorite parts of finding a really good blog/site is exploring the blogs to which they link. Passive Aggressive Notes linked to several good sites such as:

• Cake Wrecks
• FFFFound! has some wonderful images.
• Fimoculous has links to tons of interesting stuff.
• Thsrs is a thesaurus that always gives words shorter than the word you give it.
  
• You Suck at Craigslist has funny commentary on strange, disturbing, and moronic Craigslist posts.

Music Monday: The Pretenders

I was watching The Pretenders in concert at Cornbury Festival on HDNet this evening. It's a decent concert. No energy from the crowd, but the Pretenders are remarkably clean in concert. They never depended on slick production and have managed to keep their skills sharp. They really did a nice job.

Pretenders Cornbury Videos has links to each song in the concert.

Towards the end, they started playing Mystery Achievement, which has one of my favorite bass lines. When I looked up from my work to watch them perform, I saw that Chrissie has Michelle Obama arms! She is so buff! Chrissie is old enough to be a grandmother (she has daughters who are 26 and 24), but she is in absolutely amazing shape.

Anyway, the concert is worth listening to and watching. The Pretenders' energy and skill make up for the slothful British crowd.

Web Stuff Friday: Catching up with Remy

On Friday afternoon, a friend from work sent me a link to a video by Remy, about whom I have blogged before. The new video is called Arlington: The rap. When I saw the video, I laughed out loud, drafted this entry, and promised my friend that I would clean up the entry and post it this weekend.

What greeted me on the front page of the Post's Metro section on Saturday morning? This article about Remy's video. Good grief. If I were a little faster, I could have been ahead of the curve, but instead, I am posting about a video that is SO last week. Oh well. Here you go anyway:

• Arlington: The Rap is hilarious and gets the feel of Arlington so amazingly well.
• Mario Cart: The Rap is ok, but it makes this list because Boy Kid is into the DS version of the game.
  
• Five Facts About Remy provides a glimpse into the man behind the art.

His songs about food are fun:

• Tabbouleh Song
• Hummus: The Rap

No More Crunches; Do Push-ups for a Healthy Back

Newsweek had an article Stop Doing Sit-ups: Why Crunches Don't Work.

Now they tell me. I have been doing crunches for a while, with little effect on my gut. I feel stronger, but the gut is still there. On the other hand, push-ups rock. I need to increase the number of push-ups I do because they are better for my entire body. Leg lifts are also good, so I am starting to work more of them in to my routine.

Yes, I know that cutting back on cookies and pies and cakes is another strategy, but what can I say? I gotta be me.

Random Observation: George Jetson, Time Tourist & Mailman

This is absolutely the most random comment I have ever typed.

I was watching Magilla Gorilla with Girl Kid recently and I noticed that the mailman delivering a package to the pet shop looked familiar. It was George Jetson! What the heck was he doing walking on a street in the 1960's? Was the mailman simply George's doppelganger, or did George travel through time? Actually, maybe the entire Magilla Gorilla series was actually on a holodeck in some futuristic amusement park. My mind was boggling. The scientific and even philosophical implications are too intense.

As I was coping with the possibilities, I suddenly noticed that Mister Peebles looked suspiciously like George's boss Mister Spacely. That sealed it. It couldn't be a coincidence. George and Mr. Spacely clearly mastered time travel. Note that the Magilla Gorilla show started filming after The Jetsons' run was mostly done.

It turns out that I am not the first to notice that Mr. Spacely had an alter ego, but maybe I am the first to notice that George was moonlighting as well.

Wow. As I get older, I see that life is full of rich connections.

Women in Math and Science

I recently read an article about a new study concerning the impact female professors have on achievement. The study showed that female cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy were more likely to succeed in introductory science courses of they were taught by female professors, while male cadets didn't exhibit a gender effect. The original paper has many interesting details about the data and its implications. Here are some quotes I found particularly interesting:

• Compared to men with the same entering math ability, female students perform substantially less well in their introductory math and science courses.
• The gender gap is mitigated considerably when female students have female professors.
• Professor gender seems to be irrelevant in the humanities.
• The effect of female professors on female students is largest among students with high math ability.
• Professor gender has minimal effects on male students' outcomes.

This study made me think back to Lawrence Summers, who was President of Harvard University in 2005 when he made remarks about women in math and science. The most interesting part of his comments (and the reaction to them) was the discussion about the causes of the disparity in female representation in science and math careers. Many people took offense when he said that the cause might not be discrimination. Summers basically said that social causes (including discrimination) are overplayed, and innate ability plays a role. His comments set off quite a bit of controversy and ultimately led to his departure from Harvard.

I'd like to discuss the USAFA study with Summers. Maybe women are under-represented for the same reason they under-perform. Maybe we need more women professors, or maybe we need to show men how to teach more like women teach.