the corner office

Reading the comments sections of online articles is a dangerously slippery slope, but sometimes I indulge myself, and sometimes it's worth it. In response to the BBC poll "Should the Queen's Speech be cancelled?" (poor Nick Clegg's precious few moments of media attention this month), comes this beauty:

The Queen and Monarchy is about the only vestige of democracy left in this poor country of ours - leave it alone!

Another BBC article on the effects of certain types of plastics on babies. What's interesting is how the article (and the study it cites) says

Boys exposed to high levels of these in the womb were less likely than other boys to play with cars, trains and guns or engage in "rougher" games like playfighting

The article takes it for granted that this is typical 'masculine' play. Something of an un-PC view for the BBC to espouse, you'd think. I don't have a strong opinion either way, but it does go counter to some modern opinions on where the nature/nurture line is. If such 'masculine' behaviour is mostly nurture then it would suggest the study is flawed, if it's nature, then, well, perhaps some of our 'enlightened' views about gender differences are flawed.

I cycled to work this week, for the first time since we went on holiday. "Now Colin," you might ask, "isn't it a bit cold and miserable to go out cycling?" - to which I'd answer "Yup."

However, I'd seen that the bike stands at work were still filling up, and I thought that if my indomitable colleagues could face the cold and dark and rain, then I could, too. So I did. And it wasn't too bad, to be honest. I think the temperature could drop a few more degrees before I decide to give up for the winter. I skipped the ride today though, and given how especially wet and windy it's been, I think it's a good thing I did.

It's fascinating to see the strange ways in which humans' social nature is manifested.

Sixty 18-month-old infants were shown eight photos of household objects, such as teapots, books or shoes. Crucially, infants were divided into four groups, with each group shown one of four versions of these photos. One "affiliated" version featured in the background two dolls standing together side by side; another version featured a doll in the background on its own; the third version featured two dolls facing away from each other; and the final version merely had toy bricks in the background.

After they'd been shown these photos, another experimenter walked over to the infants and dropped a bunch of pens on route. Amazingly, the infants who'd seen the photos with the companionable dolls in the background were three times as likely as the other infants to help the experimenter by spontaneously picking up one or more sticks and handing it to the experimenter.

How to increase altruism in toddlers (via).

Hehehe. I read an article on the BBC site earlier today that had the line:

Why did it happen? Did a young woman in her teens get pregnant? The social morays at the time looked down on unmarried mothers

Checking back tonight, 'morays' has now been corrected. Pity.

Anyhoo, that got me to thinking about moray eels, which led me to the Wikipedia page, which led me to learn that morays have an extra set of jaws, called pharyngeal jaws, which, well, just take a look at the picture:

Pleasant dreams!

By the looks of things the Tories are planning to back down on the EU referendum. I can't see that playing out too well for them.

I'm just a lowly immigrant and grateful to be in the UK, but the EU hegemon certainly doesn't seem like a good thing to me. A perfect example of that is the news this weekend that UK nationalised banks are to be broken up by the European Commission - potentially meaning huge losses for British taxpayers. You could be forgiven for thinking that all the UK politics and intrigues over the past two years have just been theatre - no matter what gets said or promised or argued or written about, in the end some obscenely powerful EU politician steps in and has the final say, and there's not a whole lot that anyone can do about it.

Two articles:

• UK no likey the doobie: Scientists quit government drugs body over David Nutt sacking (Puritanical Gordon Brown ignores scientists who then get uppity)

• US likey the doobie: On the quiet, the US is legalising marijuana (Lots of states making it real, real easy to get cannabis for *koff* *koff* *koff* medical purposes).