Ongoing

Much to discuss, least of which:

• 2012 presidential election; republican candidates, Ron Paul; Obama, breaking promises, perpetuating war and destruction
• US-Iran conflict; how USFG cultivates influence on media to weave a fictitious narrative of  
• Occupy Wallstreet and Occupy Miami, activism in Miami-Dade County and its role in the future of miami.
• Homelessness in Miami and the circumstances of the Homeless; pottinger v. city of miami; public space/property more generally
• Greatest Depression, ongoing economic destabilization and the disintegration of the market as we know it; bailouts, inflation

I should try to focus on some more local issues, let me mention my community service issue of 2012--banning military recruitment in public schools.

a problem?

although surely not the explanation for every instance, it occurred to me that some may be bums because of how little exertion it requires.

Life of a Story: Is Buckley Towers getting renovated?

On February 3 the Herald reported that Buckley Towers is doing $18 million dollars in renovations, then the article disappeared. This site recorded the article. I wonder what the Herald did with it.

What does Google tell the government about me?

A recent blog post from Google highlights a transparency effort whereby statistics and information concerning government requests on Google are shared with the public.
Particularly concerning is the 94% compliance rate with the US government's request for User Data. Their website explains that each request may represent inquiries into more than one user. Has the US Government ever requested data about all users? Has the US government requested my user data?

The data given is very distressing in that no information regarding the nature of these requests is given, and with the patriot act a law, the legal justification for these requests may be unconstitutional at best.

Someone died

Is it ever going to be enough?

Sometimes I arrive early to my math class and watch the previous class' teacher answer individual questions after his lecture. Today he asked me what my class was covering. He was concerned to learn we were further behind than his class.

Counting Fish, the news story

"Fish as Good as College Students in Numbers Test" titles an article from National Geographic. The subtitle claiming fish count to 100 aroused skepticism in me.
There has been some discussion on the accuracy of science journalism. I address that here due to the amount of time I already dumped into this current investigation.

Of many, an initial curiosity relates the claims in the article to the actual findings and conclusion of the original scientific study. This tiny query, diligently pursued, led to a reasonable chronology of the story: do fish count?





Chronology

Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16868736

Fish can count to four--but no higher
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3326801/Fish-can-count-to-four-but-no-higher.html

Do fish count? Spontaneous discrimination of quantity in female mosquitofish.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18247068

Use of Numbers by Fish
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004786

Fish Can Count, Study Finds
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090331-fish-count.html

Unnatural Numb3r
http://dev.catalyst.rice.edu/archives/64

Can angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) count? Discrimination between different shoal sizes follows Weber’s law
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y142p56517048k76/

Ontogeny of Numerical Abilities in Fish
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0015516

Large Number Discrimination by Mosquitofish
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0015232

Fish as Good as College Students in Numbers Test
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110107-fish-count-numbers-humans-animals-science/