From the oil drum

... plenty of lawyers go into politics, ... As a result politics tends to be framed by lawyer thinking, not engineer thinking. Politicians do not deal in facts. They deal in perception.

Well, we could expand the subjective of first sentence a little bit. Politics is not the only profession that cares more about perception than facts.

A Star Is Made - New York Times

A Star Is Made - New York Times

A star is made, but how to make? I need a manual.

Realclimate commented Freeman Dyson's global warming piece at NYB. I think the comment on "being contemptuous of bullshit" would be applicable to much broader issues.

4. Majority scientists are contemptuous of those in the minority who don’t believe in the dangers of climate change. I often find myself contemptuous of efforts to misrepresent science to a lay audience. The target audience of denialism is the lay audience, not scientists. It's made up to look like science, but it's PR. We have documented Lindzen’s tortured and twisted representation of the science to non-scientists here and here. If Lindzen had a credible argument to support his gut feeling (and apparently Dyson’s), I can promise that I for one would take it seriously. I’ve got kids at home whose future I worry about. If Lindzen were right, no one would be happier about that than me. But I do get contemptuous of bullshit.

It is clear that the primary season coverage is closer to American Idol than any serious discussion. Now I doubt All Things Considered might be something worse than propagada - propaganda dressed up as journalism. It becomes clear when they reported some stories I felt personally related to - the earthquake in China. In their latest blog entry, they repeated their hints that teachers' request of the students to stay killed them. They did not bother to point out that the teachers are just following the standard guidelines. Easily, someone defense them by pointing out that they were merely quoting others. It is so typical in All Things Considered. Hiding in the shelter of quoting others, they abondan the responsibilities of fact-checking. What to quote, what not to? This could so easily be manipulated.

They do have some nice pieces though.

American Idol vs. American President ?
Last night, I was watching the 12th season of America's Next President, well, I have to admit I scrolled to America's next top model during commercials, until American Idol began on Fox.

Which is a better TV show? The winner is in. America voted, "American Idol, you are safe!"

I won't be surprised if this year no candidate could win the popular votes against the Idol. Bush did not in 2004. Obama had a chance, but I won't bet on it.

Maybe it is healthy to keep voters' hope low.

Scientific American: The Expert Mind

Scientific American: The Expert Mind

Highlights
- Ericsson argues that what matters is not experience per se but "effortful study," which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one's competence.
- Simon coined a psychological law of his own, the 10-year rule, which states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field. Even child prodigies, such as Gauss in mathematics, Mozart in music and Bobby Fischer in chess, must have made an equivalent effort, perhaps by starting earlier and working harder than others.

Boyden, E. S. "How to Think." Ed Boyden's Blog. Technology Review. 11/13/07. (http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/boyden/21925/).

How to Think - Managing brain resources in an age of complexity

A few highlights.
Synthesize new ideas constantly.
Make contingency maps. Draw all the things you need to do on a big piece of paper, and find out which things depend on other things. Then, find the things that are not dependent on anything but have the most dependents, and finish them first.

And most importantly:
Make your mistakes quickly. You may mess things up on the first try, but do it fast, and then move on. Document what led to the error so that you learn what to recognize, and then move on. Get the mistakes out of the way. As Shakespeare put it, "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."