Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Australia's most famous impostor?

Helen Darville, one of the more interesting and enigmatic Australians I've written about, will be on the Insight discussion television show tomorrow night on SBS. I believe it is a repeat. The theme of the episode is lying.
http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/overview/608/Liar-Liar

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Lili's thought for the day


See how animated Daniel Tammet's facial expressions can be when he's caught a bit off-guard? 
http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendungen/lesezeichen/lesezeichen-buchtipp-212.html

Not wondering any more

I had been wondering how a study of the quality of this one could have made it through the peer-review process to publication: 
Is synaesthesia more common in autism? by Simon Baron-Cohen, Donielle Johnson, Julian Asher, Sally Wheelwright, Simon E Fisher, Peter K Gregersen and Carrie Allison. Molecular Autism. published November 20th 2013, 4:40  doi:10.1186/2040-2392-4-40

But I've had a look at the homepage of that journal and now I'm not wondering any more. Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen is one of the two editors-in-chief of the autism research journal. 

Sunday, April 06, 2014

Lili's approving thought of the day


"...we think that civil disobedience means refusing to wax our pubic hair."

Love this opinion piece by Corinne Grant:
http://thehoopla.com.au/take-piss-australia/


Lili's disgusted thought for the day

50% of Australian mothers report experiencing discrimination in the workplace:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/half-of-all-mothers-experience-workplace-discrimination-report-finds-20140407-367uy.html

Lili's realistic thought of the day

The idea that you should do what you love and are good at as a career only seems to apply in Australia to men and women who aspire to careers that suit the gender stereotypes. There's little support out there for people who wish to achieve goals that are seen as unrealistic or unnatural. 

Saturday, April 05, 2014

Lili's thought for the day


I'm very pleased to see the websites of Let Toys be Toys - For Girls and Boys and Play Unlimited but I definitely don't think the sex segregation problem is limited to toys and children's books, or limited to children. I would like to spread awareness that gendered marketing is also used in Australia to promote job vacancies, pens, chocolate bars, publicly-funded parenting courses and health services, politicians, television channels, cordial, cook-books, public awareness campaigns about psychiatry, vitamins, magazines in at least one public library and countless supermarkets and newsagents, and any number of other things. It's not only a problem that we have to contend with another insidious tool in the hands of advertising and marketing companies, we also have a marketing tool that is thrust upon Australians of all ages from all directions that reinforces and encourages gender stereotypes. I've had it up to here. How about you?
http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/new-wave-and-old-fashioned-sex.html

Friday, April 04, 2014

Murdoch and Barwood's research attracts more well-deserved attention

Retraction Watch recently reported that another medical research journal paper by former University of Queensland researchers by Bruce Murdoch and Caroline Barwood has been retracted, reportedly because control group data was "re-used" to make the group bigger. In September 2013 another paper of theirs was retracted due to fabricated data. But what about the statistical discrepancies in the control group in a third study discussed in the comments of this blog post? I think I see a pattern here, and I'm wondering how much more fabricated or re-used data there is out there. 
http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/you-cant-believe-everything-that-you.html

Lili's thought for the day

I will miss Dave's tasteless jokes. 

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Lili's unsurprised thought of the day

Did you notice that one of the studies refuted by Dr Cordelia Fine's article was a product of the team at Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen's Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. "Sex differences in human neonatal social perception" is the title of that study, which has apparently been contradicted by recent studies. My brain being marked with immaturity cannot help but imagine the professor reading out the title of the study as I read it silently, with terriers, hounds and spaniels pricking up their ears for miles around. 

Lili's concerned thought of the day

I'm concerned about the "correction" to Dr Cordelia Fine's recent article in New Scientist. The "correction" goes against the main argument of the article, and isn't any better a reflection of the conclusions of the journal paper linked to in the "correction". 

Lili's fun idea for the day

Let's go down to the shopping centre food court and get a death stare from a toddler in a stroller. 

Lili's thought for the day

Is Norrie a man or a woman, both or neither? One thing is certain; Norrie is no introvert.