bodhi tree swaying

A brief mention of Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham’s, passing was posted on Lucianne.com a right-wing “news forum”. The comments became so toxic that the site owner had to remove them.

Conservatives rejoiced. Conservatives implied that her death had been “conveniently timed” to help Obama win the election. That she’d been killed to boost him in the polls. A MsMontana commented, “R.I.P. old woman…you deserve it.”

I have to say I fear for America. Where is all this poison going to go now that Obama’s been elected? Is it just going to dissipate as people find that Obama is a likable, honorable, and talented president? Or are these people so out of touch that they’ll continue to adopt a poisoned view of everything about him?

Because they lost the election, and because of the nature of hatred, some of the poison will be …

Jake is about to chip onto the green at his local golf course when a long funeral procession passes by.
From Predictably Irrational, a really fascinating blog on the science of rationality.

He stops in mid swing, doffs his cap, closes his eyes and bows in prayer. His playing companion is deeply impressed. “That’s the most thoughtful and touching thing I’ve ever seen,” he says. Jake replies, “Yeah, well, we were married 35 years.”

Who do you think will find this joke more funny liberals or conservatives?

Common stereotypes link the word “liberal” with words such as open-mindedness, tolerance, and impartiality, while the word “conservative” is linked with tradition, caution, and conventional values. Given these associations we might expect that liberals will appreciate, and respond more to humor and jokes than

…

…although presumably if I was a law enforcement officer with a gun I’d get some training.

Anyway, in Nick Kristof’s article on unconscious racism today he links to a “shooter effect” test on the University of Chicago website. The photograph above is not me, in case you’re wondering. It’s from the “shooter effect” test, which is a computer game where you have to make a snap decision whether to fire at an armed man or holster your weapon for an unarmed man (it’s all men). Some of the men are black and some are white. The test is to see whether there is an unconscious tendency to shoot people of one race more quickly than another, or to shoot them more often when they’re unarmed.

Here are my results:

Your Score: 70
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:862.44ms
Black Unarmed:931.72ms
White Armed:775.8ms
White Unarmed:1381.16ms

So first off, I’m crappy at …

In Something About Sarah, Kathleen Parker has some interesting things to say about men’s (and McCain’s) propensity to become distracted by pretty ladies:

…there can be no denying that McCain’s selection of [Palin] over others far more qualified — and his mind-boggling lack of attention to details that matter — suggests other factors at work. His judgment may have been clouded by . . . what?

Science provides clues.

At least her column seemed interesting to me, but maybe that’s just because she’s kinda hot.

Read the whole article