Author Archives

writer, singer, webwrangler, blogger, comedy tragic | about.me/vivsmythe

• Quicklink: OKCupid’s ‘statistical distinctness’ analysis

  By tigtog on 2010-09-12 • ( 2 )

  “We selected 526,000 OkCupid users at random and divided them into groups by their (self-stated) race. We then took all these people’s profile essays (280 million words in total!) and isolated the words and phrases that made each racial group’s essays statistically distinct from the others’.”

• Endangered Sunday: North American Bumble Bee

  By tigtog on 2010-09-12 • ( 3 )

  I’ve never seen a Bumble Bee in nature. I’ve seen plenty of imported European honey bees (some of them in the wild), and plenty of Australian native bees (which are mostly solitary, so no hives for them – our few social species are stingless, which is nice).

  But we don’t have Bumble Bees here, so I’ve missed out…

• Blogiversary! and Gratuitous Benedict Cumberbatch blogging

  By tigtog on 2010-09-10 • ( 16 )

  This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for the last fortnight hoping for a stroke of brilliance to strike so that I could post something suitably amusing and symbolic of the last 5 years of blogging. Thanks so… Read More ›

• Thursday Cheezburger: Grifters and Cons, and Delurking Day

  By tigtog on 2010-09-09 • ( 6 )

  Today’s Thursday Cheezburger highlights those sneaky LOLcats running scams … join in! Also – it’s Delurking Day! If you’ve been reading along, give us a shout and let us know you’re there. You’re welcome to say hi, introduce yourself, or tell us what’s impressed or disappointed you lately.

• EU bans experiments on great apes

  By tigtog on 2010-09-09 • ( 2 )

  After two years of heated debate on how to protect animal welfare without scuppering scientific research…

• APODtastic – Space Shuttle Tribute Poster: Endeavour

  By tigtog on 2010-09-09 • ( 4 )

  The poster shows the link between Captain James Cook’s HMS Endeavour and the shuttle that commemorates its voyages. This is only one in a series of new posters showing the Shuttles and the missions they have flown.

• The Australian media throwing a collective tanty at prospect of an Abbott-less Lodge

  By tigtog on 2010-09-08 • ( 6 )

  A disgraceful sight it is too. A left-wing media is it? Only to someone wearing blinkers. Thank goodness for bloggers!

• Less than 2 weeks left to rate favourite Oz films for IF awards

  By tigtog on 2010-09-08

  … it’s a timely reminder that now is the time to make your opinion count in terms of the latest Australian films that are contenders for awards. For those concerned with social justice and media representations of marginalised groups, it’s an excellent opportunity to vote up films with diverse and inclusive casts and storylines.

• It’s #bellhooksweek

  By tigtog on 2010-09-08

  Please share links to other articles celebrating the works of bell hooks, or your favourite bell hooks quote, in comments.

• Tipping points, non-renewables and a postcapitalist future

  By tigtog on 2010-09-07

  Kim Stanley Robinson (KSR) published this article last year, but it’s worth looking at again in light of ever more data showing that we are running out of planet, or at least running out of the non-renewable resources needed to continue growing the classic capitalist economy: