Beware of false positives

Greetings.

Jewish date:  4 Tishri 5770.

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Elephant Day, Dear Diary Day, International Car Free Day, International Dadaism Month.

Worthy cause of the day:  Urge your Senators to Protect the EPA’s Ability to Curb Global Warming Pollution.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “COBOL turns 50”:  Be afraid.  Be very, very afraid.  COBOL is a language which gets only a bit more respect than BASIC.
• “Neil Armstrong isn't worthy of Texas textbooks?”
• “How torture may inhibit accurate confessions”
• “Mooo-ve that manure: Agricultural runoff a spreading public health issue”
• “Cursive writing may be fading skill, but so what?”
• “Animal Oddities”:  Submitted by Barry.  Anything which can go wrong in biology will go wrong.  This includes the genes in snakes which suppress the development of limbs.
• “Thesis comes to life in cardboard computer case”
• “Shirtmaker designs tie for your iPod”
• “How to read articles about health and healthcare”
• “Lack of insurance causes more than 44,000 U.S. deaths annually, study says”
• “Tiny tyrannosaur had all the trappings of T. rex”

Today’s weird things are “Scanning Dead Salmon in fMRI Machine Highlights Risk of Red Herrings” and “The Story Behind the Atlantic Salmon”.  The story made short is that a dead salmon put in a functional MRI returned (false) signs of brain activity.  This was not even a recently dead salmon.  It was a dead salmon sold in a supermarket.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and beware of false positives.

Aaron