Why Nerds are Unpopular

Top 20 Logical Fallacies - The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe Introduction to Argument Structure of a Logical Argument Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, our arguments all follow a certain basic structure. They begin with one or more premises, which are facts that the argument takes for granted as the starting point. Then a principle of logic is applied in order to come to a conclusion. This structure is often illustrated symbolically with the following example: Premise1: If A = B, Premise2: and B = C Logical connection: Then (apply principle of equivalence) Conclusion: A = C In order for an argument to be considered valid the logical form of the argument must work – must be valid. Also it is important to note that an argument may use wrong information, or faulty logic to reach a conclusion that happens to be true. Breaking down an argument into its components is a very useful exercise, for it enables us to examine both our own arguments and those of others and critically analyze them for validity. Examine your Premises Ad hominem Straw Man

Patrias de nailon | La Historia se acelera Patrias de nailon, no me gustan ni los himnos ni las banderas. Mario Benedetti. Decía el recientemente fallecido Alcalde de Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna, que las banderas han traído muchos problemas en este mundo y que, en general, han sido motivo de confrontación más que de unión. Y añadió: “si de mí dependiera, yo no pondría ninguna. Me vienen estas palabras a la memoria estos días en que la Diputación guipuzcoana gobernada por Bildu erige en el centro de San Sebastián una enorme ikurriña en señal de protesta por la decisión legal de que la enseña española presida las balconadas de todas las instituciones. Siempre me ha angustiado la idea de verme atrapado bajo una de esas grandes banderas que en ocasiones los hinchas despliegan en las gradas de los campos de fútbol. Algunos nacionalismos, sobre todo los anclados en una visión romántica de la nación, viven de su retroalimentación y tienden a despreciar a quienes no nos alineamos en ninguno de los bandos de su particular litigio. Me gusta:

Making sense of differences between medical schools through Bourdieu’s concept of ‘field’ - Brosnan - 2010 - Medical Education Applying Bourdieu’s concept of field to medical education: understanding differences between UK medical schools The 30 medical schools in the UK range from schools which are part of ancient universities to those which have been established in the 21st century to meet the need for increased numbers of medical practitioners. They also vary in their curricula: some are integrated, emphasising early clinical exposure, with many now using problem-based learning (PBL), and others place an emphasis on basic science and retain a more distinct pre-clinical/clinical divide. The General Medical Council (GMC) has a statutory responsibility for regulating UK medical education. The analysis which follows is supported by interview excerpts drawn from a larger study which examined faculty members’ (n = 15) and students’ (n = 37) perceptions of the curriculum at two UK medical schools. Medical schools’ competition for capital ‘I think we’re producing extremely friendly, patient-oriented doctors.

How to Be Silicon Valley May 2006 (This essay is derived from a keynote at Xtech.) Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or is there something unique about it? It wouldn't be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in other countries, because you couldn't reproduce it in most of the US either. What it takes is the right people. That's a striking departure from the past. Now you could make a great city anywhere, if you could get the right people to move there. Two Types I think you only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: rich people and nerds. Observation bears this out: within the US, towns have become startup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds. Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no rich people. I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college at Cornell, so I can answer for both. Not Bureaucrats Do you really need the rich people? Bureaucrats by their nature are the exact opposite sort of people from startup investors. Not Buildings Nerds Time

Nuestros hijos no son superfantásticos - El Blog de las Matemáticas El otro día hubo entrega de medallas en el Patronato deportivo de la ciudad donde vivo. Se hizo larguísima la ceremonia. Hubo medallas para todos. Ganadores y perdedores. A uno de mis hijos le tocó ganar. Al día siguiente, perdieron con los ganadores del pueblo de al lado. La escritora, psicóloga de profesión, se da cuenta de que llegan a su consulta veinteañeros desdichados y tira de manual. Cuenta la autora que, pese a los estilos pendulares de educar de distintas generaciones, los padres siempre han querido hijos felices. Ahora que a los adultos nos bombardean con la necesidad de ser resilientes, de saber afrontar las dificultades, no puede ser que les ahorremos todas a nuestros hijos. En EEUU, ese afán porque el niño sea feliz, ha llegado a que en algunos campamentos de verano se diga que “no son competitivos”, no vaya a ser que el niño se traumatice si no gana la medalla. Por todo esto, en el método Smartick nos gusta, primero, que el niño lo haga SOLO. Libros citados: Compártelo:

Social media insights from a digital strategist Using social media as a physician isn't about filling your office with new patients, as one expert will tell you, but is more about the "moral obligation" that physicians have to provide their patients with accurate health information. Healthcare IT News interviewed Howard J. Luks, MD, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and an associate professor of Orthopedic Surgery at New York Medical College, about how he incorporates social media into his practice. Luks is the chief of sports medicine and arthroscopy at University Orthopedics, PC and Westchester Medical Center. He is a digital strategist, who has been an early adopter and advocate of social media in healthcare. Why did you start using social media professionally? The information available to patients right now is too commercialized, frequently wrong and sometimes harmful. [See also: Docs have an obligation to use social media.] How do you find the time to fit social media into your busy schedule? Without a doubt.

Thoughts on Tech and Burning Man 1. Despite the growing mobile infrastructure at Burning Man, I think I only saw one person using a computer during the week, though the amount of people at center camp using a phone grew as the event stretched on. Even so, there weren’t all that many. Though the place was full of us valley types, a surprising number of us stayed -- at least publicly -- disconnected. 2. There’s a stereotype of the army of Silicon Valley types who descend on Black Rock City. Burning Man started as a San Francisco event and is still at its heart a San Francisco event, and in that sense is a document of how much the city has changed in the dot-com boom’s wake. As one employee of a large PC company who has been to more than a handful of burns told me, it’s all about real estate. Of course, there are strong ties between the SF counter-culture and tech, one of the reasons parts of the valley shut down the week of the event. Today we have Survival Research Laboratories, Anonymous and culture jams.

On “Geek” Versus “Nerd” | Slackpropagation To many people, “geek” and “nerd” are synonyms, but in fact they are a little different. Consider the phrase “sports geek” — an occasional substitute for “jock” and perhaps the arch-rival of a “nerd” in high-school folklore. If “geek” and “nerd” are synonyms, then “sports geek” might be an oxymoron. (Furthermore, “sports nerd” either doesn’t compute or means something else.) In my mind, “geek” and “nerd” are related, but capture different dimensions of an intense dedication to a subject: geek - An enthusiast of a particular topic or field. Or, to put it pictorially à la The Simpsons: Both are dedicated to their subjects, and sometimes socially awkward. Do I have any evidence for this contrast? “You shall know a word by the company it keeps” ~ J.R. To characterize the similarities and differences between “geek” and “nerd,” maybe we can find the other words that tend to keep them company, and see if these linguistic companions support my point of view? Data and Method where in this case

Making sense of ethnography and medical education. [Med Educ. 2005] - PubMed result I Have A Kindle Now. But I Won't Read A Book On It. Discuss. - J I had a birthday a few weeks ago and to mark the occasion, my wife bought me a Kindle. OK, yes, I’m a pretty digital guy, and despite writing my 1992 Berkeley Master’s thesis on “The Future of Print in the Age of Interactivity” – a thesis that celebrated the rise of a digital tablet fed by a world wide network – I didn’t run out and buy a Kindle as soon as they came on the market. In fact, I was rather suspicious of the device, with its cultish clan of devotees and its somewhat insidious approach to purchases (Whispernet is free – just use it to buy stuff!). I actively demurred my wife’s consistent implorations to buy one – much to her frustration as a card-carrying member of the aforementioned cult. I couldn’t explain why, but something about the Kindle just struck me as wrong. So when my wife handed me an Amazon box to open on my birthday…well it was awkward. Then again, my wife was clearly thrilled with her Kindle, and her enthusiasm carried with it the whiff of a movement . Why?

The Origin of the Nerd Introduction In the little more than a decade since I created my original web page here about the origin of the word nerd, it has grown considerably, in part due to various controversies about the word's origins as well as to new information and speculation about its history. My views on the term's origin have not changed much, as you can see by the fact that Dr. Seuss's Nerd has joined me in the page's icon (assuming that you're not viewing the page in the "Full Width" style), but it does seem like time to reorganize the material. The factor that made me decide that nerd might be a label worth reclaiming was its early association with Dr. Controversy Nerd vs Knurd The biggest surprise that my page has brought me is the vehemence of a number of readers that the original spelling is "knurd' and that the word derives from reversing the sense of the word "drunk", despite the lack of any documentation in support of the assertion. History Nerd And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo Nurd