Still just monkeys; Just not kosher; Great moments in math education

For those of you who think your last date picked you because of your witty banter, I’ve got news for you: a UCSB study has shown that women who are shown photos of men and asked to pick those who would make a good short or long term partner are able to identify those with elevated testosterone levels, and those who describe themselves as liking children. This blows me away — I realize testosterone levels can lead to certain visual cues (square jaw, more facial hair, etc), but the ability to correctly select men who like kids based just on a photo is pretty impressive. It just goes to show how powerful that reproductive urge deeply rooted in your brainstem really is. I mean, if it wasn’t for that, how many people would really bother getting up out of bed in the morning?

No TV drama script writer could make up the stuff coming out of the CIA these days. Now, the FBI is investigating after several top officials quit in the aftermath of fingerpointing regarding who had leaked information to the media. It seems a man selected to become the C.I.A.’s new executive director had to turn down the job when it surfaced in the news media that he had resigned from the agency in the 1980’s after being caught shoplifting… bacon. I wonder just how much bacon one needs to steal before the CIA dismisses you. Or maybe it’s just that anyone dumb enough to be caught shoplifting, couldn’t possibly make a good secret agent?

And finally, I highly recommend this PBS video to anyone geeky enough to have memorized a few dozen digits of π. No kidding, it was actually on the air.

Edit: it seems that wasn’t actually a PBS clip, it was a music video done by retro video producer Keith Schofield for the band Hard ’n Phirm. He’s done Death Cab for Cutie and Wintergreen videos too.