Comments for Drewski

Comment on Long-distance Settlers by Marc

Marc — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:43:51 +0000

wow! who’s that crazy-looking dude on the computer screen at the end of the table????

Comment on Long-distance Settlers by Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:03:22 +0000

iChat has the best video, to be sure, but for our purposes we used Skype, which had better audio. We had a board set up on both ends of the chat, so the audio was more important.

Comment on Long-distance Settlers by Gretyl

Gretyl — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:05:38 +0000

My wife & I recently test-drove a similar setup for Pandemic. iChat++

Comment on Christmas Tour by Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:09:07 +0000

Haha, I try? We actually did it once before (messed up the ending) and I thought the second time was too cheesy. I’m glad it worked though.

Comment on Christmas Tour by Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:07:34 +0000

Yes, it will likely be a while yet. But I’m sure we’ll see each other again.

Comment on Christmas Tour by Marc

Marc — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:03:29 +0000

Lovely decor! I love your surprised look when you opened the door, Andrew!

Comment on Christmas Tour by Donald

Donald — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:59:37 +0000

Aw, you two are cute. Love the decorations. Seeing the video made me miss you, Andrew. It’s been a while, though I fear it’ll be longer still. Someday we’ll see each other again, no?

Comment on der/die/das and el/la make you think differently by Zach

Zach — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:23:24 +0000

Boroditsky does some interesting research for sure and it has provided further fodder for the Linguistic Relativity debate that has been raging since the 1930s with introduction of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The problem with Boroditsky, beyond her penchant for self-aggrandizing in the mainstream media, is that other researchers (c.f., January & Kako, 2007) have had a difficult time replicating her research (particularly Boroditsky, 2001). Similarly, Fiedler's contingency theory of leadership from the 1960s is quite parsimonious and intuitive, as well provocative. Fiedler's research, as well as that of his students, supported the theory, but no one else could replicate his results. His response was that other researchers weren't doing it right! Consequently, the theory fell out of favor and is now mentioned as a way station on the road toward contemporary leadership theory. Psychology's checkered past is littered elegant, intuitive theories that found little or no support beyond the original researcher and his students (Freud looms large in this respect). Replicability is the key to good science. Linguistic relativity research is rife with conflicting results and idealogical researchers on either side of the debate, so it's little wonder that even 70 years after the initial hypothesis an end doesn't appear on the horizon. As important as replicability is, such a dialectic approach to science of competing theories pushes us forward, so it's not all bad.

Comment on Wondermark » Archive » #557; The Masters of Tea by Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:56:13 +0000

Indeed... couple this with "Excuuuuuse me, Princess!" and I think that's a recipe for winning arguments.

Comment on Wondermark » Archive » #557; The Masters of Tea by Edwin

Edwin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:41:53 +0000

I often claim I'm "Jack of all trades, Master of none." So I'm pretty sure I'm not an expert on anything. However, I'm quite sure I'm going to eternally preface all my statements with "Bitch! Edwin knows [Insert thing I'm arguing about]! Such phrases may include: "Bitch, Edwin knows Coffee." "Bitch, Edwin knows iPhone." "Bitch, Edwin knows Pr0Tools." "Bitch, Edwin knows Conk."

Comment on One of me for a change by becca

becca — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:57:51 +0000

your pictures come up too big for my screen…

Comment on Language and Thought by Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:45:50 +0000

"American subjects, but not the German subjects, rated the ü sound as less familiar, r(17)=4.5l, p< .001, and more difficult to produce, t(17) = 2.61, p < .02, than the o sound. For the German speakers, o and ü were equal in difficulty. Because we have here two samples showing similar affect ratings and similar temperature changes, and because one found the phoneme ü difficult and the other found it easy, we can eliminate the possibility that o was perceived as more pleasant than ü just because it was more familiar or easier to produce." Who knows, really? It's a long study; I didn't read the entire thing. O:-)

Comment on der/die/das and el/la make you think differently by Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:46:19 +0000

That’s an interesting idea, one that I haven’t tried. However, I was reminded of “das Mädchen” and how that word being “Neutrum” never made any sense to me!

Comment on der/die/das and el/la make you think differently by paniq

paniq — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:39:00 +0000

It’s true. I just tried it. I kept saying “der Brücke”, “den Brücke”, “einen Brücke” and tried to make it sound natural in sentences, and it totally changes the image of a bridge in my mind.

And with this background, it gets interesting to look at common words we use and imagine someone intended these things to appear attractive or aggressive, give a creative or destructive air to it — and then see if public perception actually mirrors this.

Comment on Autumn in Atlanta by Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:31:07 +0000

Yes, pretty much. Bright and sunny, though we’ve had more cloudy days in the autumn. I’m so pleased to find that Atlanta has trees everywhere, much like PA, so it’s still very colorful… just a few weeks later.

Comment on Language and Thought by der/die/das and el/la make you think differently

der/die/das and el/la make you think differently — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:33:36 +0000

[…] so I kept reading about language and thought and came across a fascinating article I had read a few years ago. Chew on this: A recent […]

Comment on Autumn in Atlanta by Rob Guzzon

Rob Guzzon — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:05:45 +0000

So autumn basically looks like summer?

Comment on Language and Thought by Leonard Ritter

Leonard Ritter — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:27:54 +0000

Most likely the scowl is attributed to an unfamiliar vowel entering perception. You don’t see Germans scowling all day — I think you get used to it.

Actually, come to think of it… Germans ARE scowling most of the time

Comment on A musical life by Visualized: What have I been listening to?

Visualized: What have I been listening to? — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:43:52 +0000

[…] few months ago I posted a graph of my music listening and was asked how I […]

Comment on Acceptance by Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:03:20 +0000

Thanks for that. While it’s a staggering trend, I find myself having a lot of hope, perhaps due to my personal exposure to a lot of it. It really drives home the importance of our country as a whole taking care of our elders; there are a whole host of causes, but I don’t think any one thing could be “blamed”.

Is your paper available anywhere for me to read? I’d be very interested.