Isn't this littering? Japanese scientists want to launch paper airplanes from space.

Japanese scientists want to launch paper airplanes from space. Scientists from Tokyo University’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics have been collaborating with origami masters to fold airplanes that can be launch from space to float back to earth. I kid you not.


This has to be the most odd story I have come across in along while. I am still in disbelief that paper airplanes could survive re-entry, but apparently a prototype passed wind tunnel durability tests in February.

The prototype was about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. It survived Mach 7 speeds and 446 degree heat — conditions that were meant to replicate conditions during re-entry. Apparently the little paper plane suffered no major damage or burns.

A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, says project leader Shinji Suzuki.

“It sounded like a simply impossible, crazy idea,” Suzuki said.

I have to agree. Paper? A paper plane wouldn't bust apart or be instantly incinerated? The freakin' Space Shuttle has blown up twice and PAPER is supposed to work?

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency thinks so. They are spending $300,000 in funding per year for the project.

The origami airplane can survive these harsh conditions because it's made from sugar cane fibers that happen to make the paper resistant to heat, wind and water. The plane is also sprayed with a special coating, of exactly what they don't say.

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata has apparently expressed a personal interest in the project and has offered to throw several origami shuttles into the wake of the international space station.

The Tokyo University scientists hope lessons from the paper planes could lead to the development of new lightweight space probes or help to design a full size paper space shuttle.

The biggest hurdle?
They have no way to track or predict where the paper plane will land.

But Suzuki says he has a solution — a message of peace in several languages, along with a request for anyone who finds them to notify the team.

“Just imagine, children around the world would be anxiously waiting for the return of our origami shuttle, perhaps looking up into the sky from time to time,” Suzuki said. “That would be great fun.”

See the story here.

Pavlov’s Fish - Black Sea Bass Get 'Sound' Training

No bait necessary for these fish - scientists at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts are training fish to catch themselves.

Using classical conditioning, the team of researchers is busy training fish to voluntarily swim to an underwater cage so they can be caught and sold.

Just like Ivan Pavlov taught dogs to associate the sound of a bell with dinner, and come salivating to the table, these researchers are training fish to associate dinner time with a tone.

The team has even received a $270,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fund their project.

Black sea bass are a crucial source of the world’s seafood and to reduce the cost of farming them, the fish would ideally roam the open seas to feed and grow until being called back to the cage to be put up on the chopping block.

Recently Simon Miner, a research assistant at Wood's Hole, showed that fish learned to enter a partially closed feeding area in their tank when he sounded a tone for 20 seconds. Three times a day for two weeks he made the sound before he put food in the feeding area.

The fish learned the sound meant food was ready.

It works much the way with my newfie. It didn't take her too long to learn the tell-tale sound of a fork scraping the plate meant she'd soon be licking it.

And, in classic Pavlovian fashion, she now drools reliably at the sound. ((Or course, being a newfie she drools at just about anything!))

So say you, too, wish to create some remote-control fish — how do you do it?

You need 2 things, plus good timing:
1) A stimulus that automatically, instinctively, reflexively produces the behavior you want. These are called the "unconditioned stimulus" and the "unconditioned response."
2) A stimulus the individual can easily attend to but doesn't have an automatic response to. This can be a bell, a clicker, or something visual.

Make the sound then immediately show the unconditioned stimulus. You want the individual to be able to predict what follows the sound - that's why it comes first. You don't want too much time to pass in between the two. And, you don't want to produce them at the same time - you want one to be a useful predictor for the other.

Self Harm Seen in Animals Too

Insights about the causes and treatments for self-harm can be derived from studying when it happens to animals.

Self harm takes many forms: cutting with razor blades, biting, picking, burning with matches, scratching or otherwise intentionally damaging one's skin.

One of the things that makes self-harm so puzzling is why anyone would choose to physically damage him or herself. Unfortunately, self-harm can easily be dismissed as "senseless" or "irrational" behavior. And certainly it does seem that way at first glance.

However, research on animals that display this behavior suggests that self harm does serve a purpose - a completely rational one.

In primatology self harm is called self-injurious behavior (SIB) and is associated with anxiety.

According to research by Bayne et al. (1995), there is no consistent evidence for the influence of rearing history on the development of self-harm among primates. What that means is that there's no evidence that the way one grows up or is parented (yes there are parallels to monkey and human parenting and psychological development) affects whether an individual turns to self harm to cope with anxiety.

The single most common denominator among animals who self harm is isolation — social isolation. Primates bite themselves, parrots pull out their feathers and dogs and cats lick themselves. Such self-injurious behavior tends to occur in emotionally disturbing situations, particular those over which the individual has little or no control (like being locked up alone).

Birds, monkeys, people and pets are all very social creatures. Touch plays a big role in the ives of all of these species and when left along that physical contact disappears and anxiety increases. Preening and self-grooming is one way animals and people cope with anxiety. Self touch is soothing but a poor substitute for contact with others.

Research on captive primates and birds has identified that self-injurious behavior is a coping strategy to reduce arousal. Biting, licking, and feather plucking lower heart rate, one marker of relaxation.

Presumably the same sort of thing happens on a physiological level for people who injure themselves. People report feeling more calm during the act and for a little while after.

Self-injurious behavior is notoriously difficult to treat. It's compulsive behavior that defies behavioral interventions largely because a psychologist or therapist can't be present 100% of the time to remind people to replace their harmful habit with a helpful one. That's one reason why drug therapies are so popular. They are effective, with beta blockers being the most effective because they block the mood enhancing endorphins that are released during injury. Those who self harm are addicted to it behaviorally and physiologically.

Given that social isolation, stress and anxiety are the triggers and main reason for self injury, reducing stress and increasing time spent with others would be the most effective. Massage solves both and has demonstrated effectiveness for a wide range of conditions.

Spring Is Here Along with the 'Plum Rains' ... Sort of.

The last few days have brought an explosion of blossoms on the two plum trees in our backyard. I absolutely love the plums. The tiny white blossoms are gorgeous and some of the very first flowers to appear in the spring. The last few weeks have also brought noticeably more precipitation, just enough to start germinating seeds. The cosmos I started as paper cards are coming up, along with the holly hocks. I really love spring here.

To me, the plum blossoms plus the rains have made me remember traveling in Japan last year. We went during the "Plum Rains" which occur there for about 3 weeks in June. They are called the plum rains because they happen when the plums are ripe.

When the rain falls on the ripe plums, there follows 40 rainy days.
~ an old Japanese saying

The plum rains are caused by the "meiyu front," a meeting of warm moist air and cooler air over China. The front creates rain and really humid air in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and eastern China. The humidity can stay around 80 and 90 per cent at the same time the temperature is in the upper 80s. To say the least, the air is stuffy an uncomfortable. I am so glad I had years of New Hampshire humidity to prepare me. In truth, it wasn't that bad!

Although I would love to be in Japan during the spring for the sakura and ume blossoms, which are major cultural events, I'll just have to settle for the glorious 'plum rains' of Walla Walla. After the plums go crazy here, the cherries follow - along with the magnolias, rhododenderons, dogwoods and more. The plentiful flowering trees are definitely a great part of living where I do.

I couldn't resist using them as a backdrop for some snapshots of the thank you cards I custom created for a fellow etsy seller. They are the sprouting variety I make and are in stock in my store now.

** If you're up for more reading, the article Tsuyu: A Season that shaped a culture is well worth it.

Yesterday Was A Huge Day

First, one of my products was on the front page of etsy.com! Not only that, but the item was hand-picked by the company from thousands of wedding-related products. Mine is at the top of the page, at the right.
Apparently, my snapshot of the sprout coming out of the paper was eye-catching.

Taking that picture was probably the single best thing I have done for my little paper-making operation because it provides proof that the seeded cards do grow. Since I uploaded that picture to my store listings, those plantable cards have flown off the shelf so quickly that I have had to stay up late to label, package, and address shipments. I also generated three custom orders from it.

My inventory quickly depleted, but I worked hard over the weekend making more so I have plenty of cards to put back in stock throughout the coming weeks now that I'm on the map.

I took more snapshots of the sprouts coming out of the paper I make and will be adding them so I have variety in the the cover shots.

* * * * * *

Second, yesterday was Her Royal Highness the Newfoundland's second birthday. We really screwed the pooch on this one because she neither got a burger, nor a swim. In fact, I don't even think she got a proper walk. However, the day before, I let her off the leash 20 feet earlier than I usually do when we get to campus. She loves running around on the quad chasing sticks. Normally, she stays on the leash until after we cross the bridge going over the campus creek, but yesterday — I let her loose before the bridge. True to her breed, she ran straight for the water, dove in and looked at us standing on the bridge looking back at her, chest high with a breed-typical goofy newfie expression — clearly a hog in mud. She willingly left the creek, most likely because she couldn't get proper swim in a foot of water, and later found and brought home a lacrosse ball — an early birthday 'present.'

* * * * * *

Finally as a follow-up to Monday's sock story, the authorities around here have identified a new suspect in the mystery of the olive green sock disappearance. The individual bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Field Notes. Authorities are close to getting a confession.

Sock Killer Strikes, Police Question Suspect

A sock killer may be on the loose in the field notes neighborhood.

Yesterday evening, residents identified an olive green sock had gone missing. It still had not returned this morning, but residents had a culprit in mind. Over the last three months, they have reported several missing socks and the near constant presence of a drooling suspect seen loitering around the place dirty socks are kept prior to laundering. They describe the suspect as female, about 125 pounds, large-build, with long black hair.

Although socks have gone missing before, they have never stayed missing longer than a few hours, residents say.

The remaining olive green sock was examined for evidence. Forensic specialists expected to find hair and saliva samples on the sock, however it had been freshly laundered.

Police questioned the only individual who matched the residents' description. She has been identified as Katy the Newfoundland. Although she has has no criminal record, neighbors say she is well known for being a thug and getting into fights.

An eye witness was also brought in for questioning. Max the Spaniel reported seeing Katy taking socks on multiple occasions but admitting to be asleep for the duration of the time the crime was estimated to have occurred. He added that Katy the Newfoundland has tried to kill him in the past and that she is an unsavory character who belongs behind bars.

Police are keeping Katy under surveillance until they have enough evidence to build a case.

My laptop died. GULP.

Suddenly a gray transparent screen appeared on my laptop over the existing one. The keyboard and cursor were completely frozen. I could see what I had been working on behind it. The lighter gray screen in the middle sent an ominous message in 4 different languages about how I need to restart my computer. So I did and within a few seconds the same thing happened, so I "zapped the pram" and tried again. I did this 6-7 times and each time it was only a matter of time before I got the bad screen.


I thought about all of the files that I either had or I had not backed up.

Dissertation? Check. It's in numerous places.

My teaching files? Years of work. Hundreds of Powerpoint presentations that each took me hours to do, photos of primates for slide shows...

Check. Backed up in numerous places.

Music? My iTunes has hundreds of songs, even videos, that I've purchased but not burned or saved anywhere. CRAP. I would lose those.

Hundreds of photos I have spent hours and hours making of my inventory - GONE.

Email messages and drafts that I have saved there. Contacts info - GONE.

We did all the stuff you're supposed to do when this type of thing happens - disconnect everything that might be hooked up, reboot with the start up CD, reload the OS. None of that worked.

I wasn't happy about it. No scientist ever wants to lose data. Fortunately Mr. Field Notes acted quickly and set up an ethernet connection between his desktop computer and my laptop and in between zapping of prams (talk about defibrilating your computer!) we managed to save the music and photos. I was able to forward some important emails to another account.

Obviously my computer needed help, so I saw 2 choices:
* Take it to a tech
* Buy a new one

A tech costs $60 an hour and may not be able to revive it. It's a 2005 model. The nearest tech is at least 60 miles drive away, and no one is going to be able to fix it and send it home with me on the spot, so that would add to at least 240 miles of driving for the possibility of having it work again, plus whatever it cost to fix. It's no longer under warranty.

Given all of that and the really unpleasant reality of being without a piece of equipment I use more hours in the day than my bed, I decided to just get a new one.

My new white 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 160 GB storage Apple laptop is on its way, along with info about sending my broken ones back to Apple for free to be recycled. I am so pleased, not to be shelling out 1400 bucks, but that my new machine will be blazing fast and I will be able to process more video. Yahoo! I will have to celebrate by producing some footage from my travels to Japan.


** I uploaded this on my old laptop. It's missing the option key and the right arrow, not to mention the paint has chipped off several of the keyboard letters and it is SO FREAKING SLOW. It's sort of hard to believe that at one one point I actually thought this thing was blazing fast. It's amazing how quickly computers evolve.

My paper really can be grown!

I made some pastel note cards from what amounts to junk mail and used office paper.






I embedded them with seeds that you can plant to grow plants like these:
* hollyhock flowers (green cards)
* columbine flowers (pink cards)
* cosmos flowers (yellow cards)
* lavender (lavender cards)

About a week ago I put some damp paper scraps inside a plastic bag and set it on a window sill. They germinated! The cosmos sprout easily and quickly. I can see the hollyhocks will take some more time before they will sprout, but they look like they're trying.

If you really like these cards, you can buy them. They are for sale right now in my etsy store for fourteen dollars a set.

** Give the gift that keeps on giving **

Oh yeah, and my shop got picked up by a pretty cool website devoted to environmental stuff - Groovy Green.

Tourists Kidnapped in Tunisia: Glad that didn't happen to us when we visited there!

In 2004, just one year after the second Gulf War began, Mr. Field Notes and I traveled to Tunisia, a Muslim country in North Africa. We rented a car and drove all over the country. We didn't have an itinerary or reservations. I didn't think we were being particularly daring by going there during a war that continues to be seriously unpopular in the Arab world, but I did get the feeling twice that we could be potentially kidnapped.

That didn't happen — but it did to a couple vising Tunisia last month.

Al-Qaida in North Africa claimed responsibility in a tape aired on al-Jazeera. On it, a man who identified himself as "Salah Abu Mohammed" said the terrorist group kidnapped the two Austrians on Feb. 22 in retribution for Western cooperation with Israel. He said the hostages were in good health.

The only other details released, other than their names and ages, is that they were driving their own car — a car that had Austrian plates — near the southern border.

On either side of Tunisia are Algeria and Libya — countries that I would not enter except under very unusual circumstances. Algeria has a known presence of Islamic extremists operating near the Tunisian border and they have kidnapped tourists in the past, albeit years ago. And, Libya where Muammar Qaddafi is still dictator, was until very recently on the U.S. list of state sponsored terrorism.

Although Tunisia was a very welcoming place, and the people unbelievably friendly and hospitable, like I said before, I did twice get the feeling that we could be potentially kidnapped.

The first happened when we were befriended by a large extended family picnicking at a desert oasis near the Algerian border. We stopped and chatted with them, they fed us and then invited us to visit "their country." I really thought that meant Algeria, so when we decided to 'live it up' and take a change on strangers in a foreign land, I really thought we were going to be going across the border to Algeria, where we might very well find ourselves held for ransom. After all, journalists (Mr. Field Notes is one) do get kidnapped. We were both relieved when we zoomed right past the border. And later we had a wonderful time in their home town, which for people new to speaking English was what "our country" meant.

The next was when we in another desert town, further away from the border, looking for guide to take us into the desert to a Bedouin camp so we could live it up desert style under the stars. We found a place, but it felt really sketchy when we started talking to them. They didn't speak English very well and would talk amongst themselves in Arabic and frequently mentioned the word "American" which I had learned to recognize by studying the language before we left. They seemed unusually interested in the fact that we were American and they insisted on taking us out alone rather than with a group. I thought that was a supremely bad idea, so we got the heck out of there.

In Tunisia, we didn't really find anti-American sentiment but we did have an interesting conversation with a souk shopkeeper in southern Tunisia. That part of Tunisia also happens to be the neatest (because it was the most foreign) part of the country, but is the only place we got any bad vibes. And they were really slight, i.e. one girl stared and stuck her tongue out at me while holding her fingers up in a V on either side of her tongue as we drove by. And then this guy, who while he gave us yummy mint tea, was really excited about talking to us about 9/11. He spoke in French, which is not my first language, so I am sure I only got the gist and not the finer nuances of what he was saying about how he would have flown the planes into the buildings had he not had a family.

Otherwise, the Tunisians were very friendly and kind and not at all biased against Americans.

We drove all over the country in a little blue Fiat Punto that had Tunisian plates, and in Tunisia the rental cars all have blue plates instead of white ones. They got us through many checkpoints and out of a speeding ticket. I think that helped us not stick out so much when we were cruising around.

The tourists were pretty dumb for driving around in their own car with European plates. I think you stick out like a sore thumb driving around with European plates, especially in the south where they disappeared.

Who knows what lead up to them being snatched, but in any case, the incident is surely an embarrassment for the Tunisian government since it takes a lot of pride in its Western leaning country. It also gets most of its tourism from Europeans.

NY Gov Spitzer: What on earth was the man thinking?

Though lots of great news splashed across the wires today, including one on using a token economy in the workplace to boost productivity (uh - good luck implementing that one without making your staff feel like toddlers) and one on tourists kidnapped in Tunisia (which I am planning to write about, having been there), it was an article that quotes psychoanalysts
explaining why Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York who got himself a prostitute, that really caught my eye because of how bad it was — or rather how full of crap the psychoanalysts were.

“There’s the psychology of the exception,” said Leon Hoffman, former chairman of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s public information committee. “People in power sometimes feel they can do things that us, mere mortals, are forbidden to do. There’s a sense, as with adolescents, that 'I won’t get caught.'”

Doug Muzzio, professor of public affairs at Baruch College, says Spitzer’s situation could be a case of a deep-seated compulsion or one of simple hubris.

Chicago psychoanalyst Mark Smaller says, “Often the behavior in question is caused by intense anxiety, stress in the workplace or home, or feeling overwhelmed.”

You know what I say? The dude was a horndog who was probably in an unsatisfying marriage or not getting enough sexual gratification at home. Rather than doing the hard work of solving his problems though legitimate means, he took the easy, sleazy path. There's no reason to delve beyond the obvious here.

In the Annals of "I Could Have Told You That" Research

Teachers who 'teach' in large lecture halls give exams on different colored sheets to reduce cheating. The questions are put in a different order on the two forms.

That way students who look around to steal answers won't be able to easily copy their classmates' presumably correct answers.

Because this practice is so widespread, and because more than a few students have complained that test printed on different colored sheets are "unfair" (because you can't cheat as easily then?), a few lecturers of humongous lecture halls got together and conducted a study to determine whether the color of the paper affects exam performance at all.

Guess what? It didn't.

I have no idea why instructors use different colors of paper to keep the different versions of the exam straight when they could just put an A or B or whatever code on the top and use white paper.

I figure all-white exams serve two purposes.

• Dye isn't used so they're more environmentally responsible. Of course, unbleached paper would be the best from a solely environmental standpoint. And if, as the study found out, even primary as opposed to pastel colored paper doesn't have a significant effect, then why not just print them on Kraft paper that is 100% post-consumer content or unbleached paper?
• Students might believe all of the exams are the same so copiers would be penalized because they'd end up copying down the wrong answers.
  

In any case, this study certified the obvious: Printing exams on different colors doesn't affect exam performance and is therefore not "unfair." Different colored exams are totally useless in my book.

And furthermore, students should never be lectured in large auditoriums anyway. Lectures do little to teach students. They don't usually make students think, or process what they've learned.

And for that matter, neither do multiple choice exams. The questions that come out of instructor test banks nearly always test factual rather than conceptual knowledge and none of them ask students to apply or synthesize material. In other words, they don't demand much of students. They don't demand much of instructors either since most lecturers can have the department secretary type up exam questions the instructor chooses from the exam book. A machine grades them.

It's unfortunate so many college students have this inferior form of education inflicted on them in the first place.

Proper Lighting is Crucial

Today's object lesson:
Having excellent photos allows an artist to demand much higher prices for the work.

Just like a house can fetch a higher asking price with good landscaping and proper interior staging, so too can arts and crafts.

This morning I found a spot of sun in my office and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to re-shoot a box I have for sale in my etsy store. It's a fabulous box, but the images haven't done it justice.

Through trial and error, I've found that indirect natural light in the morning or afternoon produce the best effect for showing off the texture of the paper I make - not to mention the colors.


The before shots are all taken in the same room but with overhead lighting mid-day. You can see the tremendous difference a change in lighting makes.

Besides that, you have to take care to have a background that is complimentary. The before shots have the box placed on my desk. While the wood grain is fine, it is boring and lifeless. Plus, the office door can be seen in the background of one. The after shots have the box and lid resting on top of a house plant with more black. The contrast between the item and the background helps the item stand out. The greenery adds some needed life. It doesn't hurt that it echoes the leaf on the box's lid.

This took me less than 15 minutes to do, including cropping and sizing it for internet uploading. I couldn't really expect anyone to pay the asking price for it with the old photos, but now I can.

A View of My Office

Yes, I read all of those.

Message in a Ballad

One day while advising one of my thesis students, we got to talking about sharing music out of your iTunes library. Evidently, every time I opened iTunes while I was in my office grading papers, the contents of my musical library became available for students to see and listen to.


They could be down in the computer lab in my building. They could be in the residence hall next door. They could be using a machine in the experimental lab down the hall.

It didn't really bother me. I don't mind if students know what kind of music I listen to. I think they could stand to listen to a wider variety of artists besides Death Cab for Cutie or the Bare Naked Ladies.

But what information were the students drawing about me, and what kind of a prof I am, by snooping in on my musical collection? What would they think of collection of rap and hop/hop? Or gulp, my country music? What would my colleagues down the hall from me think?

Psychologists have started to study what assumptions people make of others based on their musical preferences.

A recent study (Voida, et al. 2005) found that information about co-workers' music allowed people to make nuanced impressions of their colleagues' personalities that weren't easily derived from interactions at work.

An even newer study by one of my favorite young personality researchers, Sam Gosling, "The Role of Music Preferences in Interpersonal Perception," provides some interesting specifics. People with country music or hip/hop music in their favorites are more emotionally stable (less neurotic) and more extraverted. People perceived them to be this way based solely on knowing what their favorite songs were.

Gosling and his research colleague found that people were able to accurately determine a person's level of agreeableness, emotional stability and openness from seeing his or her top ten favorite songs.

Their research falls into what are called "zero acquaintance perception studies" because they have observers guess a target person's personality without ever interacting with them. In the past, these zero acquaintance studies have had people look at photographs of the target, view a brief silent video clip of the target and even take a peek at what the target's bedroom or office looks like. In all cases, people could actually determine, with surprising accuracy, the personality of the target.

All of the studies use the gold standard "Big Five" personality test which measure personality along 5 key dimensions:
O - Openness to Experience
preference for novelty
- associated with creativity and intelligence
C - Conscientiousness
preference for following rules
- associated with being responsible
E - Extraversion
preference for socializing with others
- associated with being outgoing
A - Agreeableness
preference for acceptance & agreement
- associated with being kind and nice to others
N - Neuroticism
tendency to anxiety, worry
- associated with moodiness, fussiness

What's more, music preferences provided more accurate and useful information about personality than the cues used in previous research.

You can take Gosling's music preferences test and get feedback about your personality here.

I'm now a curator.

Members of etsy, the online company I sell my artwork through, can compose collections of other etsy member's artwork. The collections are called "treasuries" and are basically a 3 item x 4 item poster style collection of thumbnail images of listings on etsy.

The etsy website's front page of displays a treasury and they are rotated throughout the day so fresh ones are always available for viewing pleasure. The best ones are themselves a work of art.

People who put them together are called "curators," which reflects the idea that these treasuries are mini galleries. People compete like mad to get the opportunity to create one, and last night I got that opportunity.

There are a certain number of treasuries listed on etsy and anyone can view them at any time, but they can only be created when the number of them dips below 222. If that happens when you happen to have your browser open on the list of treasuries, you might see a box at the bottom of the page where you can type in a title. I chose one from a movie I saw recently about Japan.

Then I picked one piece (from Mr. Field Notes' collection) and built it up from that, choosing colors that played off of it and each other. I ended up changing out the scarf until I found one I really liked. I searched for colors that were in the scarf or that would look nice next to it: citron, purple, plum, raspberry, kiwi, turquoise, etc.

I also looked through my collection of "favorites, " pieces I have added to an online folder that represents my wish list of artwork (and handmade jewelry) I wouldn't mind owning. I found a few pieces that fit the bill, and when I liked the artist's style, but the piece I put in my favorites didn't match my color theme, I went back to their shop to find something that did fit.

I think it turned out very well for my first time putting one together, and one done on the fly no less. It took about 30 mins. to find and upload the pieces.

I am quite proud of how the whole thing turned out color and composition wise. you can click on the image and see a larger view of it.

Japanese Cast Offs = $$$$$

When I visited Japan and went to shrines, gardens, and other 'tourist' sites, I was always given a pretty entrance stub with Japanese kanji, photography, or artwork on them. I saved the neat ones and brought them home with me where they have been sitting inside a box, virtually untouched for the last 10 months.

I have dozens of these, but they're not materials I use in my own art. I don't really need to keep them, and I am not about to just chuck them in the recycling bin or put them in the blender to make into handmade paper. They are far too gorgeous for that.

So I jumped on the etsy business techniques and materials forum and explained briefly what I had then asked the question, "Do you think there's a market for them here or should I just recycle them?"

Who knew that when I decided to virtually liquidate my collection of what on etsy falls into the category of "ephemera," that I actually could! I put two sets up for sale and within minutes - minutes - they sold.

I started the thread and it was still going 7 hours later, even after the collection was sold out.

Multiple people commented and said don't recycle them! Post a picture! I am very interested in them! List them!

So, I did. They flew off the shelf, leaving me wishing I had more.

I don't know why I thought of it, maybe because Mr. Field Notes and I went on a cleaning jag in the office recently, or because I realized I was never going to use them and collage artists might.

I had to share the experience with Mr. Field Notes' dad, who took us to Japan. He told me Japanese tourists just throw the stubs on the ground, littering the exits of the shrines. He plans to collect as many as he can find on his next visit there. I am so fortunate.

Believe me, I am even more excited to go back to Japan now that I know how valuable the garbage is!

Are you a throwback? Check your ear.

When I was a kid I was totally fascinated by this little bump on my right ear. If I feel the outside of my ear, along the edge, I can still feel that little bump. Maybe you have a little cartilage there too. Do you?

It's called Darwin's point and is a relic of our mammalian past.

The heritable trait runs dominant, which means if either of your parents gave you a gene for the point, you'll express the trait and have a little bump on your ear too.

According to the article "On the Pithecoid Type of Ear in Man" published in 1899 by the Zoological Bulletin, half of men and one-third of women have one. Several decades before, when the pseudoscience of phrenology was all the rage, people thought the trait was associated with criminality. It's tied to criminal propensity as much as it is to the appendix, which is to say — not at all.

The psychology of product pricing

Recently I was posed the question: Given the same item, would people be more inclined to buy it if it cost:

• Option A: $13.50 with $2.00 shipping
• Option B: $14.50 with $1.00 shipping

In both cases, the item ends up costing $15.50. While this may seem like a dumb question because it still costs the same in the end, it is emphatically not a dumb question. You see, although economists argue that people are rational, psychologists know this is not so. Psychologists observe what people do — and the more we observe human behavior, the more we see of it that is completely irrational — like preferring option A over B even though they are effectively the same.

Thanks to the work of two psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, we have a lot more insight now on how people make exactly these kinds of decisions.

Kahneman, in fact, is the only psychologist to ever win a Nobel Prize. He won it in 2002 "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty," according to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences who hand out the awards.

A number of experiments have been conducted on framing, which all support the conclusion that how choices are presented matters. A classic example is the much greater proportion of people who will buy a package of beef labeled "80% lean" as opposed to "20% fat." Ahem, what do you think is in the other 20% of that beef package labeled 80% lean?

It's obvious to me why people would rather buy 80% lean than 20% fat, but it's not so obvious to me which pricing scheme is better - a higher initial price and lower shipping, or the reverse.

After doing some research on it, I located a paper that investigated exactly this sort of thing. It's called price partitioning - meaning the practice online retailers adopt of creating a separate price for the item and its shipping or other surcharges, such as the extra fees and taxes associated with cell phone use.

The researchers found that those partitioning schemes that are most effective for sales are those that are the norm for the type of product and retailer and is expected by the customer.

If the lower shipping charge is expected and is the norm, then offering option B is best. If you instead offer option A, this will have little or even a negative effect according to the study.

Unfortunately, the study didn't address the issue of free shipping. I'd guess that it's always going to better to offer free shipping and ratchet up the initial cost of the item to offset it — only if other retailers selling similar products are doing that. Otherwise, it is better to stick with the smaller initial price point so long as the shipping charge is fair.

If I were an etsy.com retailer who really wanted to know the answer to this pricing question, I'd list the same item two different ways and see which one takes longer to sell. If a large enough number of etsy sellers do this, we could determine which pricing scheme (if any) is best.

The psychology behind the $17 billion shoe obsession

17 BILLION DOLLARS.

That is the amount American women spent on shoes in one recent year (2004-2005) according to the retail and consumer- information firm NPD Group.

That's the amount of many an Eastern European country's foreign debt.

There's no denying the shoe's place in popular culture. They inspired the title of a recent film, In Her Shoes, starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. They figured prominently in the television show "Sex and the City" whereby millions of women suddenly became aware — and desirous — of Manolo Blahniks, shoes that could easily cost more than my monthly mortgage. And who could forget when Imelda Marcos' collection of thousands of pairs of shoes came to symbolize the cruel and backwards rule of her husband over the Philippines, a country of people more accustomed to overwhelming poverty than luxury footwear.

So, what belies this shoe obsession?

While it might be tempting to turn toward a Freudian view of shoes — seeing the particularly pointy stiletto-style pumps as some sort of phallic symbol, whereby donning them, woman can reduce the inevitable "penis envy" that so consumes them according to the theory — this would be far-fetched.

Actually, I don't think it is that far off. Shoes can signal power, and they certainly have something to do with sexuality.

Consider the power that comes with wearing high heels. They add inches of height — as much 2 or 3 inches. Chimps and other animals' hair stands up when they are in the throws of a dominance show. Humans have largely lost this ability to instantly look more bad ass when the situation calls for it. Instead, we women can use high heals. Afterall, people still ascribe higher status, dominance, and even income to people who are bigger — specifically taller. If men gain power and influence with their height (41 of the past 42 winners of the U. S. Presidential race have been the taller of the two candidates*) who's to say women don't gain power when they elevate their height with high heels? They also make noise - a ton of noise. Primates, like other animals, make a raucous display when they compete for power. Shoes do this for women.

The great irony here is that although high-heels make a woman feel more bad ass, they would be a huge handicap if she ever had to defend herself. They throw balance off. Each step requires the utmost concentration until heel-wearing becomes so well-practiced it's like riding a bike. The fact that women can walk perfectly adroitly in stilettos and their relatives may indicate a certain kind of superiority. In the biological world, functioning well with a handicap signals greater health — and fitness — in a Darwinian sense. It's called Zahavi's handicap principle. You can read more about it here. It's fascinating and explains some species characteristics that baffled even Darwin.

Shoes are not simply linked with power, influence, and status — which of course the rarity and price tag add to — they are also wrapped up with sexuality. High heels shift posture - forcing the chest and derrière out, making each more prominent. They increase the definition of muscles in the thighs and calves. And, they make the wearers feel sexier.

While all of this explains the obsession behind high-heeled shoes, it does little to explain why some women must have so many of them. For that, I blame the conspicuous consumption that pervades our country and leaves us falsely believing our possessions indicate our self-worth.

* Al Gore was the only one who was taller and did not win, though he did win more of the popular vote.

Love, desire and "romantic alternatives"

Researchers from UCLA and the online dating service eHarmony asked 120 UCLA students to look at photographs of very attractive people of the opposite sex, and choose the one they thought was most attractive. All 120 reported that they were in “committed” relationships. After viewing the photographs, the students were divided into three groups:

• One wrote an essay about a situation where they felt the most love for their partner.
  
• The second group wrote about a time they felt the most sexual desire for their partner.
• The third group wrote about a subject of their own choice.

While writing, the students were instructed to put a check mark in the margin of their essay every time they thought about the attractive person they chose.

Compared to the control group (who wrote about their own topic), people writing about love were 6 times less likely to think about the attractive person, and people writing about sexual desire for their partner were 4 times less likely.

The researchers also asked the students to describe the photo “hottie” after writing their essays. The love essay writers remembered only about 2/3 the number of attractive features as the other groups.

The researchers concluded that reflecting on the love you have for one person effectively filters out temptation for another.

*****
Gonzaga, G., Haselton, M. G., Smurda, J., Davies, M. S., & Poore, J. C. (2008). Love, desire, and the suppression of thoughts of romantic alternatives. Evolution and Human Behavior.

A Newfoundland and Her New Pet Rock

A few days ago Katy discovered a fabulous toy in the backyard — a rock about the size of a walnut. She has been playing with it nearly non-stop for 3 days now. Yesterday after lunch she played with it for TWO HOURS while I worked. Two straight hours! Batting it around, pouncing on it, and snooting it. The toys I have made and purchased for her were cast aside like yesterday's news. She carries it around and sleeps next to it.

The Evolutionary Explanation for the Link Between Mental Illness & Creativity

Is it true that mental illness is associated with creativity -
or is that just a myth?

There is a bit of an evolutionary puzzle surrounding the persistence of mental illness, particularly debilitating conditions like schizophrenia. Many forms of mental illness are heritable and also associated with dramatically reduced ability to cope effectively with day-to-day life. If such conditions interfere so dramatically with life, wouldn't they impede reproduction too? Of so, then why do genes linked with schizophrenia persist?

The authors of the research article Schizotypy, creativity and mating success in humans provide some intriguing answers to this paradox. Their article was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, a well-respected journal, in 2005.

Schizotypy refers to a personality type that shares many of the same traits as schizophrenia, but not to the same extreme. The traits are:

• magical thinking, unusual experiences
  
• attention & concentration difficulties
• impulsive non-conformity (rash, reckless behavior that is eccentric)
• introverted anhedonia (social withdrawal, lack of enjoyment)
  

Several studies have found that artists and others active in the creative arts have elevated levels of some of these schizotypal traits. Specifically, the first and third.

In fact, artists and poets score as high on those two traits as schizophrenia patients do.

These are also traits that should theoretically lead to having more sexual partners, and hence, greater mating success. That final part is an important piece of evidence the authors use to explain why these traits persist in the general population. I should point out that the number of children schizotypal people have is a more valid measure of reproductive success than their number of sexual partners.

The authors of the study looked at correlations between the personality traits, creativity, and sexual activity. They used a sophisticated type of statistical analysis to guess at the causal relationships. Correlational data can never be used to determine whether one thing causes another, such whether being schizotypal causes one to produce more art. For that you need an experiment that manipulates one to see the effect on the other. However, path analysis can hint at causal relationships.

Using path analysis, the authors found that having a lot of unusual experiences ( I wish they had given some examples, but they didn't - boo) affects artistic output, which in turn affects sexual activity. What this means is that more prolific artists have more sexual partners.

This is consistent with psychologist Geoffrey Miller's theory that artistic creativity functions as courtship display - something akin to a peacock strutting its feathers.

On the difficult art of SYNTHESIS

Plants fascinate me — that's no surprise to anyone who knows me. The fact that they can make their own 'food' out of light amazes me. Photosynthesis is really, really neat. But that's not what I'm going to talk about.

I am more interested in the ability, or rather lack of, ability to piece together disparate bits of sometimes conflicting information to create a coherent whole.

On our walk to work this morning, Mr. Field Notes and I fell into an engaging conversation about critical thinking skills. We agreed that people can readily describe how seemingly different things or ideas are actually different, but they have a much more difficult time seeing how two apparently different things or concepts are similar.

I pointed out that Bloom's taxonomy of thinking places "synthesis" at the top of a hierarchy of critical thinking skills students should develop. He pointed out integration is much more challenging for calculus students than finding derivatives.

There is just something different a brain has to do to integrate and synthesize.

I mused aloud maybe this is a symptom of the way our brains have evolved. Perhaps the evolutionary pressures were such that it was much more important to recognize differences than be able to synthesize, think 'outside the box' and be creative.

Most people are not all that create when solving problems. We rely on previously successful solutions, going with what worked in the past. This is so common that psychologists have a name to describe it - mental set. Psychologists have also determined that when people are accustomed to using an object a certain way, say a light bulb to light a room, they often cannot see any other way to use it - for instance as a heater. Psychologists call this functional fixedness. I can't tell you how many times I've seen students struggle because they can't break their habitual ways of solving problems.

From an evolutionary perspective, this sort of makes sense: If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

When it comes to solving problems, people also rely on short-cuts that psychologists have identified called heuristics. These rules-of-thumb are what many consider to be "common sense" and do oftentimes, but not always, lead to correct conclusions and solutions. The important thing to recognize is that there are times when these heuristic lead to faulty conclusions.

One of the most well-known and used heuristics is the availability heuristic. When asked to estimate the likelihood of something happening, people appear to have a bias toward saying memorable events or things that are more easily recalled occur more often.

I think this is because people don't really like to think. Thinking is taxing. It's much more comfortable to be on auto-pilot and cruise through life without trying to make sense of anything. People don't like contradictions. They like things, including other people, to be predictable, to fit a formula.

What do you think — do people really have an easier time pointing out differences than seeing similarities? Why?

William Wallace the Sock Monkey has arrived!

Remember when I showed you some amazing sock monkeys and wondered if the artist who makes them could make a William Wallace sock monkey inspired by the movie Braveheart?

She did and he arrived today! He's Mr. Field Notes' present for Valentine's Day. He had no idea I had the monkey custom made for him. He was so surprised!!

Observation: Gorillas Mate Face-To-Face

One of the pieces of evidence some religionists like to toss around to "prove" that humans are not mere animals is that we humans are the only species on the planet that mates face-to-face. What they don't realize is that many other animals mate face-to-face, including woolly spider monkeys, bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees), and orangutans.

Primatologists working at Mbeli Bai forest clearing in the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo have captured for the first time evidence that wild gorillas copulate in the ventral-ventral position.

Copulation and ventral-ventral are the preferred scientific terms. I always correct my primatology students to use the term ventral-dorsal when they refer to the more usual animal mating position: doggy style. There are always a handful of students who have a difficult time making the switch. Those students also have a tendency to say animals "have sex." They don't. Animals mate or copulate. If they're going to learn how to approach the subject from a scientific perspective, they have to talk like scientists do.

But back to the story - of what significance is this gorilla observation? The primatologist who made the observation, Thomas Breuer, is hesitant to draw any conclusions, which is wise, given that this is a one time observation between one pair of gorillas — not a widespread pattern typical of adults.

Psychologists speculate that ventral-ventral copulation might engender a deeper relationship between a mating pair. It affords prolonged eye contact, something that has been scientifically linked to greater pleasure, liking, and even love (among humans). Perhaps this happens with other primates as well.

Breuer observed the gorilla pair mate for about 2 mins., after which the silverback briefly held the female's hand. Even the world's largest primates, of King Kong fame, enjoy affection. "Maybe there's a way the act forms a kind of bond between the silverback and the female," Breuer says. "But we just don't know."

Documenting internal feelings of love is challenging, whatever the species.

Webbed Animal Cards

Finally I found time to photograph this card I made from my handmade paper and scraps from Mr. Field Notes' weaving.

The green metallic yarn scintillates and the giraffe casts neat shadows in the sunlight.

When the sun shines in the afternoon, which has been rare this month, light hits a spot on my office desk where I can take good photos of my cards.

Although many suggest constructing a light box, natural light is better in my experience — afternoon especially.

This was the first time I used a black background.
What is it? Nothing more than a leather portfolio I used all throughout grad school and — ha ha ha — my diploma!

I have cut out some other charismatically shaped animals to make some more of these.

The first one I made became Mr. Field Notes' 29th birthday card (that was some number of years ago). I wrote the message on the other side of the front panel, that way the words don't interfere with the view.

The distinctive "webbed" designs of Genie the Weaver inspired my creation of the card.

Scientist: All Blue-Eyed People Are Related

.. from FoxNews.com. My commentary follows.

If you've got blue eyes, shake the hand of the nearest person who shares your azure irises: He or she may be a distant cousin.

Danish researchers have concluded that all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor, presumably someone who lived 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

"Originally, we all had brown eyes," Professor Hans Eiberg of the University of Copenhagen said in a press release. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes."

That "switch" — a simple change from "A," or adenine, to "G," or guanine, in the DNA — actually sits next to the OCA2 gene, which regulates the pigmentation of our eyes, hair and skin, and hence has only a limiting effect on it.

If the mutation had completely deactivated OCA2, all blue-eyed people would be albinos.

Eiberg and his team analyzed 155 individuals in a large Danish family, plus several blue-eyed people born in Turkey and Jordan.

All blue-eyed subjects had the mutation, and there was very little variation on the genes neighboring it on the chromosome, indicating that the mutation first arose relatively recently.

In contrast, most mammals share the "normal" form of the gene. The six-letter sequence is exactly the same among mice, horses, cows, rats, dogs, cats, monkeys, chimpanzees and humans with brown eyes. (No word on what gives Siberian huskies and Siamese cats blue eyes.)

Eiberg figures the mutation took place on the northern of the Black Sea, but that's an educated guess, assuming the first blue-eyed humans were among the proto-Indo-Europeans who subsequently spread agriculture into western Europe and later rode horses into Iran and India.

Ironically, neither the first person to have the mutation, nor his or her children, would have had blue eyes themselves.

Blue eyes are a recessive trait, and the gene must be inherited from both parents. (Green eyes involve a related but different gene, one that is recessive to brown but dominant to blue.)

It wasn't until the original mutant's grandchildren or great-grandchildren hooked up — cousin marriage is the norm through most of human history — that the first blue-eyed person appeared. He or she must have looked pretty odd for the Neolithic era.

Eiberg stresses that the genetic variation, as the press release puts it, is "neither a positive nor a negative mutation."

That's a bit disingenuous, as the mutation also produces greater instance of blond hair (sexually selected for even today) and fair skin, which confers a survival advantage by stimulating greater production of vitamin D in sun-starved northern European countries — exactly where blue eyes are still most prevalent.

• Click here for the full journal article.

**********************************

If the author stressed that the blue eyed mutation is "neither a positive nor a negative mutation," then why did the journalist then contradict the scientist?

Grr. If I had been the editor I would have corrected the author. The mutation does NOT produce blonde hair and pale skin. Correlation is not causation. It just so happens that those traits co-occur.

What else is interesting about blue eyes is that they arouse suspicion in some parts of the world — Turkey and Jordan included. Cultures across the Mid East and North Africa believe blue eyes are the source of the evil eye. They have the power to dry up a mother's milk. When I was in Tunisia I saw one blue-eyed person the entire time. He was so remarkably different that I actually blurted out loud to him "Vous avez les yeux bleu!" He responded "Yes! Yes! Blue eyes" and pointed out mine. It was cool, and memorable.

I could imagine that blue eyes are indeed a sexually selected trait like some evolutionary scientists think blonde hair is. Perhaps there is some truth to the "What is exotic is erotic" idea. Who knows.

But, I definitely want to read the original article!

I Broke My Glasses in A Spectacular Accident

They split in half. There was no resurrecting them. I had no backup. It was late in the day. I live in a small town. I can't see a foot in front of my face clearly without them.

What to do? After considering the options in town, Mr. Field Notes and I decided to drive to the nearest city rather than having me wear old contacts from 6am to 10 pm every night for the next two weeks while the local vision outfitters did their thing. Every place in town, and there were only three, said it would take 10-14 days for them to produce new glasses for me as they mail them all out to be cut somewhere else.

Fortunately the Lens Crafters 100 miles away was open until nine.

We ate mall food for dinner. It was bad, but I can see again.

Today I am seeing through new lenses and looking out onto the new dining room table that was delivered today. Mr. Field Notes and I had been scoping new ones out and finally pulled the trigger on Monday. It's dark and a modern, but still rustic blend of Pottery Barn / Pier 1 style.

I also picked up a new jasmine plant, fully budded and ready to bloom. I re-potted it yesterday and can't wait for spring to see if the one I transplanted outside made it through the winter. The new plant smells heavenly – if there were such a place, jasmine is what it would smell like.

On adoption: Does it matter that kids look like their parents?

The big thought provoking thing going on for the past week in the Field Notes household is whether to adopt. My regular readers may remember that about a year ago at this time I had to have surgery to remove several huge ovarian cysts. All medical experts agree that my chances of raising a child of my own DNA is pretty near nil, and I have for the most part come to accept that.

But, I still think it would be nice to be a mother. I'd be an amazing mother, I am confident of that. But, the big question facing us around here is what to adopt. A newfoundland or a human?

I love my canine babies, but they will always be D.O.G.S. and unfortunately they are not valued or accepted the same as human babies by all members of my family. My sister will never let my fur kids inside her house and that means we won't ever really visit her for any amount of time. Nor will they come visit us for the same. That is unfortunate and not my choice. We will also never be able to travel around the world with our kids, introducing them to other cultures and the rich fabric of human life. We will never grow old with our kids, nor will they ever be able to care for us when we are aging – not that I would expect them to. We won't be able to see how they grow to resemble us as and adopt our mannerisms as they mature. But we will also have a minimal impact on the planet and won't go through the enormous expense and emotional burden that children bring.

When I think about whether to adopt another newfie, which as a breed is about as human as you can get in the dog world – friendly, forgiving, emotional intelligent, loyal, affectionate, smart, obedient – or whether to take the plunge and adopt a human, I can't but help to think that the reason I most want to adopt a human child instead is just plain selfish: To see whether they turn out like Mr. and Ms. Field Notes.

Isn't that selfish? Well, I think it's an awfully shallow reason to adopt a human child.

My thoughts turned to that today when I received an email from the breeder of Her Royal Highness the Newfoundland. The photos of my newfie's "birth parents" confirm that she is the spitting image of her mom and dad. It is downright uncanny. (The black and white landseer newfoundland above is her dad; the rest are her mom).

Observations on Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton's PDA

The recent PDA displayed between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hasn't escaped anyone's attention in the national media, and being an enthusiastic observer of primates and their patterns of touch – it struck me too.


I think it's natural to make assumptions about the status of the relationship between two people seen touching. It's what we do as human beings, as primates. We observe others for signs of who is related, allied. The most obvious give away is touch. Primates don't touch just anyone, and neither do people. So when CNN started musing about whether they were going to be running mates, it didn't surprise me.

BUT – What you may not have picked up on is the dominance aspect of their touch.

Touch for humans as well as other primates, is as much a display of affection as it is a display of dominance. Here, it is significant that he initiated the touch and also stood over her while he pulled out her chair. While it was a nice gesture, to touch her shoulder and pull out her chair, by doing so he signaled that he is in control. The more powerful person in a dyad is the one who has the license to touch. That's why observational studies have found over and over again that men initiate touch far more often than women do. Like it or not, we still live in a male-dominated society.

It's important to not read into that one interaction too much; I am sure she has touched him first plenty of times. I just think it's interesting that the same interaction that has sparked so much talk about their running "mateship" is also one that contains unambiguous cues to dominance.

Pretty In Pink

In lieu of an academic post, I bring you something pretty in pink. Do you remember that movie? For me it always triggers this memory of something a substitute teacher said to me once. She, in passing, told me I look like Molly Ringwald. Isn't it amazing how you remember things people say for decades?

In other stream of consciousness news – I have just tied Mr. Field Notes' record for the most socks collected from the Newfoundland's mouth. She has this thing for socks. She fishes them out of the clothes basket and brings them to us. She coyly stands there in front of us, mouth stuffed with a sock, waiting to run off when we reach for it. She gets this really sheepish grin too. It's all a game for attention. If I ignore her she gets close enough that I can take it away, and she willingly parts with it. She knows exactly where she can find more. So off she goes... I always tell her to get the other one and she does. Always the sock's partner. She seems to need to bring pairs and never mixes them up. Enough Newf News!

Here's the pretty in pink part. I made these cards awhile back and love how they turned out. The leaves left a gorgeous stain on the paper when I made it. I also put a little bit of hot pink yarn in the pulp from Mr. Field Notes' weaving. They are a new favorite. I would love to have time to make more.