Incorporating Blog Consumption into the Classroom

There is currently a proposal before ISA to prevent blogging by the editorial members of ISA journals.  While there are a few posts discussing how this is professionally problematic and limits some real discussion that is happening via blog, there is one other arena such a mandate would also hurt: My classroom.   During the 2013-2014 academic year, I have been part of a teaching program at Boise State (Boise State Teaching Scholars) that aims to help early-career professors develop a more robust classroom while incorporating what we know from the scholarship on teaching and learning.  Part of my work through Continue reading Incorporating Blog Consumption into the Classroom

Biology and Politics

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about a study that found a link between certain genes and interest in politics. Two new studies have come out since that go even further, and find a link between brain region size and genes, and political preference. I discuss them below. Brain Region Size and Ideology A new study by scientists at University College London has found a link between the size of certain areas of the brain and political viewpoints. In sum: "Scientists have found that people with conservative views have brains with larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the centre Continue reading Biology and Politics

2000 – 2010: End of Year/End of Decade Lists: Top Five Politically Significant Days of the Decade?

I love lists and I hope you do too. Several lists have occurred to me recently, and I was going to ignore my itch to make them because there are probably lots of good end-of-year lists floating around now. But do any of them take a quantitative approach to list-making? I’m going to try the procedure. How to make an End-Of-Decade List of the most Significant Days of the Decade? Prelude: Several months ago there was a widely-circulated news story about “the most boring day in history”: the finger was pointed at April 11th 1954. William Tunstall-Pedoe’s computer program ‘True Knowledge’ Continue reading 2000 – 2010: End of Year/End of Decade Lists: Top Five Politically Significant Days of the Decade?

A Few Non-Connected Thoughts and Links

The three of us, along with Ray Carman, traveled to New York City for the weekend to enjoy a few hours of Eddie Izzard performing at Radio City Music Hall for this current "Stripped" tour.  As such, the trip is still fresh in my mind as I return to work on a few projects involving asymmetric relationships; this clip from over a decade ago is begging to be included as an introductory quote to an article or chapter on imperialism: Second, for those of you who are design savvy (I am not), the Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science Continue reading A Few Non-Connected Thoughts and Links