Items to share: 24 March

• Is Homeopathy A Sham? : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR  Interesting to find this. In a lecture earlier this week (link to come) on the "Limits of Reflective Practice" I speculated that this generally inoccuous but over-rated approach to professional practice survives--like homeopathy--as a "meme", not because it does what it sets out to do, but because of side-effects valued by its proponents.  Perhaps it is a matter of selective attention (a la Invisible Gorilla) that I seem to have picked up three alternative medicine pieces this week:.

• Diluting the scientific method: Ars looks at homeopathy : An earlier link on the "memory of water" (18 March) has mysteriously disappeared... Thanks to David S for noticing and suggesting this sounder counterbalance.
  

• Evidence-based medicine v alternative therapies: moving beyond virulence:  And in the same area, a counter-blast which deserves to be entertained, at least.

• It's 'not' history - Research - University of Cambridge The history of negation

• Body Language - Lapham’s Quarterly More precisely, cultural variations in gesturing.

• Barack Obama and sign language: ASL, that is.

• Online PhD Resources:Thanks to a correspondent for pointing me in this direction--looks interesting.
  

• Robbers' Cave Experiment: A Week with the Boys Not quite as famous (or notorious) as Milgram's obedience experiments, or Zimbardo's prison, or Asch on conformity, the Robber's Cave study of creating conflict and co-operation is nonetheless a classic which could not be replicated today (Sherif et al., 1961). Well, not in an academic setting, but of course "reality" TV operates on different rules...

• Tour the Amazon with Google Street View; No Passport Needed

• 'Keep Calm and Carry On: The Story of the Iconic World War II Poster
  

• Astronaut Films Auroras from Above | Open Culture Stunning

• Removed by request (1 Feb 3013)
  

• NCBI ROFL: Which brand of ball point pen is best for an emergency airway
  puncture? | Discoblog | Discover Magazine Just in case you need to know... (The site isn't serious, but the studies are.)
  

• Nick Kwiatek — Web & interaction designer + developer Just stir up the screen and see what happens...
  

• Presentation Zen: Videos to help you rethink education, learning, and school Nothing particularly new, but a useful compilation to have access to nonetheless (US-centric, of course)
  

• The End of Pax Papyra and the Fall of Big Paper - Forbes I always like takes on the less obvious impact of technologies, promoting sideways looks.
  

• Bryan Appleyard ‘The Opposite of Faith is not Doubt, it is Certainty’