SEP 10
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“ The different sciences are sometimes likened to successive levels of a tall building - physics on the ground floor, then chemistry, then cell biology - all the way up to psychology, and the economists in the penthouse. ”
Prof. Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, BBC Reith
Lecture #3 2010.
Acupuncture goes double blind
The history of the ‘ Placebo Needle ’ goes back at least as far as 1998, when researchers at the University of Heidelberg, Germany invented one.
An ensuing study found that patients couldn’t tell the difference between a real needle and the specially designed non-skin-penetrating one. Opening the way for scientific experimenters to construct valid blind trials - with placebo receiving control groups - to test the efficacy of acupuncture.
A problem remained however. Although the patients being treated couldn’t tell the difference, the acupuncturists administering the needles certainly could. Thus ‘ double-blind ' trials ( in which neither the patient nor the acupuncturist knows if the needle is real ) were impossible.
Until now.
Professor Nobuari Takakura and colleagues from the Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan, have invented the ‘ Non-touch control needle ’. (N-TCN)
In a test experiment, ten professional acupuncturists each made thirty attempts to discern whether they were using a ‘real’ needle or the new N-TCN.
And in general, they couldn't.
Conclusion : " Practitioners had a slight tendency to guess the penetrating needles correctly, but were uncertain about most of their judgments, posing only a very small risk to double blinding."
The study is published in the latest issue of the journal Acupuncture in Medicine.
Comment from reader Peter K
"I'm a builder, and I've invented the Placebo Hammer (pic). Can I get a patent?"
03 SEP 10
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Embodiment and CCT
“ We clothe it, we expose it to the sun, we depilate it, we moisturize it, we beautify it with cosmetics, we cleanse it, we tattoo it, we pierce it, and we scar it.”
The ‘ it ’ in question is of course ‘ skin ’ – and it’s the subject for a new article in the journal Marketing Theory.
“ Skin reflects the dynamic relationship between inside and outside, self and society, between personal identity projects and marketplace cultures. It represents the meeting place of structure and agency; a primary site for the inscription of ideology and a text upon which individuals write their own stories.”
The skin researchers, from the University of Exeter in the UK, and the University of Limerick in Ireland, have identified three functions of skin – from the point of view of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) -
• Skin as container
• Skin as a projection surface, and
• Skin as a cover to be modified
But ultimately, say the authors –
“ . . . we suggest an abandonment of our fetish for meaning and champion instead an examination of what consuming bodies do.”
The new paper - Borderlands: Skin, Tattoos, and Consumer Culture Theory can be read in full here :
؟ ؟ ؟
Also see : A skin-based
musical inquiry by Jon Quarmby and
Ephraim Lewis (1964)
02 SEP 10
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This week's new patents
New US patents issued today . . .
Yes . . . but what are they ?
Click the image to view the full patent . . .
31 AUG 10 (late editon)
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Isnotzoeeezy.
How can you accurately tell if someone is drunk or not - without the use of chemical methods to test their Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) ?
You can’t – according to a new study in Behavioral Sciences & the Law.
In which Steve Rubenzer Ph.D., ABPP explains that -
“ Assessing the sobriety of strangers in the low to moderate BAC ranges without resort to chemical tests remains a daunting task.”
As his website www.forensicsobrietyassessment.com sets out, common-sense ad-hoc judgements are often far from accurate. He tabulates the following error-prone clues.
• Unusually relaxed or ‘laid-back’
• Having to make a special effort to articulate
• Very friendly, particularly with strangers
• Suggestive language, mild profanity
• Red-faced, sweating, loosened clothing
• Giggling, ‘cutesy’ , self-satisfied
• Exaggerated gestures
• Red eyes
• Going off by oneself
• Miscalculating distance or depth
• Speaking loudly and dominating conversation
• Poor posture
• Standing ‘cheek-to-jowl’ when talking to someone
• Making physical contact when talking
• Low dexterity, poor co-ordination
• Slow, flustered, forgetful
• Clothing very rumpled, hair mussed
• Antisocial speech or behaviour
• Extreme lack of dexterity
• Slurred or incoherent speech
• Shouting at or cursing people
• Loss of balance
Pointing out that “ . . . some [drunken]
people do not show the expected clues.”
Really Magazine suggests the possibility of looking at the problem form the other direction though. Perhaps the diagnostic difficulties lie not in the fact that many people don’t reliably exhibit the symptoms when drunk - but that many people do even when they’re not.
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Other news
31 AUG 10
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Exclusive . . .
Mr.
Paul BentClip – previously thought to have been
in retirement - has announced his intention to sue Apple,
Google, BP, Kodak, Nike, Pizza Hut, BAE Systems, FarceBook and Hormel
Foods ( makers of Spam )
for alleged patent infringements.
During the late nineties, Mr. BentClip became almost a household name as the always-on ‘Out-of-the-Office Assistant’ for [deleted] [deleted][deleted][deleted]
[deleted][deleted] ( at the request of his legal advisors )
In an exclusive statement to Really Magazine, Mr. BentClip said
“ I intent 2 un-escape 2343&ff 11Fk53Jy58HsvSgs$Hhl82k444BcgsYY clear violation of &exception 404 as soon as possible.”
30 AUG 10
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Consolidating a Peter Pan theory
‘ Finding everland: Flight fantasies and the desire to transcend mortality ‘
- will be published in a future edition of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
It's one of the very few academic papers to describe the applicability of Terror Management Theory to ‘ Flight Fantasies ’ in students.
Example :
“ In Study 2, participants showed greater desire to fly, but not to engage in other supernatural acts, after contemplating death compared to a control topic.”
Also see, by one of the paper’s co-authors : A psychobiographical essay on J. M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan.
27 AUG 10
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Pedestrian Practices - Plymouth
New research from the Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Devon, UK, forms the basis of one of the first academic studies to empirically unpack the experiences of real-world urban walking.
The research centred around a series of in-depth interviews and walking photo-diaries made in the inner London boroughs of Islington and Hackney.
As the author points out -
“...many academic engagements with walking are highly abstract theorisations that lack any systematic empirical exploration of actual pedestrian practices.”
In this case though -
“ Walking is positioned and understood as a socio-technical assemblage that enables specific attention to be drawn to the embodied, material and technological relations and their significance for engaging with everyday urban movements on foot.”
See:
Sense and the city: exploring the embodied geographies of urban walking
In the latest issue of the journal Social & Cultural Geography.
26 AUG 10
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A touch of toast
When Bacon and Egg Ice-cream was first introduced at the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, UK, it wasn’t an immediate hit – for reasons which have now been clarified - and which perhaps could be described as Crossmodal dysfunctionalism.
The dish has come under the scrutiny of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.
Professor Charles Spence explains the underlying psychology here in the Sept 2010 edition of the journal the psychologist.
“When bacon-and-egg ice-cream was first created, it was only moderately pleasant; the flavours did not appear to stand out from one another. The breakthrough came when a piece of crispy fried bread was added to the plate. While the bread does not, in-and-of-itself, impart much flavour to the dish, its addition brought the dish alive, seemingly helping to separate the bacon and egg flavours. It appears as though the bacon is ‘ventriloquised’ towards, and hence becomes perceptually localised within, the crispy bread, while the eggy flavour stays behind in the more texturally appropriate soft ice-cream.”
Correction. In an earlier version of this item we erroneously described the additional ingredient as 'toast'. We should of course have said 'fried bread' – which from the point of view of ventriloquism might be substantially different. Ed.
25 AUG 10
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Flea Market Theory
Many
people are fond of finding and re-using old objects. And Dr.
Paul Camic of the Department of Applied Psychology
at Canterbury University in the UK is one such person.
His recent publication -
From trashed to treasured: A grounded theory analysis of the found object.
- which appears in the may 2010 edition of the journal ‘ Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts ‘, points out that -
“. . . research and applied psychologists pay surprisingly little attention to the material objects encountered in day-to-day living, even though the significance of these objects in human development has been profound.”
“ Drawing on literature from the visual arts, consumer behavior, anthropology, psychology, art therapy, and museum studies, this is the first known article to examine the psychological, social, and aesthetic factors involved in found and second-hand object use.”
Note : For these purposes, secondhand and ‘found objects’ are defined as "... objects that are found in streets, alleys, garbage bins, or anywhere else OR are purchased as secondhand objects in curiosity, charity and secondhand shops, garage and boot sales, flea markets and estate sales. “
The article is ‘subscribers only’, but supporting
material can
be found, and read, online, here, for free.
؟ ؟ ؟
As yet under-represented in the academic literature: ‘ Towards a consolidated theory of beachcombing.’
23 AUG 10
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Curiosity of the Month
In her 80's, Coco Chanel ( creator of Chanel No. 5 ) lived at the Ritz in Paris. When she felt inclined to dine in the hotel's restaurant, the management always ensured that a table was exclusively resevable for her.
Or, to be precise, a set of tables. One table surrounded by several empty ones.
Thus the ' public ' was successfully, though not at all discreetly, kept at bay - she couldn't stand their smells.
Source: LRB , Vol. 32 No. 1 · 7 January 2010
19 AUG 10
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Paper of the week.
From the Lubin School of Business at Pace University New York City. ( “ ...among only 3% of the world's premier business schools.” ) [1]
“ Toward a Theory of Restaurant Décor: An Empirical Examination of Italian Restaurants in Manhattan ”
in the latest issue of the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.
18 AUG 10
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Owning Colours
Can an individual – personal or corporate – ‘own’ a colour?
A recent paper in the journal Colour: Design & Creativity takes an-in depth look at this concept. The history of colour 'ownership' goes back centuries. In ancient China, only the emperor and his family had rights to own anything bright yellow - even down to the roof-tiles of the imperial palaces. And the paper cites the modern-day examples of Yves Klein - who received a patent for his ‘ International Klein Blue (IKB) ’ , and Cadbury Ltd. - who tried to enforce their ‘ownership’ of a purplish variation in relation to chocolate bar wrappings.
It maybe too late, but Really Magazine is today registering ‘ Really Fawn ’ specified as :
194,189,181 (in RGB)
77,1,5 (in LAB)
24%, 21%, 26%, 0% (in CMYK)
#C2BDB5 (in hex)
We will actively pursue any body, entity or organisation using Really Fawn for any purpose without our express permission ( excluding naturally occurring phenomena such as decayed leaves, lentils, mud etc etc ).
In the meantime it's avalable for licence ( apply for rates ), or for outright sale ( substantial offers only - no timewasters ).
؟ ؟ ؟
Also see : www.international-klein-blue.com
11 AUG 10
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