--- title: February 2015 News created: 2015-01-28 status: finished previous: /newsletter/2015/01 next: /newsletter/2015/03 confidence: log cssExtension: dropcaps-de-zs backlink: False ... This is the February 2015 edition of [the Gwern.net newsletter](https://gwern.substack.com/ "'Gwern.net newsletter (Substack subscription page)', Branwen 2013"); previous, [January 2015](/newsletter/2015/01 "'January 2014 News', Branwen 2014"). This is a collation of links and summary of major changes, overlapping with [Changelog](/changelog). This broadcast has been brought to you by Royal Kooparillo and my donors on Gratipay. # Writings - [Darknet markets arrests](/dnm-arrest "A listing of all known arrests and prosecutions connected to the Tor-Bitcoin drug darknet markets"): split out of Silk Road page & began bringing up-to-date with all known incidents across all markets - [electric vs stove kettle boiling-time analysis](/kettle "'Tea Reviews § Electric vs stove kettle: fight!', Branwen 2011"): collected some simple data on my kettles & demonstrated some statistics tools on the dataset like a Bayesian measurement-error model # Media ## Links **Genetics**: - [Everything Is Heritable]{.smallcaps}: - ["Genetic contributions to variation in general cognitive function: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in the CHARGE consortium (_n_ = 53949)"](https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2014188/ "'Genetic contributions to variation in general cognitive function: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in the CHARGE consortium (N = 53,949)', Davies et al 2015"), Davies et al 2015 - ["Genetic influence on family socioeconomic status and children’s intelligence"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3907681/), Trzaskowski et al 2014 - [Recent Evolution]{.smallcaps}: - ["Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication"](/doc/genetics/selection/artificial/2014-montague.pdf), Montague et al 2014 ([commentary](https://www.unz.com/gnxp/a-feline-genome-in-full/); complex behavioral traits can be modified by relatively small shifts in many genes) **Politics/religion**: - ["What Politicians Believe About Their Constituents: Asymmetric Misperceptions and Prospects for Constituency Control"](https://www.vanderbilt.edu/csdi/miller-stokes/08_MillerStokes_BroockmanSkovron.pdf), Broockman & Skovron 2013 - ["The Deflationist: How Paul Krugman found politics"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/01/the-deflationist)/["Paul Krugman Is Brilliant, but Is He Meta-Rational?"](https://theumlaut.com/paul-krugman-is-brilliant-but-is-he-meta-rational-497db0db931) - ["Father, Son and the Double Helix"](https://openthemagazine.com/features/living/father-son-and-the-double-helix/) (Gender politics of maternity/paternity DNA testing in India.) - ['Wittgenstein's "Remarks on Frazer's _Golden Bough_"'](https://www.roangelo.net/logwitt/logwit35.html) - ["North Korean border guards prefer married women?"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160731235012/http://newfocusintl.com/north-korean-border-guards-married-women/) ([commentary](https://freekorea.us/2014/12/cougar-town-north-korea/)) **Statistics/AI/meta-science**: - ["50 Years of Deep Learning and Beyond: an Interview with Jürgen Schmidhuber"](https://innsbigdata.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/interview-with-juergen-schmidhuber/) - ["Interpreting observational studies: why empirical calibration is needed to correct _p_-values"](http://www.dcscience.net/Schuemie-Madigan-2012.pdf), Schuemie et al 2012 - ["Large-Scale Simultaneous Hypothesis Testing: The Choice of a Null Hypothesis"](https://www.stat.cmu.edu/~jiashun/Teaching/F08STAT756/Lectures/Efron.pdf), Efron 2004 **Psychology/biology**: - ["The Trip Treatment: Research into psychedelics, shut down for decades, is now yielding exciting results"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip-treatment) - ["Intelligence: Is it the epidemiologists' elusive 'fundamental cause' of social class inequalities in health?"](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1a5c/53eb44d15ce26c755cd598391f18100fbacc.pdf), Gottfredson 2004 - ["Low-dose paroxetine exposure causes lifetime declines in male mouse body weight, reproduction and competitive ability as measured by the novel organismal performance assay"](/doc/statistics/bias/animal/2015-gaukler.pdf), Gaukler et al 2015 - ["There is Only Awe"](https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/there-is-only-awe/) (on Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory) - ["A Novel BHLHE41 Variant is Associated with Short Sleep and Resistance to Sleep Deprivation in Humans"](/doc/genetics/heritable/rare/2014-pellegrino.pdf "'A novel BHLHE41 variant is associated with short sleep and resistance to sleep deprivation in humans', Pellegrino et al 2014"), Pellegrino et al 2014 - ["Refugees of the Modern World: The 'electrosensitive' are moving to a cellphone-free town. But is their disease real?"](https://slate.com/technology/2013/04/green-bank-w-v-where-the-electrosensitive-can-escape-the-modern-world.html) - ["How fast does the Grim Reaper walk? Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis in healthy men aged 70 and over"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240682/), Stanaway et al 2011 **Technology**: - ["If the NSA has been hacking everything, how has nobody seen them coming?"](https://blog.thinkst.com/p/if-nsa-has-been-hacking-everything-how.html?m=1) - ["Freedom Zero"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110726001925/http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/05/14/freedom-0) ("In the long run, the utility of all non-Free software approaches zero. All non-Free software is a dead end.") - ["The Well Deserved Fortune of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin creator, Visionary and Genius"](https://bitslog.com/2013/04/17/the-well-deserved-fortune-of-satoshi-nakamoto/) - [Project Iceworm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm) - ["The Postmodern Ponzi Scheme: Empirical Analysis of High-Yield Investment Programs"](http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=engineering_compsci_research), Moore 2012 - [Reed Richards Is Useless](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReedRichardsIsUseless) **Economics**: - ["Automation and Employment"](https://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2013/03/automation-and-employment-posner.html), Richard Posner - ["Does Affirmative Action Do What It Should?"](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-what-it-should.html) - ["Brickyard Blues: Numbed by cold, pelted by rain, enduring smashed fingers and toes, poorly paid brick salvagers keep coming back for more"](https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/brickyard-blues/) - ["How the recession turned middle-class jobs into low-wage jobs"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/02/28/how-the-recession-turned-middle-class-jobs-into-low-wage-jobs/) **Philosophy**: - ["What is Wrong with Our Thoughts? A Neo-Positivist Credo"](https://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/wrongthoughts.html "'What is Wrong with Our Thoughts? A Neo-Positivist Credo [ch7, The Plato Cult and Other Philosophical Follies]', Stove 1991"), Stove 1991 - ["Scientists discover that atheists might not exist, and that's not a joke"](https://www.science20.com/writer_on_the_edge/blog/scientists_discover_that_atheists_might_not_exist_and_thats_not_a_joke-139982) **Misc**: - ["A History of Tug-of-War Fatalities"](https://priceonomics.com/a-history-of-tug-of-war-fatalities/) ## Books **Nonfiction**: - [_Life in Our Phage World_](http://2015phage.org/) ([review](/review/book#life-in-our-phage-world-rohwer-2014)) - [_Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities_](https://www.amazon.com/Cool-Tools-A-Catalog-Possibilities/dp/1940689007) ([website](https://kk.org/cooltools/); [review](/review/book#cool-tools-kelly-2013)) - [_Peopleware_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peopleware:_Productive_Projects_and_Teams) - [_Japanese Love Hotels: A Cultural History_](https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Love-Hotels-Routledge-Contemporary/dp/0415487544) ([review](/review/book#japanese-love-hotels-chaplin-2007)) - [_Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peopleware:_Productive_Projects_and_Teams) - [_Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldn't_](https://www.amazon.com/Theological-Incorrectness-Religious-Believe-Shouldnt/dp/0195169263), Slone ([review](/review/book#theological-incorrectness-slone-2004)) - [_Japan Edge: The Insider's Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture_](https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Edge-Insiders-Japanese-Subculture/dp/1569313458) **Fiction**: - [_Palimpsests_](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1820441.Palimpsests), Scholz & Harcourt ## Film/TV **Live-action**: - [_Dead Birds_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Birds_%281963_film%29) - [_A State of Mind_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_State_of_Mind) **Anime**: - [_Cowboy Bebop_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Bebop) ## Music **Misc**: - ["Lufthan"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBuZKGxPMXs) (Magyar Posse; _We Will Carry You Over The Mountains_) [postrock] - ["Sobe(Original Mix)"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrt7n7pub3g1xd0/jordanf-sobe-sobeoriginalmix.ogg) (Jordan F) [electronic] **Doujin**:re - ["秋桜の終わりの季節によせる抒情詩〜ピアノとオーケストラのために〜"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8fbfo-ZWgY) (masaki kawasaki; _AD:PIANOⅢ_ {C87}) [electronic/instrumental] - ["Too much for a nightcap"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/lptc6z4nducnoej/casket-musicatlaspii-toomuchforanightcap.ogg) (Casket; _Musicatlas P. II_ {M3-34}) [Celtic] - ["Home"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/81vd5dbbcw3k6oc/kanameshigeyoshi-adpiano%E2%85%A2-home.ogg) (Kaname Shigeyoshi; _AD:PIANOⅢ_ {C87}) [instrumental] - ["Sicureada"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/csrfn66fqskd0x2/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%81%A8%E6%84%89%E5%BF%AB%E3%81%AA%E4%BB%B2%E9%96%93%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A1-musicatlaspii-sicureada.ogg) (ジャージと愉快な仲間たち; _Musicatlas P. II_ {M3-34}) [folk] - ["満たされた時"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/lkikcrvyp1e2fjx/intheblue-merrowinthebluevocalcollection-%E6%BA%80%E3%81%9F%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E6%99%82.mp3) (もふ@ feat. In The Blue; _merrow -in the blue Vocal Collection-_ {M3-34}) [vocal] **Touhou**: - ["Wanna be free"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da3c3VP7A6E) (Rei Shimizu; _Cafe de Touhou 6_ {C87}) [jazz] - ["Brilliant Girls"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzlud2orBP0) (Okawa Tomoya; _Cafe de Touhou 6_ {C87}) [jazz] - ["地獄でお茶を"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20kT52uIlo4) (sisimai-3go; _Cafe de Touhou 6_ {C87}) [jazz] - ["The Eternal Steam Engine"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9qdubmzL6A) (あきやまうに; _Thermonuclear Titan Hisoutensoku ~ Touhou Hisoutensoku ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK_ {C77}) [orchestral] - "The Eternal Steam Engine" (Kou Ogata; _東方Project ごちゃまぜアイリッシュ風プレ版楽曲CD_ {R10}) [folk] - ["Temperature Difference"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z592OOPmmFY) (deitarabotchi feat. senya; _The time my thoughts turned into history_ {C87}) [electronic] - ["Viva Evolution Introduction"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlc67h0c5sxtwd3/sumijun-vivaevolution-vivaevolutionintroduction.ogg) (sumijun feat. 長尾ちえみ; _Viva Evolution_ {C87}) [Jpop/electronic] - ["Don't let you down"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htUnbGnSo_Y) (sumijun feat. 長尾ちえみ; _Viva Evolution_ {C87}) [Jpop/electronic]