Eric Busboom » Uncategorized

Testosterone and Cognitive Function

Eric Busboom — Sat, 14 May 2011 04:08:58 +0000

Finding one article on pre-natal exposure to testosterone and giftedness, I figured that this was probably only one paper showing a tentative connection. Then I found all of the other papers.

Martin Mrazik, Stefan Dombrowski. The Neurobiological Foundations of Giftedness.
University of Liverpool (2009, November 7). Hormone That Affects Finger Length Key To Social Behavior.
BMJ Specialty Journals (2006, September 28). Finger Length Ratio May Predict Women’s Sporting Prowess.
University of Bath (2007, May 24). Finger Length Helps Predict Elementary Exam Results
Concordia University (2010, November 9). Alpha males take greater risks: Study links finger length to behavior
University of Chicago (2009, August 25). Higher Level Of Testosterone In Women Linked To Choice Of Risky Careers.
British Association For The Advancement Of Science (2007, September 13). Testosterone In Womb Linked To Autism.
University of Cambridge (2011, February 10). Extra testosterone reduces your empathy, researchers find.
University of Cambridge (2009, July 16). Asperger Syndrome, Autism, And Empathy: Study Links 27 Genes.
Harvard University (2008, January 14). Testosterone May Improve Mental Function.
Association for Psychological Science (2010, September 7). Having a male co-twin improves mental rotation performance in females.

No connection with Testosterone: http://tc.engr.wisc.edu/steuber/SophJrSr/papers/2008/HonorableLohrentz.pdf

Related to the co-twin study: JAMA and Archives Journals (2007, December 4). Males With A Female Twin May Be At Higher Risk For Anorexia Nervosa.

Economic Notes On Manufacturing

posterous — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:39:43 +0000

The US has been shedding manufacturing jobs since about 2000. ( Not 1970 as many people believe . )

But, a capital spending report for the same period shows that capital spending has not dropped:

Furthermore, manufacturing revenue has been climbing over the period, but income after tax has stayed fairly flat.

So, if the manufacturing companies are spending less on people, the same amount on machines but not getting more income, where is the additional expense? They could be spending more on raw materials, but the other possibility is that they are spending more on services, in the form of outsourced labor. For instance, instead of hiring janitors directly, they hire a janitorial services firm. In this case, the same number of people are being hired, but the job is shifted from “manufacturing” to “services.” I’m not sure about the details of this effect, but it does mean that the decline in manufacturing jobs may not be as great as it appears.

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Positive commands

posterous — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:18:31 +0000

Here’s a good example of how to turn a negative into a positive. Much more poetic than ” keep out”.

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Kid Powered Teacup

posterous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:21:49 +0000

This teacup in the children’s playground in Golden Gate Park accelerates when you sit in it.

I’m not sure how it works, but I suspect it has a screw, a ratchet and a spring to lift it up, but it doesn’t obviously screw downward under weight.

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Happy feet

posterous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:21:24 +0000

Finally got my Sanuks.

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Guess which mask is my son’s

posterous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:20:56 +0000

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Testing Embedded Google Video

Eric Busboom — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:02:48 +0000

I’m testing embedded Google Video, from our new Google Apps account.

Untitled

posterous — Mon, 24 May 2010 02:12:55 +0000

Sure it is.

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Another attempt at casting

posterous — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:40:18 +0000

Getting the sand ready to cast an aluminum part for the kitchen.

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SoCal Surf Towns Ranked

Eric Busboom — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:06:21 +0000

Here is a list of the top surf towns in Southern California. The list is computed by taking the number of web searches for the area name plus “surf shop” and dividing by the population of the area. All percentages are expressed relative to the top result. The area names come from Zillow.com, and are the named areas that are on the coast or adjacent to an area on the coast. We only considered areas between Tijuana and Santa Barbara.

Del Mar	100.00%
Malibu	97.73%
Ocean Beach	53.04%
Mission Beach	34.70%
Venice	25.91%
Laguna Beach	22.73%
Dana Point	20.39%
Solana Beach	18.25%
Pacific Beach	18.21%
Hermosa Beach	18.15%
Santa Monica	18.09%
La Jolla	17.61%
Encinitas	16.01%
San Clemente	15.97%
Manhattan Beach	12.97%
Santa Barbara	12.36%
Ventura	11.81%
Huntington Beach	11.09%
Newport Beach	9.45%
Coronado	8.64%
Carpinteria	8.04%
Seal Beach	7.54%
Long Beach	5.07%
Oceanside	4.83%
Carlsbad	4.55%
Imperial Beach	4.46%
San Diego	3.72%
Redondo Beach	3.43%
Orange	2.34%
San Pedro	1.95%
Vista	1.54%
Costa Mesa	0.62%
Oxnard	0.31%