Daily Data Dump - Wednesday

In Defense of Difference. If Eyak language was so awesome, why wasn't the article written in Eyak? I find the paeans to linguistic and cultural diversity tiresome and knee-jerk. In 1820 there was a relatively wide range of diversity of views in regards to slavery. No longer today. Today the diversity in attitudes toward legal equality between the sexes is diminishing due to the implementation of gender egalitarianism by cultural elites and international institutions. More seriously, this needs some fleshing out: "That the Earth is becoming more homogeneous — less of a patchwork quilt and more of a melting pot." Yes, the patchwork is being torn about, but smaller pieces are being reassembled. There are for example people today who are half-Chinese & half-English devotees of Vaishnava Hinduism. There are more combinations as the fuller possible parameter space is being explored, despite the decrease in the number of modes across the distributions. No. 1 Nation in Sexy Web Searches? Call it Pornistan. What you do the right thing if no one knew? One of the issues with private behavior in many societies which are notionally conservative is that ethics constrained by shame may result in reduced self-regulation when exterior pressures are not operative. How Science Fiction Made Me Want to Be a Scientist. How Much of Your Food Dollar Goes to Farmers? First, surprised at the magnitude of difference between processed and unprocessed (e.g., produce) foods. Second, "farmers" can mean many different things in the United States. Good grief, the Neandertal test kits have been sent. Capitalism + stupidity = crazy profits!