--- title: August 2014 News created: 2014-06-21 status: finished previous: /newsletter/2014/07 next: /newsletter/2014/09 confidence: log cssExtension: dropcaps-de-zs backlink: False ... This is the August 2014 edition of [the Gwern.net newsletter](https://gwern.substack.com/ "'Gwern.net newsletter (Substack subscription page)', Branwen 2013") (previously [July](/newsletter/2014/07 "'July 2014 News', Branwen 2014")); it is a summary of the revision-history RSS feed, overlapping with [Changelog](/changelog).. I thank my donors on Gratipay. # Writings - Nootropics: [initial results on LLLT](/nootropic/nootropics#lllt), correlates with large increases; began followup randomized experiment - purchased a [North Paw compass belt](/note/note#north-paw) # Media ## Links **Genetics**: - [Everything Is Heritable]{.smallcaps}: - ["A Gene That Makes You Need Less Sleep?"](https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/a-gene-makes-you-need-less-sleep) (see ["Heritability of Performance Deficit Accumulation During Acute Sleep Deprivation in Twins"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3413799/ "Kuna et al 2012"), ["The Transcriptional Repressor DEC2 Regulates Sleep Length in Mammals"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2884988/ "He et al 2010"), & ["A Novel BHLHE41 Variant is Associated with Short Sleep and Resistance to Sleep Deprivation in Humans"](/doc/genetics/heritable/rare/2014-pellegrino.pdf "Pellegrino et al 2014")) - [How harmful is smoking during pregnancy---*after* controlling for the sort of people who would do that?](https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts/6wRgbC7xp2b) - ["On the genetic architecture of intelligence and other quantitative traits"](https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.3421), Hsu 2014 - ["The Importance of Heritability in Psychological Research: The Case of Attitudes"](https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~schaller/528Readings/Tesser1993.pdf), Tesser 1993 - ["Inheritance of migratory direction in a bird species: a cross-breeding experiment with SE- and SW-migrating blackcaps (_Sylvia atricapilla_)"](/doc/genetics/selection/artificial/1991-helbig.pdf "'Inheritance of migratory direction in a bird species: a cross-breeding experiment with SE-migrating and SW-migrating blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla)', Helbig 1991"), Helbig 1991 ("For blackcap warblers, the direction of migration is clearly innate, so crossbreeding a group of blackcaps who flew south for fall migration with a group that oriented westward resulted in offspring who flew in a southwesterly direction.") **Statistics/AI/meta-science**: - ["Personal reflections on lessons learned from randomized trials involving newborn infants, 1951 to 1967"](https://www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/personal-reflections-on-lessons-learned-from-randomized-trials-involving-newborn-infants-1951-to-1967/ "‘Personal reflections on lessons learned from randomized trials involving newborn infants, 1951–1967’, Silverman 2003"), Silverman 2003 (9 out of 10 dead babies agree: even cherished 'obvious' beliefs must be tested by RCTs) - ["Publication bias in the social sciences: Unlocking the file drawer"](/doc/statistics/bias/publication/2014-franco.pdf), Franco et al 2014 ([_Nature_](https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2014.15787); [Andrew Gelman](https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2014/08/28/publication-bias-social-sciences-unlocking-file-drawer2/)) - ["Better Estimation When Perfection Is Unlikely: A Bayesian Example"](https://jgeer.com/better-estimation-when-perfection-is-unlikely/) - ["The Lyme Wars: The Lyme-disease infection rate is growing. So is the battle over how to treat it."](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/01/the-lyme-wars), ["What Science Needs"](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/soCPoB6cLmgWcTmhD/what-science-needs) - ["Mathematics in the Age of the Turing Machine"](https://arxiv.org/abs/1302.2898), Hales 2013 - ["On the science and ethics of Ebola treatments"](https://scientiasalon.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/on-the-science-and-ethics-of-ebola-treatments/), ["Controlled trials: the 1948 watershed"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114161/ "Doll 1998") - ["Academic urban legends"](https://sss.sagepub.com/content/44/4/638.long), Rekdal 2014 - ["In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal"](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/in-head-hunting-big-data-may-not-be-such-a-big-deal.html) **Psychology**: - ["Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development"](/doc/algernon/2014-kuzawa.pdf), Kuzawa et al 2014 - ["Lead exposure and behavior: effects on antisocial and risky behavior among children and adolescents"](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w20366/w20366.pdf), Reyes 2014 - ["Bastards and Stereotype Accuracy"](https://www.econlib.org/archives/2013/06/bastards_and_st.html) - ["How are conscientiousness and cognitive ability related to one another? A re-examination of the intelligence compensation hypothesis"](/doc/psychology/personality/conscientiousness/2014-murray.pdf), Murray et al 2014 ([Berkson’s paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkson's_paradox)) - ["Investigating America’s elite: Cognitive ability, education, and sex differences"](https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/56143/wai-americas-elite-2013.pdf), Wai 2013 - ["What Happens to Women Who Are Denied Abortions?"](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/magazine/study-women-denied-abortions.html) - ["Standard and trace-dose lithium: A systematic review of dementia prevention and other behavioral benefits"](/doc/psychiatry/lithium/2014-mauer.pdf), Mauer et al 2014 - [Puppy pregnancy syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_pregnancy_syndrome) **Technology**: - [Hal Finney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Finney_%28cypherpunk%29) [has died](https://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/082585.html) ([_NYT_](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/business/hal-finney-cryptographer-and-bitcoin-pioneer-dies-at-58.html)) - ["The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality (VR)"](https://www.theverge.com/a/virtual-reality) - ["Hervé This: The world's weirdest chef; building food, molecule by molecule"](https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/herve-this-the-worlds-weirdest-chef) - ["Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing"](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f60f/e757587be15c29ad6ee5695bc48a44df3e8a.pdf), Nordhaus 2007 **Economics**: - ["Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? Lessons from the Cotton Mills"](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6152/0798b9dd2c691872d58db3914f87dd165a85.pdf), Clark 1987 - ["How the Robots Lost: High-Frequency Trading's Rise and Fall"](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-06-06/how-the-robots-lost-high-frequency-tradings-rise-and-fall) - ["What Do Chinese Dumplings Have to Do With Global Warming?"](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/what-do-chinese-dumplings-have-to-do-with-global-warming.html) - [Rag-picker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag-and-bone_man) **Politics/religion**: - ["The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan... Stalin Did: Have 70 years of nuclear policy been based on a lie?"](https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/) - [Gombe Chimpanzee War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War) ("For several years I struggled to come to terms with this new knowledge. Often when I woke in the night, horrific pictures sprang unbidden to my mind—Satan [one of the apes], cupping his hand below Sniff's chin to drink the blood that welled from a great wound on his face; old Rodolf, usually so benign, standing upright to hurl a four-pound rock at Godi's prostrate body; Jomeo tearing a strip of skin from Dé's thigh; Figan, charging and hitting, again and again, the stricken, quivering body of Goliath, one of his childhood heroes...") - [Bedford Level experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Level_experiment) - ["The Great Canadian Sperm Shortage"](https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/the-great-canadian-sperm-shortage.html) **Fiction**: - [2002 in anime](https://archive.is/bm4So) (Overall, not the best year for anime by far; nevertheless, I would happily rewatch [_Azumanga Daioh_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azumanga_Daioh), [_Haibane Renmei_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haibane_Renmei), & [_RahXephon_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RahXephon) any number of times, and picked up some interesting suggestions for future watching like [_Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamala_2010:_A_Punk_Cat_in_Space).) - ["The Too-Clever Fox"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130809044218/https://www.tor.com/stories/2013/06/the-too-clever-fox) - [TvTropes reviews _Nature of Nature's Art_ webcomic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/NatureOfNaturesArt) **Misc**: - [Evolution of _E. Coli_ over 60k generations](https://longnow.org/ideas/lenski-long-term-evolution-experiment/) - ["War in the womb: A ferocious biological struggle between mother and baby belies any sentimental ideas we might have about pregnancy"](https://aeon.co/essays/why-pregnancy-is-a-biological-war-between-mother-and-baby); ["The Pregnancy Pickle: Evolved immune compensation due to pregnancy underlies sex differences in human diseases"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6611699/ "'The Pregnancy Pickle: Evolved Immune Compensation Due to Pregnancy Underlies Sex Differences in Human Diseases', Natri et al 2019"), Natri et al 2019 - ["A Parable"](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD05xx/EWD594.html), Dijkstra 1973 (Orienting toilets on train cars.) - [Judas goat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_goat) - ["The Strange & Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit: For nearly thirty years, a phantom haunted the woods of Central Maine"](https://www.gq.com/story/the-last-true-hermit) ## Books **Fiction**: - [_Worm_](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/) ([review](/review/book#worm-wildbow-2013)) - _Echopraxia_, Peter Watts ([review](/review/book#echopraxia-watts-2014)) - [_Chronicle of a Death Foretold_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicle_of_a_Death_Foretold), Marquez ([review](/review/book#chronicle-of-a-death-foretold-marquez-2003)) - [_The Metropolitan Man_](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10360716/1/The-Metropolitan-Man) ([review](/review/book#the-metropolitan-man-wales-2014)) - [_Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Loathing_in_Las_Vegas) ([review](/review/book#fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas-thompson-1998)) ## Film/TV **Anime**: - [_Fuse Teppō Musume no Torimonochō_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_Tepp%C5%8D_Musume_no_Torimonoch%C5%8D) ([review](/review/anime#fuse)) - [_Cat Shit One_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Shit_One#Anime) ([review](/review/anime#cat-shit-one)) - [_The SoulTaker_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_SoulTaker) ([review](/review/anime#the-soultaker)) **Live-action**: - [_Three Coins in the Fountain_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Coins_in_the_Fountain_%28film%29) (Actually not that bad. Sort of a silly romantic comedy of manners, and when you get bored with that, you can pay attention to post-WWII Italy and note how privileged Americans were, how women smoked back then, etc. It feels weird to see offices without computers in them---just papers. and phones. Oh, and random monks in the background: the camera just pans across them like they're not there.) ## Music **Touhou**: - ["廃獄ララバイ"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bplpdye6060) (Toy; _協奏符「拾遺物語」_ {R11}) [symphony] - ["おつかいメイドのひといき"](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/280585369/music/%E6%B0%B4%E6%A9%8B%E3%82%86%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8D-kirisamemahouyougashiten-%E3%81%8A%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8B%E3%81%84%E3%83%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%89%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B2%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%8D.ogg) (水橋ゆっきー; _Kirisame Mahou Yougashiten_ {C85}) [instrumental] - ["竹取飛翔"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYEcgbwpnN4) (k-wave labs; _幽かのたまゆら_ {C84}) [Celtic] - ["東方妖々夢"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuEiC3ul784) (k-wave labs; _幽かのたまゆら_ {C84}) [Celtic] - ["幽雅に咲かせ、墨染の桜"](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5317066/music/kouogata-%E5%B9%BD%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AE%E3%81%9F%E3%81%BE%E3%82%86%E3%82%89-%E5%B9%BD%E9%9B%85%E3%81%AB%E5%92%B2%E3%81%8B%E3%81%9B%E5%A2%A8%E6%9F%93%E3%81%AE%E6%A1%9C.ogg) (k-waves LAB; _幽かのたまゆら_ {C84}) [Celtic] - ["ほおずきみたいに紅い魂"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD9ECz6FR4c) (k-wave labs; _幽かのたまゆら_ {C84}) [Celtic] - ["時間差カルテ"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/rtelvwwx03ap23a/%E6%9D%B1%E6%96%B9%E7%88%86%E9%9F%B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%82%BA4-%E6%99%82%E9%96%93%E5%B7%AE%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AB%E3%83%86.ogg) (Tokyo Active NEETs; _Touhou Bakuon Jazz 4_ {C84}) [jazz] - ["令・瞑コード零"](https://www.dropbox.com/s/m748tqn9ypwiz0z/%E6%9D%B1%E6%96%B9%E7%88%86%E9%9F%B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%82%BA4-%E4%BB%A4%E7%9E%91%E3%82%B3%E3%83%89%E9%9B%B6.ogg) (Tokyo Active NEETs; _Touhou Bakuon Jazz 4_ {C84}) [jazz] - ["紅星ミゼラブル~廃憶編"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeW1ROcrFuQ) (Tokyo Active NEETs; _Touhou Bakuon Jazz 4_ {C84}) [jazz] - ["感情の摩天楼 ~ Cosmic Mind"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57BJbpwQz3M&index=6&list=PLvtr235lMBeN4yhN3Iy7PVvfz0G2RUPqN) (あきやまうに; _暗黒能楽集・心綺楼 東方心綺楼 ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK_ {C84}) [instrumental] - ["Thawing Realism"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IliIARRvymQ) (Autoban feat. Senya; _Hiding You in the Evening Cherry Trees_ {C85}) [trance] - ["NEXTLIFE"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BljumcDx3U) (隣人 feat. 坂上なち (twinkle* twinkle); _THE LEAP NEXTRA_ {C84}) [electronic] - ["party in the streets of Tokyo"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3YGzmRdu2k) (Renko; _a-romatic_ {C84}) [house] - ["風の向こうへ"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGRshXcCNOw) (JeetSingh feat. Chia; _Serendipity_ {R10}) [vocal] - ["voyage"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvBYpCRq2t4) (きりん feat 茶々; _con spirito_ {C85}) [vocal] - ["Cherry Ashes"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Fm3yEXKcg) (senya; _The Whole World_ {C84}) [vocal]