Deep thoughts and silliness

Someone at The Guardian is trying to stir up conflict. They have an article up that claims that dogs are smarter than cats. a boffin (dressed, no doubt, in a lab coat) tested cats’ abilities to work out how to drag treats on string towards them. On the basis of this test she concluded that “cats do not understand cause-and-effect connections between objects”.
The Beast begs to differ. He knows when one object goes into the kitchen, there’s a high chance that the fridge will be opened:

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None of us really has anything better to do, do we? So why not follow Grrlscientist’s lead and find out which Science Scouts badges you have earned.

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I wonder. I’m sat on a bus between Tallinn and Tartu, and yes. It does have its own wifi. Just to prove it, here are some photos:

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I’m now sat on a ferry going to Tallinn (conference in Tartu, in southern Estonia). It has a wireless connection (yay!), but it’s a bit slow. Which means that the html gets confused. So, the comments in Henry’s latest post look like this on the screen:

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I just liked this (_via_ FriendFeed).

Well, actually it’s here.

Kristjan did a good job, despite suffering an allergic reaction just when he was due to start panicking about writing the carnival.
The next issue is due to appear on June the 15th at Mauka to Makai. You can should submit your science posts via this nifty form

I guess we all saw the publicity surrounding Ida, the Fossil That Will Change Everything. Well, in the same week two papers with my name on were also published online, but received nowhere near the same publicity. On reflection, it’s obvious we didn’t hype the papers enough, sticking to claims that were (a) actually in the paper, and (b) weren’t utter hyperbole¹. So, too late, here is what we should have done.

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In the past I have ranted about the evils of p-values and also how we’re not collecting the right sort of data. Both of these have just collided in my work, and I’m not sure what to do.

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If you’ve been following the British news, you’ll know that the main political parties aren’t popular, because they’ve been more concerned about the welfare of ducks than of their constituents. So how do you react to this headline in the Guardian?

Quarter of voters set to reject main parties at EU elections, poll shows

Oh noes! The public is turning away from the major parties!
Err, no. Not if you can understand numbers.

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I just want to say that today’s Non Sequitur works for me: