GMA STATEMENT ON ACRYLAMIDE AND CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 65

GMA STATEMENT ON ACRYLAMIDE AND CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 65

This would be funny, were it not a real story. Hmmm... chemicals, naturally occuring in the process of cooking foods, to be banned by California.

My favorite quote?
"Acrylamide is present in food as a natural byproduct of the cooking process. Because it occurs when natural constituents of foods are cooked or heated, it has been present in the food supply and safely consumed since human beings discovered that cooked food tastes good and is often safer than the raw form. "

Makes one wonder if there might really BE a hidden agenda. Note that the chemical occurs, not just in meats (so it's not a Vegan thing...) but in all foods.

Sometimes I wish people would remember that life really is terminal. If you know you will die sometime, why must "they" make it so miserable here while we live?

Exit Polls "got it wrong" (Again!)

WSJ.com - The Numbers Guy

I commend this article to you, and actually, the series that this author is doing. He lays out just how wrong the exit polls were, and possible explanations as to why.

Perhaps, for me, the most interesting reason for the innaccuracy in the polling is that Hamas voters intentionally refused to answer polling questions, to protect the sanctity of the elections. Not just worried that Fatah would get concerned, and come out to vote in greater numbers--worried that Fatah would burn ballot boxes. That intrigues me, since so many are convinced that exit polls are right, and actually, apparently believe "more right" than actual counts of votes (remember 2000, and 2004?) I am still amazed at that. Imagine, if you have coins in a jar, and I guess how many (even if I apply some methodology for estimating--counting the number visible... times how many one could fit in the diameter, or some such) and you count out, one by one, how many--which count would you hold as more accurate?

Now, the academic in me finds something else interesting in this article. Dr Said, one of the pollsters, critiques his decision to change his methodology, when it appeared that he was getting the "wrong answer." Alas, researchers often fall prey to expecting an answer, and questioning their results when they don't get that answer. In this case, Dr Said even questions whether his subconscious got in the way.

Imagine if US pollsters actually admitted that their results could, perhaps, have been biased by their own subconscious desires to see on candidate elected over another. Hmmmm....

» OS X users celebrate first wild worm | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

» OS X users celebrate first wild worm | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Okay, so this is a bit warped. Interestingly, I had just listed to an episode of TWIT ("This week in tech" by Leo Laporte) where someone in the gang of about 5 commented that the security in OS-X was quite weak, but that thankfully no one ever wants to attack it. Perhaps the worm-writer was a member of the TWIT Army feeling sorry for Mac users? While that seems far-fetched, the author perhaps understood that, as this article points out, they would be "gleeful" when it was "born free."

Perverse pleasures may be pleasurable, but they remain... perverse...