Leah Libresco's Blog, page 35

Books that Change the Way You Think [Radio Readings]

You can listen to “Fights in Good Faith,” my weekly radio program, streaming today at 5pm ET and tomorrow (Sun) at 1pm.  And I’ll add a note here once the audio is available to stream. Plus, this Monday, you can come see me speak in person in San Francisco. Every week, I put up a “Radio Readings” post, [Read More...]

7QT: Faces back from the dead, Anxieties outside your head

  Don’t forget, if you’re in the Bay Area, that I’ll be speaking at St. Dominic’s this Monday night — tell your friends!  And for those of you not near San Francisco, you can catch me on the radio at 5pm on Saturday or 1pm on Sunday.   — 1 — I was really pleased [Read More...]

When Public Religion is Rare, It Gets Weird

  Although every Saint Patrick’s Day, streets shut down for a quasi-Catholic-related march, the American St. Paddy’s Day has about as much to do with Christianity as it does with Ireland these days, and is mostly an excuse to dress up and drink.  A lot of public festivals have been watered down in this way.  And [Read More...]

When has a book in one field helped you in a seemingly unrelated one?

I’ve just finished Scott Aaronson’s Quantum Computing Since Democritus this week (making a list of the books I wanted to read has really helped me prioritize them!), and I’d like all of your help in prepping what’s going to be a segment I do on it this week for my radio show. Quantum Computing Since [Read More...]

I’m speaking on “Openness to Truth” in San Fran, Feb 2nd

I’m pleased to announce that, on Monday, February 2nd at 7:30pm, I’ll be speaking at the very beautiful St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco. I’ll be tackling the topic “Cultivating Openness to Truth” and discussing ways to make it easier for an opponent (or you!) to have the chance to notice that s/he is in error. [Read More...]

Wrong Identities, Chosen and Imposed [Radio Readings]

You’ll be able to catch “Fights in Good Faith,” my weekly radio program, streaming today at 5pm ET and tomorrow (Sun) at 1pm.  And the audio this week is already up at the archive page! Every week, I put up a “Radio Readings” post, so you can track down the books, articles, songs, (and, this week, mathematical [Read More...]

7QT: Terrifying Fish, Lightning-Quick Archers (and some cussin’)

Two housekeeping notes: you can still vote for me in the “Smartest Blog” category in the Sheenazing Awards, and my weekly radio show will be streaming tomorrow at 5pm and again on Sunday at 1pm, — 1 — Folks, this archery video (found via Deadspin) has made my day.  Based on nerdy examination of historical [Read More...]

When Discerning, Fewer Relationships are “Failed” Ones

Ilana Yurkiewicz explained, as a doctor, how she has to make an active effort to avoid learning callousness from the occasional deceptions of her patients.  Meanwhile, in the Federalist, Teresa Mull is tackling a similar problem in modern dating.  She’s worried about the danger of being emotionally overextended, and would like to see folks engage in [Read More...]

Holy Fools Against the Mini-Maxers

My friend Ilana Yurkiewicz is an excellent doctoring blogger, and I particularly appreciated one of her recent essays, “What’s so healthy about skepticism?”  Her post about being deceived by a patient and deciding what lessons to learn from the encounter is excellent.  I’ll blockquote a small bit here, but you should pop over and read the whole thing: [Read More...]

Using Abortion Debates to Explain Bayesian Statistics

I’m never one to pass up a chance to leverage people’s interest in a hot-button social issue to talk about probability theory.  I’m over at Ethika Politika today, talking about how base-rate neglect can skew people’s understanding of the significance of screening test (specifically, those for fetal abnormalities) A New Danger to Expecting Mothers: Statistical [Read More...]