Interesting Links for 09-09-2013

[andrewducker]

• Why women still have to use pen names in science fiction (and comics)
  (tags: scifi comics women )
• E-cigarettes more effective than nicotine patches
  (tags: cigarettes nicotine health )
• Top tip: If you wave at the bears then they will wave back.
  (tags: bears )
• Understanding Sex Work in an Open Society
  (tags: viasupergee sexwork society )
• Dubstep:

Comments

[bart_calendar]

I love that they get into the distinction between decriminilzation and legalization of sex work.

They don't do a great job though of explaining why legalization has caused problems in some countries.

The reason is that many countries, including France, that have legalized sex work have outlawed brothels.

This puts sex workers at risk, because brothels are by far the safest place to work as a sex worker. If you have a panic button and five large bouncers in a brothel on your side you are in a much safer situation than if you simply go to a john's hotel room after he hires you on the Internet or if you work the street.

Why there is no Hitchhiker’s Guide to Mathematics for Programmers

[cartesiandaemon]

That's one of the best explanation of what mathematics is actually like I've seen.

Re: Why there is no Hitchhiker’s Guide to Mathematics for Programmers

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I thought it did an excellent job of pointing out why mathematics is not like programming, despite it looking like there should be a nice mapping between the two.

E-cigarettes more effective than nicotine patches

[cartesiandaemon]

Judging anecdotal data is always difficult but what I notice about e-cigarettes is I've heard lots of people saying "I tried them and I never went back to smoking tar cigarettes again, it was easy" and no-one saying "I tried to 'quit' onto e-cigarettes and it didn't work". Obviously that might be some bias, but I was definitely inclined to think they truly were different.

(I hope they are harmless, but it seems likely. And I hope they don't represent a resurgence in smoking nicotine but even that might be better than anyone smoking tar.)

Re: E-cigarettes more effective than nicotine patches

[danieldwilliam]

My mum seems to have had real success moving from tar cigarettes to e-cigarettes. She's tried to give up smoking about 15 times in the past and this is the first time she's really managed to change her habit.

[cairmen]

Pen names: see also genius copywriter James Chartrand's explanation of why she uses a pen name.

http://www.copyblogger.com/james-chartrand-underpants/

[philmophlegm]

Cute though those waving bears are, that behaviour doesn't strike me as natural. I wonder if those are rescued bears that were previously trained to do that.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, either trained directly, or used to mimicry or some kind.