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Links to cheer you up
1. "Crows seem to be able to use causal reasoning to solve a problem, a feat previously undocumented in any other non-human animal, including chimps." Here is more.
2. "I, Crayon," so to speak, a video.
3. Should libertarians migrate to Canada?
4. Treadmill desks.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on September 18, 2008 at 11:16 AM in Science | Permalink
Comments
The only libertarians who should flee to Canada are those who do not believe in free speech and do not host websites where free expression is permitted. Otherwise, they may find themselves in legal jeopardy.
Posted by: RW Rogers at Sep 18, 2008 11:21:47 AM
Wow, that crayon video was an amazing flashback for me. I remember standing in front of the TV over twenty years ago watching this. It's so wild to have these things come back to life on the internet.
Posted by: mk at Sep 18, 2008 11:35:31 AM
One of my old professors at UW swore to us that crows were smarter than some of us in lecture. They certainly appear to remember faces better than some of us.
Best,
D
Posted by: Dano at Sep 18, 2008 11:42:28 AM
Additional evidence that humans and chimps are much more closely related than humans and crows.
Posted by: Diversity at Sep 18, 2008 12:01:11 PM
What is that list in the Canada thread? It has Hong Kong and Singapore as most free countries in the world?
Perhaps it's just me, but there is something fishy about a freedom list with one-party dictatorships as top picks.
Posted by: Zamfir at Sep 18, 2008 12:05:42 PM
Crows are very smart. They seem to be waiting for humans to self-destruct. Then they'll take over alpha-species duties.
Posted by: Michael Blowhard at Sep 18, 2008 12:25:29 PM
The crows thing is not surprising. I watched a pair of Ravens poke holes in the lid of our garbage can and then unscrew it. The same pair (I assume) works our street every trash day trying to open each houses garbage.
Posted by: JimS at Sep 18, 2008 12:31:16 PM
Zamfir: The list clearly refers to economic freedom rather than civil liberties.
Posted by: Millian at Sep 18, 2008 12:34:12 PM
I have trouble imagining a treadmill desk as being useful. I try to bring reading material to the gym and find that it's not that useful to bring anything that seems too much like work; I can't concentrate on it.
Posted by: Kat at Sep 18, 2008 1:07:47 PM
Is it strange to anyone else that only elderly people seem to be allowed to participate in crayon manufacturing? Is it as coveted as the greeter position at Walmart?
Posted by: Scott at Sep 18, 2008 1:07:55 PM
Why would knowing that a crow can out think some of our leaders, financial and otherwise, cheer me up?
Posted by: Bill Harshaw at Sep 18, 2008 2:25:34 PM
"I, Crayon," so to speak, a video.
A new 64-pack (with built-in sharpener!!!) used to fill me with giddy expectation. Seeing new packages in stores would fill me with crayon lust. And I'm enjoying remembering it now.
Tyler, thank you for the link!
Posted by: fish on a bicycle at Sep 18, 2008 3:54:24 PM
Why would knowing that a crow can out think some of our leaders, financial and otherwise, cheer me up?
This post is not meant for humorless people....
By the way, here's a video including a tiger taking the subway and a tiger with a Frisbee in his mouth
Posted by: at Sep 18, 2008 4:00:02 PM
The crayon video, as the posters says, brought back a very fond childhood memory and I was just as mesmerized this time around, though for different reasons. Thanks!
Posted by: Shaun M. at Sep 18, 2008 7:43:55 PM
The "six uniquely human traits now found in animals" link is broken.
Posted by: TGGP at Sep 18, 2008 8:21:05 PM
Radio Japan in the 90s reported a crow problem in Tokyo, where crows were mugging people to get food.
Dogs can do causal reasoning. Koehler's method of teaching dogs not to walk on leash on the other side of a post works by letting him wander on the wrong side once, and dragging him back around the post as you continue to walk. You won't be able to catch him on the other side again. He's solved a pretty complicated physics problem about what happened and what to do about it, with no carrot and no stick; just consequences.
Posted by: Ron Hardin at Sep 18, 2008 9:39:12 PM
Here is a fixed link: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn13860-six-uniquely-human-traits-now-found-in-animals-.html
Posted by: Macneil at Sep 19, 2008 1:39:41 AM
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