Inattention Blindness

There's a fascinating news article. Apparently a paper has appeared in Nature penned by, among others, Teller and James Randi, on how our awareness is a cobbled-together illusion of low-resolution perceptions combined with the both a shallow memory and our anticipatory mechanisms, good enough for us to survive wild beasts on the grassy plains of our evolutionary environment, but so flawed as to be easily exploitable by magicians and tricksters. (If you haven't watched-- and followed along with Keith Barry's "Brain Magic"-- at least watch the first four minutes of it.)

The article cites The Awareness Test, in which you are shown two teams of four people each, passing two basketballs back and forth. Your responsibility is to count the number of passes made by the team wearing white.

( Cut because I don't want to spoil the test. Take it first; it's only a minute long, then come back. )

Attention and awareness in stage magic: turning tricks into research, by Stephen L. Macknik, Mac King, James Randi, Apollo Robbins, Teller, John Thompson & Susana Martinez-Conde.

Senior Moments, Dog Whistles,

Let's make one thing absolutely clear: I am not particularly pro-Obama. I'm not happy with a lot of his proposals (and it's been nice to see him "compromising" on a few). He runs an efficient campaign, makes political decisions based upon cost/benefit analysis, and has many, many more responsible, well thought-out position papers than his opponent. Those are admirable qualities, even if the conclusions he reaches with them don't always jibe with my political instincts.

And that's the point. I may not be particularly enamored of the economic consequences of an Obama presidency. I am, however, absolutely opposed to a McCain presidency.

This man is not fit to be president. Watch that video. It's scary. This man wants the highest office in the land, and he gets lost halfway through a question. We can no longer joke about "senior moments."

When he does get back on track, he's only a little bit better. His opposition to the MLK holiday and the Civil Rights Act of 1990 are well-known, so his claim to be a champion of civil rights is right up there with his confusion over birth control coverage for women. (A funny video until you realize this man wants to sit in the oval office.)

McCain's surrogates make fun of Obama's call for national service, but nowhere is it being said loudly enough that McCain's whole career has been one long call to national service. McCain has been consistently in favor of the draft his whole life.

Even more disgusting is the current "The One," ad. Marc Ambinder finds this lovely gem from Hal Lindsey at WND:

The Bible says that such a leader will soon make his appearance on the scene. It won't be Barack Obama, but Obama's world tour provided a foretaste of the reception he can expect to receive.

He will probably also stand in some European capital, addressing the people of the world and telling them that he is the one that they have been waiting for. And he can expect as wildly enthusiastic a greeting as Obama got in Berlin.

The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance.

It politics, that's called a dog whistle: something most of us can't hear that makes a certain constituency stand up and take note. You and I think the ad is just stupid. But to the Evangelicals, it's a warning, and it's meant to scare them: Obama is a herald of the Beast. Vote for the senile guy. At least he's not evil.

Playing that kind of politics is disgraceful.