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Generally, no. But some can. Some are rather good at it. A contest was reported in Science Magazine: The rules were simple: Using no words or images, interpret your Ph.D. thesis in dance form. Entrants were divided into three categories—graduate...
Posted on March 2, 2008 10:46 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the great role-playing game of life, I did not get very many audiophile points. I mean, fine machinery is something I can appreciate, but I'm pretty indifferent to the sounds those machines make. So it strikes me as...
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Posted on January 14, 2008 8:04 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Instantly! This product gives you an immediate Save! It's like getting a thousand gold coins in Super Mario Brothers all at once! Doubters say it works via the placebo effect, but why not try it, if it could give you...
Posted on January 5, 2008 9:04 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yale University is following the trend, putting entire college courses on the Internet. As a member of the vast left-wing conspiracy, I object. I object, because now, conservatives will be able to see what methods we use to brainwash...
Posted on December 13, 2007 11:31 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A calendar celebrating the aesthetic qualities of marine invertebrates is available now at Dorid Designs, along with a full line of items relating to marine biology, evolution, paleontology, and rationalism. She also has tons of Squidmas merchandise. Perhaps the...
Posted on December 2, 2007 7:45 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
MTV is taking some heat for its refusal to broadcast an advertisment for Buy Nothing Day. MTV, the channel that markets itself to hip youth, has decreed that our Buy Nothing Day public service spot "goes further than we are...
Posted on November 21, 2007 11:51 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
We found a recipe for pecan pie that does not use corn syrup. I would not try to argue that this confection is salubrious, mind you, but at least there is no corn syrup. Most pecan pie is so sweet...
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Posted on November 21, 2007 9:56 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Video of Pandas cooperating so one can escape:...
Posted on November 19, 2007 12:15 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The San Antonio Express-News reports that "Reviewers have found 109,263 errors in sample copies of math textbooks to be used next fall in Texas." One second-grade math book, for example, has 4 plus 7 equaling 10. OK, anybody can make...
Posted on November 16, 2007 5:20 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Computer graphics allow a person to see what a tattoo will look like, before going under the needle.
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Posted on November 16, 2007 10:08 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The all-new, completely free LOLCats calendar for 2008 is here. It is a 2MB PDF download....
Posted on November 14, 2007 4:43 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is a neat project; I hope more people participate. The map below shows the USA divided into regions, based upon their emotional ties to particular areas. Thus it is not based upon borders or any other typical geographic boundary....
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Posted on November 11, 2007 9:15 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Medical/technical illustrators too often are forgotten. They add value to publications, and need to be compensated. So what will be the effect, as open-access publishing becomes more common? It is hard to know for sure, as the whole field...
Posted on November 6, 2007 12:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I am glad to see this, because I have never played the game, but have been curious. So I gather that the game is mildly amusing, but gets old. via videosift.com...
Posted on November 6, 2007 7:38 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yes, it has come to this. Increasingly, college graduates are trading their mortarboards for hard hats. Why? Because that is where the jobs are. Plus, there is a looming wave of retirements, as most current coal miners are in their...
Posted on November 4, 2007 7:47 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A site called LibriVox now has a catalog of over 1,000 free audiobooks. They are all in the public domain; all have been read and recorded by volunteers. It's a nice supplement to the 20,000+ free books in the Project...
Posted on November 3, 2007 7:14 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A guy was sitting at a stoplight, minding his own business, when a wrecking ball crashed into the trunk. The man was not seriously injured. The wrecking ball was being used in demolition, but apparently had a defective cable....
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Posted on October 30, 2007 12:32 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
When he said: We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. --Dwight D. Eisenhower (source)...
Posted on October 29, 2007 9:20 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
From BoingBoing, an illustration of the neuroanatomy of balloon dogs: Original source: Pneumatic Anatomica....
Posted on October 25, 2007 12:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Most people expect a wait when they call tech support. Knowledgeable users arrange to have something to do to kill some time: a book, magazine, something like that. This is the story of Timothy Scott Short, who is going to...
Posted on October 24, 2007 7:27 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
When I was in junior high, I used to do this. I don't know why. Probably I was bored with something that is inherently boring. It does not spice things up very much. But some spice is better than none....
Posted on October 23, 2007 8:12 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Just in case people did not get the allusion in my post about peak oil and health care. Artist: Prine John Song: Spanish Pipedream Album: Great Days: The John Prine Anthology She was a level-headed dancer on the road...
Posted on October 11, 2007 2:18 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Finally, a cool way to commute via bicycle! Actually, it is not a new idea, but perhaps the cooling aspect has been overlooked. One thing that has kept me from riding a bicycle to work has been the concern that...
Posted on October 7, 2007 8:16 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sorry, no bizarre sex organ photos this time. But the story is interesting from an evolutionary standpoint. Bat Bugs Evolved Fake Genitals to Avoid Sex Injuries Anne Minard for National Geographic News September 25, 2007 For African bat bugs,...
Posted on September 27, 2007 8:15 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Some people are amazingly creative...or thirsty. (Source)...
Posted on September 22, 2007 2:42 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Republican War on Science is not a war on science, after all. It is a war on reality itself....
Posted on September 20, 2007 2:34 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What would happen if you set up a system to automatically print out all the spam in the Universe? Never mind the question of why you would want to. (link)...
Posted on August 27, 2007 8:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Someone has to put a stop to this....
Posted on August 25, 2007 1:50 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Product: Midol Menstrual Complete Label: Ask a doctor before use if you have difficulty urinating due to an enlarged prostate. Sound advice from Merck. But should sufferers of premenstrual syndrome really lose sleep over enlarged prostates? That's from a...
Posted on August 23, 2007 11:03 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I had not seen this when I first posted about the bhut jolokia -- the world's hottest chile pepper. There is a woman, Annindita Tamuly, in India who can eat 60 of them in two minutes. And she smiles while...
Posted on August 12, 2007 11:21 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Separation of Church and State often is controversial. Sometimes I worry about this in the USA, but I have never seen anything as bad as what they are doing in China: China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they...
Posted on August 4, 2007 2:27 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This little devil gets a rating of over one million Scoville heat units. It's the Bhut Jolokia (ghost chile), also called the Naga Jolokia. According to the Brisbane Times, the growers hope it will replace the sagging tea farming...
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Posted on August 4, 2007 7:23 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
If you have no shaving cream, you can use a bit of hair conditioner instead....
Posted on July 1, 2007 10:07 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I used to read computer magazines a lot. I would chuckle when I picked up a copy of PC Magazine, or whatever, and it had, it large red type: XXX releases the Fastest Desktop Ever!!! Next month someone else would...
Posted on June 14, 2007 12:34 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
HT to Mr. Maynard for pointing this out. (He also pointed out the Corner Brewery, which is an even more remarkable invention.) The creator is Theo Jansen: Theo Jansen, artist, studied science at the University of Delft Holland. The...
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Posted on June 13, 2007 8:02 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
These kinds of images were making the rounds a couple of years ago. Kind of cute. But now, at least a few people in Vermont are taking it seriously: Vermont secessionist movement gains support Tuesday, June 5, 2007...
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Posted on June 4, 2007 11:10 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A study has shown that the world's fastest average pedestrian pace is in Singapore. The top ten? 1) Singapore (Singapore): 10.55 2) Copenhagen (Denmark): 10.82 3) Madrid (Spain): 10.89 4) Guangzhou (China): 10.94 5) Dublin (Ireland): 11.03 6) Curitiba...
Posted on May 3, 2007 1:13 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It is not often that I write about music. In fact, it is not often that I even think about music. But this little item caught my eye, if not my ear, if only because it is perplexing to try...
Posted on April 16, 2007 7:41 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is the meme of the moment here, as started by Blog Around the Clock; Deep Sea News, Aardvarchaeology, and Signout have joined in. Of course the prototypical therapist response would be "why do you blog?" or "what makes you...
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Posted on April 6, 2007 12:57 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sunday, I drank some unusually good tea. It was green tea, mostly, with some added ingredients: young hyson and dragonwell teas, orange peel, peppermint leaf, jasmine flowers, lemon verbena, marigold flowers, blue malva flowers, and pineapple flavor. It was...
Posted on March 19, 2007 8:05 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is supposedly the earliest known octopus, being from the middle Jurrasic, found in France. Think old. ...
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Posted on March 8, 2007 10:50 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Part thirteen The commentators are talking a lot about how brilliant the winning coach is, even though the game is not quite over. Are there any lessons to be drawn from this game? No. Super Bowl games usually are not...
Posted on February 4, 2007 9:50 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It is looking as though the Colts are going to win this one. Another interception, this time with the Bears on the losing end. You just can't win if you keep throwing things away. Over the past hour or so,...
Posted on February 4, 2007 9:37 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Part ten. I don't think I can keep this up. Football is sometimes referred to as "the thinking man's game." More like the "sleeping man's game." Many football players end up with large necks, because of the kinds of exercises...
Posted on February 4, 2007 8:39 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Part seven. Merifully, it is almost half time. We're at the two minute warning. Colts offense is getting in gear. Can't wait until half time. I hear Prince will be performing. He promised to not have any wardrobe malfunctions. I...
Posted on February 4, 2007 7:52 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Part five comes at the start of the second quarter. I am eating burritos made with soy, phytoestrogens be damned. Half the beer is gone. Started the game with 0.66 liters. Now down to about 330ml. Goes well with the...
Posted on February 4, 2007 7:28 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Author realizes he overwrote pt 2 with pt 3. Part 2 is lost forever. Wow. That is more interesting than the game has been so far. I've eaten all the guacamole. There was too much garlic in it. Oh, the...
Posted on February 4, 2007 7:08 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Author getting bored. Turn attention to menu. Eating fresh guacamole from Arbor Farms, drinking Pilner Urquell, from Plzen Czech. Some people claim that it is the original pilsner, and that it is the best beer in the world. Could be. ...
Posted on February 4, 2007 6:53 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
You'd think we'd be done with this. Actually, maybe we are, because now the controversy has moved to the UK: Row over cancer jab plan for all schoolgirls Mass vaccination 'will save lives' Parents fear rise in underage sex Gaby...
Posted on December 23, 2006 10:42 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
