links for 2009-04-08

"The caption described a photograph illustrating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsâ General Conference, and it referred to the groupâs âQuorum of Twelve Apostatesâ rather than âApostles.â

Rich Evans, editorial manager of The Daily Universe, the student paper, told the Tribune it was âthe worst possible mistake.â BYU is owned and run by the church, as the Mormon Church is formally known.

The error was an accident: A student had misspelled the word âapostle,â and the articleâs editor chose the wrong word from among the options offered by spell-checking software."

"Working in the electron tube production factory led him to what he considers a major turning point in his life â taking atomic physics and advanced calculus at Union to deepen his understanding of electron vacuum tubes.

âI got to know a wonderful physics professor, Vladimir Rojansky,â Perl writes in his official biography. âOne day he said to me âMartin, what you are interested in is called physics, not chemistry!â At the age of 23, I finally decided to begin the study of physics.â"

Again with the dreadful charts. Are descriptive labels really too much to ask for? Also, wouldn't you expect modern telecommunications and globalization to lead to faster declines in things like stock markets?

"You have two cans, one filled with ice and the other with liquid, but otherwise identical. The cans are rolled down an incline. Which one reaches the bottom first? "

"I know this is going to come across a bit harsh, but I want to get straight to the point. Speaking on behalf of myself and all other completely nonhuman members of my species, I must insist that the practice of anthropomorphizing us stops right now.

I am not a human. I am a dog. I can't talk. I can't say a full sentence. Not even close. I can't experience complex emotions, I can't laugh, I can't rob a bank, and I have no idea that my name is Gerald. I can't even write, people, so please stop this anthropomorphizing business this instant. "