Every once in a while I imagine myself sitting under a large tree teaching youth about the world around them. Socrates-like. I don’t know why. The last little lesson that popped into my head was about motion. I had kicked a small stone, which had skittered along the pavement for a bit, hopped over the […]
Archive | Science and Such
Power of Prayer
I just listened to some of a How Stuff Works podcast discussing an article called Can Prayer Heal People? Apparently, people who pray experience some health benefits over people who don’t. This may be true, and can be explained without resorting to God or religion. The more contentious question is whether a group of people […]
Bring It!
I’ve been waiting for this for a LOOOOOONG time. (That’s pronounced “long,” not “looooo+ng.”) Let’s see some action.
Chicks Are Vain
I’m talking about birds, of course. Avians. Feathers and such. New research suggests pretty conclusively that some birds (magpies, in this case) understand that the image they see in the mirror is their own. Used to be, we thought that only mammals could do it. Of course, every time we figure out that non-humans can […]
Slippery When Wet
In the interest of boring the crap out of most readers, I present to you: Slipping. One of the problems of smooth concrete floors is that when they get wet, they become slippery. Think slightly melted ice over a lake of WD-40. My 15-month-old daughter has a knack for finding the little spills and puddles […]
Monkey Love
There are at least two parts to sexual arousal. The mental part, where we likes what we sees. And the physical part, which happens more or less on its own. An old-ish article from Seed Magazine tells us that men and women both report little to no arousal when watching monkeys have sex. But when […]
TV, the Big Bang, and Schrödinger
A few of my friends have gone on (and on) about the TV show, The Big Bang. So I watched a couple of episodes on the computer. It’s ok, I guess. The finale, which I’m about to rant about, was actually pretty funny, and ended on a satisfying note. I liked it. But. It’s supposed […]
Music is Language. Part Three.
Due to a recent confusion I had about “perfect pitch” (also known as absolute pitch), I looked it up and found that it means being able to “identify the letter-name of a sounded note.” I play a note, you tell me what it was. Of course, if you don’t know the letter names, then I […]
Halfway to Boiling
The main purpose of this post, of course, is to push down the picture from the last post. I don’t want it to appear at the top of the blog. But here’s something I’ve been idly thinking about when I take a break from my currently extremely frustrating job: Water boils (at sea level) at […]
Why Your Professor Was Liberal
I previously posted about the astounding news that English professors are more likely to be left-leaning than otherwise. There’s been a fair amount of debate and anger about why conservatives are under-represented in academia. Some conservatives have accused universities of unfair hiring practices, while others have suggested that conservative thinkers avoid academia due to an […]