I mentioned before that Denis Dutton, aldaily.com guy (along with other things), responded almost immediately to my email about a typo on his site. It got fixed on the same day. Then, on Christmas day, I wrote aldaily about another typo, and Denis wrote back that day again. Twice! Once to say thanks, and once […]
Archive | Science and Such
Mishmash.
The New York Times has published its 100 Notable Books of 2007, and its 10 Best Books of 2007. Should I be surprised that I’ve read none of them? I don’t read a lot of brand new books, though I do occasionally get some of the newest nonfiction, since nonfiction is often only good when […]
Do you love your name?
A seemingly ridiculous study seems to show that people whose names start with a C or D are more likely to make poor grades than people whose names start with A or B. Also, baseball players whose name starts with K (the sign for strike-out) are more likely to strike out than those with other […]
Podcast!
The second ever weeklyrob podcast. It’s just under 10 minutes. Basic stuff about the universe’s elemental forces. NOTE: I don’t know anything! I was an English major, for God’s sake. Don’t believe anything I say about science. No music or sound effects this time, and Soundtrack Pro’s “Clicks and Pops” feature really let me down, […]
How-To
Instructables gives step-by-step instructions on anything that anyone has bothered putting together. Some cool stuff, like the 12 volt battery hack. But we’re here today to point to the step-by-step instructable on setting up your own working Barbie Doll Electric Chair, with a mug shot for the press. (Link from Seed)
News Shocker: Movies Are Unrealistic
A couple of physicists have gotten an article published, discussing the fact that movies get the science wrong. Ars Technica gives us a list of some of the worst offenders. So, yeah, turns out that Superman probably couldn’t have reversed time. Ars Technica points out that grad students work for peanuts, so these movies could […]
Check Out the Brain on Rob
Just skimming through an old journal of mine from my overseas days, and I came across a swath of my writing about biology, evolution, and more. Man, I can’t even remember when I had so much time. To have hours to talk to someone without interruption, then to have time to think about it deeply, […]
Weird Science
Anyone who’s read a couple of posts here knows that I’m hung up on the use of language. But part of my exquisite beauty is that I can also get hung up on science. Today, I present a combination of the two. A misuse of a science term. Slate, which I like (and link to […]
I'm too sexy for your brain
Seed Magazine points to a round-up of discussion of studies showing that intelligent people have less sex than their average-brained buddies. As if we didn’t already know that. I like looking at all the possibilities behind a finding and the article does a good job at stating them, so I won’t bother here. But there’s […]
Wine and Pretension
I recently had a chat about someone who claimed that drinking wine from one particular wine glass made the wine taste better than from another. Of course, the glass that makes it taste so delicious is extremely expensive. We chatters pretty much all agreed that the guy was pretentious or deluded. He may BELIEVE that […]