I’ve posted before about Science Cafes (U.S. Version) (UK version) (The World): Meet scientists in a bar or cafe, and chat with them about the work they do. The one here in Atlanta meets once a month or so. You eat dinner and then listen to a scientist talk about his work. (You can subscribe […]
Letter to a Daughter
Letters of Note gathers and publishes interesting and sometimes amazing letters. Often they’re from famous people, but often they’re not. This one is from John Byrnes, not famous, fighting in New Guinea in 1942. He’s writing to his daughter, upon missing her birthday as she turned two. Have tissues handy. [You can read the handwritten […]
Pedantry with weeklyrob
I mentioned to some friends today that I should start a podcast called: Pedantry with weeklyrob. And I was assured that such a podcast, coming from me, would be “apt.” Instead, I’ll just write a blog post about the particular piece of pedantry that inspired me to suggest the podcast. When people talk about an […]
Server-speak
This isn’t new, but I don’t think I’ve written about it before. It often strikes me that people adopt a special way of talking once they become waiters. This isn’t necessarily a matter of training, but of some internal device that switches on when they take the job. For example, when I’m eating at home, […]
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
I watched part of the first episode of this season’s TV show “Scrubs.” Which I heartily do not recommend. I’m not reviewing the show. I’m reviewing one line in the show. A doctor says something along the lines of: Due to insurance companies and malpractice lawyers, this profession is soul-sucking. I won’t address the insurance […]
2012 is Coming. Quit your job and go make love on a beach.
The whole 2012 thing cracks me up (when I notice it at all). The Mayan calendar ends, and clearly the Mayans knew everything, so the world is ending too! Of course, my calendar ends every year, but you don’t see me worrying. But I won’t sit here and categorically deny that the world could end […]
Citing the Net
When you cite a Web page, you can only cross your fingers and hope that the page will still be there, and still be the same, when your readers follow the URL. WebCite may be the answer. They’ll archive whatever page you want, and give you a link to the archived page. It’s free.
Do Not Blame the Kangaroo
Let’s say this happened: A man, walking with his unleashed dog, happens upon a kangaroo. The dog runs at the kangaroo, who hops away. The dog chases the kangaroo. The kangaroo hops into a pond. The dog chases the kangaroo into the pond. At that point, the kangaroo stops running and turns to fight the […]
Credit Where Credit is Due
Every once in a while, I read “The Little Engine That Could” to my daughter. (It’s not fun, so I wouldn’t recommend it. Even my daughter doesn’t like the story; she just digs the illustrations.) Whenever people talk about that book, the point seems to be that the little engine was so great. She thought […]
Superfreakonomics
So I’m almost finished reading Superfreakonomics. Everyone is already talking about the climate change thing, so I won’t. The book has interesting bits, but they also seem to be stretching a lot in order to say shocking things. And I find myself arguing with them a lot. “But,” I say, “that doesn’t take into account,” […]