Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Huler's Defining the Wind
Back in the days when we roamed at video stores looking for something that might pique my interest, my attention would invariably be drawn to any movie that reviewers blurbed as–and publicists dared print on the package–"quirky". So, when my eyes landed on Scott Huler's Defining the Wind : The Beaufort Scale, and How a […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Lienhard's Inventing Modern
When I went recently on my cultural trip to New York with Bill, I traveled with a couple of books: reading for the train trip and for those quiet moments at the hotel. One of the books I took was John H. Lienhard's Inventing Modern : Growing up with X-Rays, Skyscrapers, and Tailfins (Oxford : […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Panning a Popular-Science Book
Recently I read the book The Story of Measurement, by Andrew Robinson (London : Thames & Hudson, 2007, 224 pages). It's a coffee-table sized book filled with lovely color illustrations and short digestible articles on all manner of topics related to measurement that I was hoping to find interesting. Interesting enough they were, but they […]
Ellen Tops Oprah
You know, I just thought this was kind-of in the feel-good category of high-visibility, lesbian-and-gay news; I don't even have any smart remarks to add. The poll by Web site AOL Television asked readers which daytime TV host made their day and Ellen, who opens "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" by dancing with her audience, trounced […]
Beard of the Week XXXIV: Medieval Cloisters
This week's beard belongs to Saint Peter Martyr, also known as Peter of Verona. Peter (1205–1252) became a Dominican Friar at the age of 16, apparently received into the order by Dominic himself. He was murdered on a road near Milan, Italy, by being first struck on the head with an ax then stabbed through […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Judy Shepard on Kern's Poison
You may remember mention of Sally Kern, the homophobic state representative from Oklahoma who likes to think that gay people are worse than terrorists, and who likes to tell everyone about it. You may also remember that she feels she is being censored because her hateful nonsense is being heard by so many people–a curious […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Subprime Lesson #1
Q. Why did the US lending institutions lend money to people who couldn't pay it back? A. Because the people who could pay it back didn't need a loan. … No use lending to them … they've already got plenty of money. ["Clarke and Dawe: the comic duo you can bank on", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, […]
In: All, Current Events, Laughing Matters
Viral Censorship
Oklahoma has a state representative named Sally Kern who is a homophobe. This will surprise no one. Kern believes that gay people are a bigger threat to American society than terrorism, that it spreads (join hands and sing "We Are A Cancer"), that we are infiltrating the government, that we want to destroy the country, […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
I Dream of Bowling
Before I forget, I wanted to note down the unusual, slightly disquieting dream that I had early this morning. I was making a long-distance trip by car–from where or to where I don't know–when I decided to take a break. I decided to go bowling. [?] I paid my money, chose a bowling ball, and […]
14 Sins and Nothing Gay
I was catching up on some blog reading and delighted when BoingBoing ("Vatican comes up with a new list of Seven Sins") alerted me that the Vatican has released a list of seven "social sins", apparently augmenting the seven "cardinal sins" (otherwise famous as the "deadly sins") noted down by Pope Gregory I in the […]
"Ombra mai fu"
A little while ago on the radio we heard the "Largo" from Handel's opera "Xerxes", the all-instrumental arrangement of the opening aria of the opera, called "Ombra Mai Fu" ("Never has there been a shade"). It's a love song sung by the main character to the tree under which he sits, enjoying its shade. The […]
Anthropologists Agree: No "Traditional" Marriage
A week or two ago, one of those ridiculous "defense of traditional marriage" organizations issued some statement claiming that anthropologists all agree that marriage is a male/female thing only. (You can find more details in Jim Burroway's post at Box Turtle Bulletin, referenced in the note below.) This is, of course, false on a number […]
…and Then There Were Three
We've heard by now, with excitement, about the election of the Democratic physicist Bill Foster, in special election, to take over the long-corrupt seat of Denny Hastert, but I was also excited to hear the news about the election of the Democratic physicist Bill Foster, etc. Here's how fellow physicist Bob Park talks about it […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Taking in Some Culture
Culture, culture, culture. I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Manhattan, New York. Parts of it, at least. Our friend Bill, a reader of this blog, some months ago had planned one of his opera trips to that city and he ended up with a bigger hotel room than he'd planned. Thus came the invitation […]
In: All, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
Instant Fuel Efficiency
Detroit loves ethanol because it can use it to inflate fuel-efficiency ratings on their cars artificially. The mammoth Chevy Suburban, produced as a flex-fuel vehicle capable of burning both ethanol and gasoline, magically boosted its fuel efficiency to 29 miles per gallon from 15, since under federal rules only a vehicle’s gasoline consumption need be […]
Watson on the Bridgewater Treatises
In today's reading from Peter Watson's Ideas (New York : HarperCollins, 2005), the discussion turned on the idea, dawning in the first half of the 19th century, of the Earth's great antiquity. Geology was in the earliest stages of understanding the formation of the Earth, fossils of animals not like those of the day were […]
Kinosian on Quantum Butterflies
Every now and then I come across a sentence or two of such breathtaking new-agey, pseudo-scientific gobblety-gook that–well, it takes my metaphorical breath away and I am rendered speechless. Ecce: We've all heard the adage if a butterfly flaps its wings in Hong Kong, there's a hurricane in Manhattan. Today, quantum physics says yes, the […]
Thuggy Projection
A couple of nights ago I wanted to read something not too taxing and reliably satisfying. I had a newish Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker handy, so that was the choice. I admire Parker's prolific output, his plots that do not get by on stereotypes and cliché, and it doesn't hurt that I can […]
Park's Leap-Day Look at Science & Non-Science
Bob Park seems reinvigorated by all the science-silliness and some non-silliness going on that he reports in the latest (29 February) edition of "What's New". (Subscription information here.) Between feeling lazy and amused, I decided to include it all! 1. FENCES: SOMETHING THERE IS THAT DOESN’T LOVE A WALL. Technology makes us arrogant. A 28-mile […]
In: All, Current Events, It's Only Rocket Science
DeGeneres on Lawrence King's Murder
Ellen DeGeneres made a statement on her television show about the murder of Lawrence King, an eighth-grader in Oxnard, California. He was killed by a fellow student who apparently objected to King's saying he was gay, and to King's gender expression. It's a story that should leave homophobes in stunned silence at where their hatred […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity