fun
stoat | June 13, 2007A reader enquires the right-wing blogosphere and US media is reporting that Al Gore planned a rock concert in Antarctica in July, but when contacting BAS was told that it's mid-winter and a bad time to make the attempt (e.g. this).
Well its no secret that What must surely be the coolest gig in this summer's Live Earth concerts takes place at the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Rothera Research Station. On 7 July the science team's indie-rock house band, Nunatak* will debut in the global event that features over 100 of the world's top musical acts. Concerts from all 7 continents will raise…
clock | June 5, 2007I could not resist this one, first seen here:
What Science are You?
You are Entymology. You are a conneseiur of the crawly. Bugs fascinate you. Let's face it, they are cool. Most people will think you're weird icky, but those of sophisticated taste will realize just how exquisit a roach can truly be.Take this quiz!
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stoat | June 2, 2007Apologies in advance for this post... latest news story is Four charged over 'plan to blow-up JFK'. Which is only funny because of US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf. How can you be called mouse head?
I'm allowed one of these each year.
stoat | May 24, 2007Following JFs example, I've created a rather more useful comparison: see . Proof that weasels are more popular than stoats. Isn't technology wonderful?
stoat | May 5, 2007As someone sitting across from his wife looking across my laptop screen at her laptop screen, I rather liked this. And the cartoon is funny too.
clock | May 1, 2007A guy 'jebo jeza', ahem, literally fucked a hedgehog in Serbia and ended up in the ER. Do kids there these days don't even know their slang? 'Jebo jeza' means something along the lines of 'being in big trouble' or 'having everything go wrong for you'. This guy accomplished that for himself, I guess....unless this is, as is likely, an urban legend.
clock | April 29, 2007The word 'circadian' has a certain mystique about it for people not in the know, thus it is not surprising that there are several bands around with that word incorporate in their names. I know I blogged about it before but I am too lazy right now to search my archives for it. Anyway, here is the newest addition to the lineup, an Ohio band called the Circadian Skyline.
clock | April 23, 2007In the age of Google, perhaps they are:
I saw a pattern of responses to the question, "Do you have a business card?" Many of the responses were the same, "just Google my name and you will find me."
So, go now and do your ego-tickling exercise: search for your first name only, then search for first and last name, then for first and last name in quotation marks. Will people find you if they Google your name?
When I search just "Bora", the top hits are about the island in Tahiti, the next tier is for Volkswagen Bora (and Google helpfully asks if that is the search you want to expand). I am…
clock | April 23, 2007RPM found this on The Disgruntled Chemist's blog: the most awesome Rube-Goldberg machine I have ever seen. Much better than the one built by the Mythbusters guys. Just follow this link and watch the movie!
RPM complains that it does not appear to actually do anything, but, who cares? The thing is so intricate! Think of it this way - this is a metaphor for a cell: the (circadian) clock sounds an alarm and as a result a large number of molecular interactions occur resulting, in the end, in the opening of the curtain an ion channel.
I have already mentioned here, here and here that a Rube-…
retrospectacle | April 10, 2007
Wow, why is this so relaxing? I think this slow-moving up-close-and-personal whale thingamajig could supplant bubble baths and candles as most relaxing thing ever. If they had added whale-song in the background I think we'd have the cure for insomnia and hypertension.
And while you're feelin' so fine, why not read about blue whales here? A blue whale, while the largest animal, doesn't have the largest brain. That honor goes to the sperm whale, who's brain weighs in at 20 pounds. A blue whale's brain is 15 pounds, and a human's is about 6 pounds.
From the Whale and Dolphin Conservation…
retrospectacle | April 6, 2007.....that they are delicious as well as interesting!
Experiments performed:
Reaction to cold and heat.
Soluability testing.
Low pressure environments.
Effects of smoking on Peeps' health.
Seperation of conjoined Peep quintuplets.
Peep fear response.
clock | April 5, 2007I think I will show this in class in May when I teach the evolution lecture again.
Reed adds some caveats I am sure to point out in the classroom.
Update: Watched it again. I think I'll stop the movie a moment before the first chimp appears. Until that moment the animation, though not 100% accurate, and quite oversimplified, is GREAT for a visceral understanding of evolution. We can debate neutral selection and population sizes, but that is what we do. For a regular citizen uninterested in science, this brief movie is sufficient to "grok" evolution. This is a great example of "visual…
retrospectacle | April 4, 2007My oh my. Browsing through ThinkGeek never ceases to astonish and delight. Just take a gander at the nerdelicious D20 Fuzzy Dice. Yes, thats right, big honkin' plushy nerd-dice.
Now, back in the day (Shelley circa 1996), I had some tres tacky turquiose fuzzy dice hanging in my 1965 Mustang. Hey, whatever, I was 16. But how cool would these things be in some dorky teenage ride? It would have been enough to set my nerdlet heart a-flutter!
clock | March 31, 2007Jenna drew a squid. Perhaps if I post it here, PZ will see it and post it as well, and send Jenna a Pharyngulanche of visitors to her blog.