Topics on my particular interests.
A “National Day of Prayer”? “One Nation Under God”? “In God We Trust”? I’ve heard people claim that they’re proof that America was founded on Christian principles. If the speaker acknowledges freedom of religion at all, he invariably means that everyone must be free to practice his religion. Thing is, all three of those were …
Continue reading ‘“Religious Expressions Are Rooted in Fear-Based Politics”’ »
The LA Times recently published a four-part investigation of autism. It’s pretty good, it has more information on it than I’ve been able to find in my own research elsewhere. I’m not a scientist, and I’m operating solely on my own experience and what I’ve read of others, but it seems to me that autism …
Continue reading ‘“Autism boom: an epidemic of disease or of discovery?”’ »
A large metal ball that fell from space into the Namibian grasslands last month is not alien, officials say, but that’s about all they know for certain about the object. […] Uh-oh. Ape #1: Dear me. What are these things coming out of her nose? Ape #2 (looks through binoculars): Spaceballs. Ape #1: Oh, shit. …
Continue reading ‘“Mysterious metal ball from space falls in Namibia”’ »
For those of you who don’t know, there’s a rather famous game called Portal. From the Wikipedia entry: […] The game primarily comprises a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player’s character and simple objects using “the handheld portal device”, a device that can create inter-spatial portals between two flat planes. …
I can’t figure out whether this is EPIC LIZARD-BRAIN FAIL or simply hilarious. Maybe I’ll settle for both. I especially find it amusing when, between rounds, the lizard looks up at the guy behind the camera, as if he really wants to convey his disgust at the proceedings. Here is a short clip of a …
Continue reading ‘“Technology confuse lizard! Lizard no like!”’ »
I never noticed, but that phrase really doesn’t mean anything at all. All learning rewires your brain — if it didn’t, you wouldn’t have learned anything. Maybe stories like this one aren’t as important as people think.
The ad is funny enough on its own, but this take on it had me laughing aloud.
It’s about time someone called corporations on this type of self-serving rule change. As a business owner, I can’t blame them for trying to limit their liability. I’d probably do the same thing in their shoes (though I hope I’d find a way to be more fair about it). But as a consumer it always …
Continue reading ‘“Sony sued over PlayStation Network no-suing rules”’ »
I’ve always wondered about people who only sleep a few hours a day. I’ve found that I need at least seven and a half hours a day to feel rested (which usually means an afternoon nap since I can rarely stay asleep more than six hours at night). But it seems that a single brain …
Continue reading ‘“How Much Sleep Do You Actually Require (and Why)?”’ »
In the small mid-western hick community where my family spent the early- to mid-eighties, you didn’t dare let people know you were different in any way. Fifties McCarthyism was still alive and well, but no communists presented themselves, so it was turned on anyone who was different in any way. Kids who couldn’t fit in …
Continue reading ‘“Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy”’ »