Curious Wavefunction has been thinking about what might constitute the science version of the BBC booklist you may have seen popping around places like Facebook, in particular.
It is a great start to a list in need of expansion (great blog, too). I’ve read most of these, but the list suggests a few I hadn’t heard [...]
Archive for the ‘Dumb thoughts’ Category
The science version of the BBC booklist
February 23rd, 2010
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Why I don’t go into the water…bone-eating worms at whale fall
October 5th, 2009
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That’s whale fall — what happens when an enormous cetacean corpse hits the ocean floor — not whale fail — what happens when Twitter breaks.
You see, when the carcass lands on the bottom of the sea, a whole host of unpleasant critters come out to eat it in a process that can take months — [...]
Why I don’t go into the water…Reason #1,768
June 9th, 2009
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I could not be in the same ocean as this creature and not be gripped by paralyzing fear (not to mention paralyzing tentacles!). Behold, a great big jelly, the likes of which are not meant to be seen.
Jellyfish, heading for Tokyo to do battle with Godzilla
As the Discovery News reports, monster jellyfish like this [...]
Massive Bat Die-off in NJ? Maybe…and another fungus to blame!
June 5th, 2009
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The Star-Ledger reports that 95% of NJ bats died off this winter from a fungal infection known as “white-nose syndrome.” That sounds pretty damned scary, until you read the article and find that the headline was taken from a single reported hibernaculum (cool word meaning place where critters hibernate), the Hibernia Mine in Rockaway Township. [...]
ABC’s of Scatman Crothers
May 19th, 2009
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I posted this on Facebook,
scatman
but I amused myself enough to share here too:
I’ve been tagged, and I am supposed to write a note with the ABC’s of me. I’m not feeling all touchy-feely open at the moment, so I decided to write about someone I barely remember, Benjamin Sherman “Scatman” Crothers, who would be [...]
Man, these viral movie promotions are going too far…
April 28th, 2009
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Robot attacked Swedish factory worker – The Local.
The incident took place in June 2007 at a factory in Bålsta, north of Stockholm, when the industrial worker was trying to carry out maintenance on a defective machine generally used to lift heavy rocks. Thinking he had cut off the power supply, the man approached the robot [...]
Fruitflies like the wind, time flies like a banana…
March 12th, 2009
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Stop. Wait, reverse that. OK…
Another neat Eurekalert! feed story, one that offers tips for catching flies:
Caltech scientists discover mechanism for wind detection in fruit flies
Tiny, lightweight fruit flies need to know when it’s windy out so they can steady themselves and avoid being knocked off their feet or blown off course. But how do they [...]
“…we are all vainer of our luck than of our merits…”
March 3rd, 2009
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– Nero Wolfe.
Still breaking in my Sony Reader. Sure it isn’t as hip as the Kindle — and doesn’t have wireless — but it does what I want it to do very well. I’m on my third Rex Stout Nero Wolfe novel in the canon, chronologically, The Rubber Band.
Stout came out on of [...]
And Louie, Louie Gets Me Hot Just Thinking about It
February 24th, 2009
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Interesting press release in my morning Eurekalert! feed
In an article published in the April 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that teenagers who preferred popular songs with degrading sexual references were more likely to engage in intercourse or in pre-coital activities.
Already, with the euphemisms. What are pre-coital activities? Heavy petting? [...]
Ho Ho Ho, Green Comet
February 4th, 2009
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From the oort clouds with love, we’re expecting a Green Comet this Valentine’s erm…season…
This will guarantee that:
1) Someday, we’ll land on Mars and find, inside an elaborate Martian mansion, the bodies of dozens of little green cultists.
2) Its an elaborate marketing campaign for environmentally-friendly kitchen and bath cleanser
3) Somebody’s getting super powers.
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