Under The Dome
Cloud AtlasI highly recommend Dreamhost.
By Simon Winchester A solid and enjoyable audio book about the history of the ocean and its influence on human society. A couple thoughts: The Atlantic is getting 4 inches wider each year. The story he tells of how the Grand Banks were wiped out is downright sad. I love Winchester’s voice. Overall, not bad. [… Read More]
Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today. Come 16 October, simply write a blog post, record a podcast, film a video, draw a comic, or pick any other way to talk about the women who [… Read More]
by Daniel Pearl; narrated by Stephen Hoye Set just after the civil war in Boston, Daniel Pearl’s The Technologists follows the adventures of several students at the recently-founded Massachusetts Institute of Technology as they grapple with a madman attacking with plagues of science. Pearl does a great job building a convincing environment for his story, [… Read More]
by Bill Bryson; narrated by Richard Matthews Once again, Bryson turns his hand to something new (he’s written travel books, history, language, memoir, and now science!). Of course, he does it with aplomb and skill, not to mention a heavy dose of humor. A Short History of Nearly Everything functions like a quick primer of the [… Read More]
Found via BoingBoing: Goodbye, Overgrown Lizards? Previously, paleontologists have found feathers only on coelurosaurs—birdlike dinosaurs that evolved later than so-called megalosaurs such as Sciurumimus. Because Sciurumimus is not closely related to coelurosaurs, the new fossil suggests feathered dinosaurs were the norm, not the exception, Rauhut said. “Probably all dinosaurs were feathered,” he added, “and we [… Read More]
Since the week of the 100th anniversary, I’ve watched several Titanic documentaries I recorded off History and Discovery in the week preceding 14 April.. Some thoughts: Titanic’s Sister Ship: The Sinking of the Britannic Good: decent footage of deep wreck diving by experienced divers Chatterton and Kohler (from the excellent book Shadow Divers). Bad: About [… Read More]
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach, narrated by Sandra Burr In Packing for Mars, you will learn how much volume of flatus a burrito causes the average human to expel, you will learn that Russian scientists regularly smuggle alcohol aboard to bribe cosmonauts to conduct their experiments [… Read More]
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey, narrated by Kristen Potter For years, sailors have told tales of freak waves, three or four times the size of the surrounding waters. Dozens of ships disappear each year, often swamped without a sound or any warning by these [… Read More]
Hello Rep Yarbrough, I’m emailing as a constituent of yours (resident of the 900 block of Elgin Avenue in Forest Park, IL) to urge you to vote NO on HB 4085. As a Democrat, I suspect you are already voting this way, but I would urge you to consider the following post, written by a [… Read More]
This has happened to you. You have a mug or a glass or something without a pouring spout, and you want to transfer some of your delicious beverage to another glass. Despite having failed in this task before, you attempt to pour the beverage and end up spilling some down the side of the cup. [… Read More]
ZeFrank is currently kickstartering a new year of “The Show” called “A Show.” It’s already funded, but you should get on that anyway. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about: here you go. Hell yeah.
RadioLab is always a treat, one of the most consistently excellent programs on the air (or the podcast, as I use it). But I was particularly impressed with this week’s episode, called “The Bad Show.” Abumrad and Krulwich explore why people do bad things, an what we should think about them. Here’s their description of [… Read More]
Kevin Kelly’s nonfiction treatise explores the question of what we should make of the seemingly-independent course the technological apparatus around us charts daily. This apparatus, which Kelly calls the technium, both depends on and guides us, and our ability, or inability, to ignore its treasures goes only so far as we’re willing to become Amish in some way (even the Amish adopt new technologies, it turns out).
My former student, poet and all-around polymath Abi Stokes, wrote a lovely poem in honor of Carl Sagan and Emily Dickenson yesterday. Here’s my favorite stanza: We float – like a Mote of Dust – In the morning Sky. Our ordinary Measures Of Distance – fail us – Here in the Realm of the Galaxy. (read [… Read More]