On Episode 67 we answered a question about the proper way to make tea. Funnily enough, a fellow fighter of creationists and affirmed British-person Christopher Hitchens recently wrote about the same beverage confusion for Slate. The article is a quick and engaging read, presenting it’s own opinion about the milk issue, and references Lenon/Yoko as well as the 11 Rules of Good Tea by George Orwell (also worth the read).
Hope this keeps you engaged in the ongoing quest for that perfect cup!
A few people linked me to the ultimate cute animal list over the holiday, it’s a list of 75 lists of photos of animals, pretty intense but I’ve been working my way through it (Yes, I even treat cute animals like homework). Most of the shots are wonderful but then I got to the list titled “101 Cute Seals That Are Also Babies“. What could be wrong with that, right? Well, dear reader, many of these photos were not of seals at all! (some of them aren’t even babies, but that I’ll let slide)
Hey everyone! The christmas season is upon us, and it’s a chance to spend some time with your friends and family.
let me share my burden with you.
Being a theoretical physicist is terribly depressing. not because of the pay. that’s depressing, but it’s not why.
Are you familiar with the Total Perspective Vortex, from the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Theoretical physics often involves taking a long, deep stare into it. and then afterwards, when you look at your pretty wife and happy apartment…
Anyway! Merry Christmas. Today I’m going to explain what happens if you fall into a black hole. If you find it depressing, well. sorry. If you don’t find it depressing… don’t think too hard about it.
Well, maybe it’s actually a Japanese love affair…
The Paleopals are a pretty eco-friendly bunch when it comes to commuting – Ryan is a pretty committed bicycle commuter, Charlie commutes about 35 miles partially by bike and partially by train. For much of the past seven years I either walked or bussed to work. In 2010 I moved to Berkeley, CA. I was a pretty good distance from a helpful bus line and the four miles to work was a little far to walk. I suppose I could try to bicycle it, but I flirted with that when I lived much closer to work and had less hills to deal with; it’s not for me. I’d been considering buying an Italian style motor scooter (like a Vespa) for some time, so I took the plunge with a (Japanese) 2008 Yamaha Vino 125. By the time you read this I’ll have put about 1000 commuting miles it.
We’re kicking it old school today. Thinking back before a link meant going somewhere on the interwebs (but was still pretty rad).
Continue reading Link(s)
Remember the Linnaean system of classification you probably learned in grade school or high school (heck, maybe even college)? It went something like this…
Kingdom -> Phylum -> Class -> Order -> Family -> Genus-> Species
Linnaeus started using this classification system in the 1700s and he had a good run; we still use his system in certain situations. However, we’ve moved away from this ranking system mostly because of the discovery of transitional fossils that screwed with Linnaeus’s idea of neat little boxes for all of life to be categorized into. This system falls apart, for example when you have two equivalent ranks, let’s say class Osteichtyes (boney fish) and class Amphibia (amphibians), and find a transition between the two.
Continue reading Diagraming Evolution, or How to read a Cladogram
Hey peeps.
I listen to podcasts. A LOT OF PODCASTS. i am always wearing my headphones, and i am always listening to podcasts.
Like all the time. Podcast stories. Podcast news. Podcast science. I love podcasts!
So I decided that this week instead of telling you about awesome theoretical physics, I’ll just tell you about some podcasts that you might enjoy listening to… I call it THE 2010 Ben’s CHOICE IN EVERYTHING BUT SCIENCE PODCAST AWARDS.
*Note* This is a cross post from my weekly column over at iFanboy. While I’m happy to have you read it here on the blog, I encourage you to go leave a comment at iFanboy. In the interest of full disclosure, they watch my stats so it helps me out to have you read and comment there.
Artist: Big Time Attic
Come one, come all! Step right up to the amazing pictographic tale recounting not just how the west was won, but how the west was dug!
Continue reading REVIEW (via iFanboy): Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards
It’s a sale! We’ve lowered the prices on all our swag! So, if you’ve been pining away for some Science… sort of gear but thought it was just out of your price range, go check it out again. The skinny on this sale is that December is solstice time, and in the northern half of the world it’s the cold solstice – the time of the year when you least want to be naked. So get yourself or your loved ones some sweet, sweet brachiolope to help them maintain their core body temperature and support the show a little bit while you are at it. The bonus is that our producer of swag will give us discounts on the production of our gear if we can sell a certain amount of stuff in December. So, if you guys clothe your friends and family enough this month, maybe the prices can stay cheap forever!
