I first saw the Powers of Ten short on Carl Sagan's Cosmos. (If you don't know who Carl Sagan was, please don't tell me. It will just make me feel terribly old and sad.) Way back in the ancient mists of time the Museum of Science and Industry setup a kiosk looping the video and I stood watching it over and over for as long as I could. That video had a big impact on how I viewed … [Read more...] about Powers of Ten
Bite me, Bambi!
Or, How Eating Habanero Peppers Proves I'm Smarter Than Other Mammals. It's chili pepper harvesting time again! While most Chicagoans seem enamored with growing tomato plants, I think habanero peppers should be the crop of choice. OK, to be honest, I'm actually too lazy to grow my own, but I have a couple of friends and a neighbor who go through the effort and I reap the … [Read more...] about Bite me, Bambi!
The Republican Pledge To America – A Very Quick Impression
The Republicans' have now revealed their new Pledge to America, an idea based loosely on their old Contract With America. I haven't read any of it yet, but it's 48 pages long. Somehow that strikes me as a bad sign for the future of small government... Update: Yeah, I looked it over and there's nothing much here we haven't heard before, from the impossible, through the vague and … [Read more...] about The Republican Pledge To America – A Very Quick Impression
Making Lawyers Pay
There's one bad policy pattern that politicians tend to repeat over and over, and according to Nathan Koppel at the Wall Street Journal, this time they're inflicting it on lawyers: The Mississippi Supreme Court is considering a proposed rule to require lawyers in the state to provide at least 20 hours of pro bono work. The rule has been proposed to try to help the thousands of … [Read more...] about Making Lawyers Pay
Scientists Model Early Glass Slipper Technology
Breaking news:New computer simulations have shown how a glass slipper, as described in Grimm's Cinderella, could have been created using a unique combination of quartz-rich silicates found only in northern Germany. When heated to just the right temperature, as was available in primitive furnaces of 14th century middle Europe, the model demonstrated that glass could … [Read more...] about Scientists Model Early Glass Slipper Technology