John Tierney, whose New York Times column and related blog post on laughter inspired and informed my Leader Post science column this week, has a follow-up blog post on a “shocking and unexpected development.” It seems “readers reported laughing out loud at the muffin joke“!
Category: Blog
Sad but true
David Louis Edelman lists Five Things That Don’t Happen When You Become a Published Author…alas. (Via SFBC.com.)
That’s not funny…so why am I laughing?
Whenever an election is about to occur, we see stories of the “gender gap,” the difference in voting patterns between men and women. But there’s another gender gap that perhaps hasn’t had as much attention: the difference in laughing patterns between men and women. I’ve written before about laughter, but since I’ve noted sadly before …
Another nice blog comment about Lost in Translation
While self-Googling today (something I like to do periodically, and no, I’m not ashamed of it!) I ran across a nice mention of the paperback of Lost in Translation at a new-to-me blog called Blog Happy. Writes Nicole: Why I picked up this book: Liked the cover, then the back blurb sounded interesting. Do I …
Here’s something you don’t see everyday…
…but when you do see it, you think, “Cool!” It’s a collection of 19th century shipping posters. I like this one because of the name of the ship (natch). (Via Drawn.)
Drug-induced selective amnesia
Scientists have used a drug to wipe out a specific memory, while leaving others intact. Only in rats…so far.
And the nominees for oddest book title of the year are:
How Green Were the Nazis? Proceedings of the 18th International Seaweed Symposium The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification Tattooed Mountain Woman and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan Di Mascio’s Delicious Ice Cream: Di Mascio of Coventry, an Ice Cream Company of Repute, with an Interesting and Varied Fleet of …
This sounds like the setup for a science fiction story…
…but it’s real: A web-based “expert system” that helped users prepare bankruptcy filings for a fee made too many decisions to be considered a clerical tool, an appeals court said last week, ruling that the software was effectively practicing law without a license. (Via KurzweilAI.Net.)
Snow slogging and photo blogging in the Warehouse District
My final trudge through the snow taking photos for Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw took me to the Warehouse District, where I saw–you guess it–lots of warehouses. Here’s a favorite: This 1920 building was built for the hardware and school supplies wholesaler Wood Vallance Ltd. It merged with Marshall-Wells of Moose Jaw in …
The return of Commodore
My first computer was a Commodore 64, bought ca. 1981 for (if I remember correctly) $895 Canadian, plus $595 for the 1541 floppy disk drive. (It came with a plastic Apple core on a string to wear around your neck, the Apple II being the main competitor for the C64 when it launched.) I used …
Ethics for robots
Says the BBC: An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and …
Snow slogging and photo blogging–in Moose Jaw!
Yes, today I took my Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw travelling photography act on the road to Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw has many fine old buildings. Look, there’s one now! Specifically, Central Collegiate: Built in 1909-1910 and designed by John D. Atchison and Richard Bunyard, this was Moose Jaw’s first high school building. …
My latest live walk and vlog
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