The Captain Kirk Principle

“This psychological battle between intellect and intuition was played out in almost every episode of Star Trek in the characters of the ultrarational Mr. Spock and the hyperemotional Dr. McCoy, with Captain Kirk as the near perfect synthesis of both. Thus, I call this balance the Captain Kirk Principle: intellect is driven by intuition, intuition…

A Prayer Before Dying

An in-depth analysis of the research of Elisabeth Targ. “None of the patients knew which group they had been randomly assigned to, and thus whether they were being prayed for. During the six-month study, four of the patients died – a typical mortality rate. When the data was unblinded, the researchers learned that the four…

Tornado

“It was there we all huddled in the concrete-block laundromat while the storm passed overhead, with lightning so continuous, the ground was lit up like high noon. What we didn’t know then was that there was a tornado passing directly above us, one that had touched down just a few miles away, then lifted up…

The New Convergence

Religion and science: “As recently as the ’70s, intellectuals assumed that hard science was on track to resolve the two Really Big Questions: why life exists and how the universe began. What’s more, both Really Big Answers were assumed to involve strictly deterministic forces. But things haven’t worked out that way. Instead, the more scientists…

Housing Options

Grounded airplane or abandoned missile silo… there’s no place like home.Housing OptionsVarious) Similar:The Child –Antoine Bardou-Jacquet –The Child…AestheticsExplore – Laconic history of the world in a typographic map…Explore – Laconic history of the world i…AestheticsSelected Negative Teaching Evaluations of Jesus Christ“Not what I expected. They say his area …AcademiaPage Weight MattersUnexpected consequences, when a develope…CybercultureGoogle,…

Freaky Frog Fraud

“‘Frog sex malformities linked to weedkiller, study says’ was a popular media story last week. University of California junk scientist Tyrone Hayes once again tried to link the widely used herbicide atrazine with deformed frog sex organs and allegedly declining frog populations. Hayes’ one-page write-up of his latest scary ‘research’ appeared in the Halloween issue…

CNN Sucks

“CNN sucks. It’s not even news anymore; it’s entertainment. I was trying to watch the news the other day when I decided to turn on CNN and 45 minutes later I came away with the following facts: Actress Winona Ryder has been charged with shop lifting. It’s shark week on the Discovery Channel. The world…

How Catholics Know They're Driving Too Fast

—How Catholics Know They’re Driving Too Fast (Peugot?) Sent by Rosemary Frezza. Thanks for the laugh! Similar:I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me? I found that when an app did sell girl…BusinessFeature: History Lesson: the treasured past of LucasArts point and clicksI played more of the Sierra point-and-c…CultureGround-nesting…

Marketing Polls a Waste of Time?

A recent marketing research poll suggests that marketing research polls are a waste of time, since “people don’t know and can’t know how and why they do things.” —Marketing Polls a Waste of Time?Marketing Research News) Note: There’s a huge difference between a poll (in which you simply ask people’s opinions) and usability testing (in…

Pooh-Poohing Postmodernism

“Postmodern Pooh is intended to satirise not just a few celebrity critics, but the kind of critical writing that academics and students generally tend to come up with today – evasive, incomprehensible, and making enormous, unjustified claims for the power of texts and language. ” Sandy Starr reviews Frederick Crews’s Postmodern Pooh —Pooh-Poohing PostmodernismSpiked) I…

Diego Time

Watch a family change over 27 years: “On June 17th, every year, the family goes through a private ritual: we photograph ourselves to stop a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by.” Diego Golberg —Diego TimeZone Zero) Similar:Half a Life (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 4, Episode 22) Lwaxana Meets CogsworthRewatching ST:TNG The teaser sets…

Great Moon Hoax (1835)

“Herschel, the article declared, had established a ‘new theory of cometary phenomena’; he had discovered planets in other solar systems; and he had ‘solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy.’ Then, almost as if it were an afterthought, the article revealed Herschel’s final, stunning achievement. He had discovered life on the moon.”…

NASA Challenges Moon Hoax Claims

“Flags that ripple on the airless Moon, discrepancies in the part numbers of lunar lander components, shadows that point in the wrong direction, the lack of stars seen in the sky – these are all ‘facts’ that have fuelled the conspiracy theory.” —NASA Challenges Moon Hoax ClaimsBBC) My grandfather was convinced that the moon landings…