I recently read the novel Robopocalypse, a science fiction-y thriller about the, er, robot apocalypse—the uprising of robots and technology and the attempt to wipe out humanity, and overall I quite enjoyed it: a good “popcorn” book that entertaining and mostly plausible if you don’t think about it too hard. Definitely movie fodder, and I… Continue reading Robopocalypse
The most epic spam email ever
So I got this spam a little while back, and I couldn’t resist sharing. Here, in its entirety: December 21, 2012: Mayan Galactic Alignment Once in 26,000 years Celebrate the end of the Mayan Calendar, the Sun aligning with the center of the Galaxy, and the 2012 Winter Solstice. Greetings , The “2012 Mayan Galactic… Continue reading The most epic spam email ever
Reamde and Bill Cosby
No I’m not entirely sure how those two things go together: one is the latest novel from Neal Stephenson which had me riveted all the way through the 1000-odd pages, the other is the comedian best known for his influential TV series from the 1980s. I suppose it’s a pop cultural thing, but I’ve been… Continue reading Reamde and Bill Cosby
Lost planet
Saw this article on Discover.com earlier this month and thought it was really interesting: The Solar System’s Lost Planet. Nesvorny, who runs computer simulations to study how the solar system evolved over time, kept encountering the same problem: The four giant gas planets, whose orbits are comfortably far apart from each other today, kept violently jostling… Continue reading Lost planet
The best chicken article I’ve read in awhile.
Actually this might be the only chicken article I’ve read now that I think about it. It’s long but really good. Did you know the Egyptians “mastered the technique of artificial incubation”? I did not. Oh, and don’t forget, chickens are basically the descendants of dinosaurs which is awesome.
WTH?
Zoom in on the Google Map of Corvallis, Oregon, near downtown and this is what you’ll see: Er, what? How on earth did “Illinois” and “Nebraska” get in there?
Timeline of the far future
On a similar topic to my previous post about the scale of the universe, I’ve been enjoying Wikipedia’s Timeline of the far future for equal amounts of mind-boggling scale. Really, once you hit 1020 years from now the numbers are pretty much meaningless to realistic human comprehension. But when you start hitting the exponents of… Continue reading Timeline of the far future
The Scale of the Universe
I realized I missed posting in April entirely(!), and I don’t like the look of the gap in the archive calendar, so I’m back-dating this entry. And you need to check this out, a Flash-animated Scale of the Universe that is simply mind-boggling. From the smallest structures known (quantum foam, the Planck length) to the… Continue reading The Scale of the Universe
Cartoon theme music…
Does anyone remember the music in the ’80s Transformers and GI Joe cartoons that I can only best describe at “battle music”? It was only really played when the good guys were staging some sort of comeback, and the best example I can think of (supreme nerd alert here) is in the GI Joe “Serpentor”… Continue reading Cartoon theme music…
Leap Day
This is only the third Leap Day we’ve had since I’ve started this blog, and this is the first time I’ve made a point of noting it. Aside from being the one extra day every four years (and, technically, only every 400 years on the century marks), the only other notable thing I can think… Continue reading Leap Day