Via Kottke, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom's opening remarks at today's media briefing on COVID-19 officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Despite the alarm that word may raise raises, Adhanom concluded his remarks with some wise words: Let me give you some other words that matter much more, and that are much more actionable. Prevention. Preparedness. Public … Continue reading We’re in this together
Category: Science
Black hole stun from backwater bipeds
In case you haven't been following the news (and who can blame you?), that's the first-ever image of a black hole: There's plenty of writing out there on what it means, much of it going over my head, but here's some grounding perspective from Scientific American: It is also worth noting that in the two … Continue reading Black hole stun from backwater bipeds
Atlas of a Lost World
We think of ourselves as different from other animals. We extol our own tool use, congratulate our sentience, but our needs are the same. We are creatures on a planet looking for a way ahead. Why do we like vistas? Why are pullouts drawn on the sides of highways, signs with arrows showing where to … Continue reading Atlas of a Lost World
My Birthday Planets
Thanks to Fourmilab (via kottke), I discovered exactly how the planets were aligned on the day of my birth: You can find your own here.
The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek
In the summer of 2013 I interned at the Leo Burnett advertising agency's corporate library and archives. In the course of my work I came upon boxes of original conceptual artwork and copy from the 1950s and '60s of the famous brands Leo Burnett created: the Marlboro Man, the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy. … Continue reading The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek
Ötzi-quel
This ongoing saga of Ötzi the Iceman fascinates me. I first learned of him from Radiolab a few years ago, but turns out we keep learning more about this mythic Italian mummy: The more scientists learn, the more recognizable the Iceman becomes. He was 5 feet 5 inches tall (about average height for his time), … Continue reading Ötzi-quel
Refer Madness: PB & A
Refer Madness spotlights strange, intriguing, or otherwise noteworthy questions I encounter at the library reference desk. Here's an interesting one that came to the desk: the PseudoBulbar Affect. (Pseudo "false" + Bulbar, referring to the brainstem.) A patron said she had it and was looking for some scholarly information about it. According to PBAinfo.org, PBA occurs when "certain neurologic diseases … Continue reading Refer Madness: PB & A
The Hunt for Vulcan
I’ve never forgotten the scene in Men in Black, when Jay (Will Smith) and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) are sitting on a bench facing the New York City skyline. Jay has gotten a brief but shocking glimpse of the secret alien world Kay is trying to recruit him into, one that few people know about. … Continue reading The Hunt for Vulcan
The Martian
I conducted an experiment with The Martian. Too many times I’ve read a book before seeing its movie version and have come out of the theater disappointed they didn't show this or showed too much of that, and above all that I knew what was going to happen. Seems the conventional wisdom is that you … Continue reading The Martian
How to Feel Small
I like things that make me feel small. Like If The Moon Were Only 1 Pixel, a "tediously accurate scale model of the solar system" that, as you scroll horizontally, reveals the vast span of our neighborhood: Or Why Time Flies, a philosophical exploration of our fungible awareness of time: Or The Scale of the Universe (my favorite), which, as … Continue reading How to Feel Small