A Misunderstood Monument – WSJ.com “French worked hard to make his huge Lincoln a man and not a god. This is one rumpled icon. The imperfections are hard to miss. His hair is uncombed. His tie is askew. His hands betray a fidgety disposition, and his eyes aren’t quite symmetrical.” (tags: history US art society […]
Month: May 2008
Nerd Famous
Most of my reaction to this weekend’s Emily Gould article in the Times was “Gosh, who knew that writing for Gawker might have a corrosive effect on your personal life…,” but there were some interesting bits. She did a nice job explaining how blogging can be sort of addictive, and also had some good bits […]
Memorial Day
Today is Memorial Day in the US, the official holiday for remembering the men and women killed in our various wars. It’s also the traditional start of the summer season, which means that it’s always an odd collision of the solemn and the raucous. Growing up, there was always a parade in town, which started […]
Missed It by That Much
So, the Martians go and helpfully draw a box on the ground as a target for the Phoenix landing, and what do they do? They land next to it, not in it. Way to go, NASA. I bet if they hadn’t screwed up the unit conversions, they would’ve hit it…
links for 2008-05-26
New tests of the Copernican Principle proposed – physicsworld.com “”I would bet my house now that the results will come out null so the Copernican Principle is valid on the scales we observe,” says Paul Steinhardt a cosmologist at Princeton University, “But I think the experiments should be done.”” (tags: science astronomy physics theory news) […]
Built On Facts
Every now and then, I look at the huge list of blogs and news sources in my RSS feeds, and say to myself “You really need to thin these out…” How can I make any progress, though, when there are always great new blogs being created? The latest new blog to ctach my interest and […]
Random Quotes
Via Lara, a “meme” calling for the posting of random quotes. Because why not? “We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. “ Ray Bradbury (1920 – ) “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. “ Mark Twain (1835 – 1910), Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894) “Progress isn’t made […]
links for 2008-05-25
Mark Batty Publisher/ Books/ Description Bedtime reading for future font geeks. (tags: books silly language publishing) Where to Watch Phoenix’ Landing – The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society “There are a bazillion sources of information on what’s up with Phoenix as its landing approaches on Sunday, so here’s an attempt to round up […]
Recent Movie Round-Up
For the first time since I don’t know when, Kate and I have gone to see movies in a theater on two consecutive weekends. I’m pretty sure this hasn’t happened in at least two years. Anyway, before my general (spoiler-free) movie comments, some trailers: You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Seriously, this is a movie? […]
Comparative Vertebrate Video
A colleague in Biology had his Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy class make videos explaining something they studied in class. He’s posted the results to YouTube and Facebook, so the students can see them, but thanks to the magic of the Internet, you, too, can learn about the bite force of bats from a college student in […]