Here’s a quick set of accelerated time-lapse videos of Venus’s transit across the face of the Sun, as shot by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), using a wavelength of light that emphasizes solar prominences and results in a spectacular picture: … Continue reading
If you’re not familiar with the Discworld series of novels by Terry Pratchett, it concerns, naturally, a flat but otherwise vaguely Earthlike planet riding on the backs for four elephants who in turn stand on the shell of an immense … Continue reading
Somewhat amusing: The general term for a misheard lyric is a “mondegreen,” a word originally proposed by Sylvia Wright in a 1954 essay in Harper’s Magazine. It’s one of the few deliberate coinages to make it into dictionaries. Wright derived … Continue reading
The late Donald Westlake is best known as a writer of crime fiction, some serious and hard-boiled (including a series he wrote under the name Richard Stark) and others very funny, notably those starring John Dortmunder, a professional thief with … Continue reading
According to a news item published yesterday on the website of the journal Nature, evidence from tree rings suggests that a mysterious massive burst of radiation probably struck the Earth about the year 774 or 775, just over 1200 years … Continue reading
OK, this is admittedly just dumb, but I found it mildly amusing: Any problem can be treated by rubbing some bacon on it: The same guys, Rhett & Link, have done several amusing videos based on YouTube’s automated captioning feature, … Continue reading
Ricky Gervais is a British-born New York dentist who’s content to be friendless because he finds other people pretty consistently annoying. When a near-death experience leaves him able to see and hear ghosts, the apparitions don’t strike him as the … Continue reading
On May 31 the official portrait of former President George W. Bush was unveiled at the White House with a nice bit of good humor and camaraderie from the current and immediate past presidents and their wives. There’s some amusing … Continue reading
This is an entertaining history of the idea of a hollow Earth, from what at the time was serious scientific speculation (concentric Earths supposedly explaining why the magnetic poles don’t line up with the geographical ones) to crank theorizing to … Continue reading
by … Continue reading