One girl's blog dedicated to useless academia

Fact:

Thu, 27 May 2010 12:52:12 -0400

There is enough iron in the human body to form a one-inch nail.

: Ten years in the making and culled from 5000 hours of...

Sun, 02 May 2010 22:04:47 -0400

: Ten years in the making and culled from 5000 hours of footage, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC reveals the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of”, artist, futurist and visionary Josh Harris. Harris, often called the “Warhol of the Web”, founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television network during the infamous dot-com boom of the 1990s. He also curated and funded the ground breaking project “Quiet” in an underground bunker in NYC where over 100 people lived together on camera for 30 days at the turn of the millennium. With Quiet, Harris proved how we willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire, but with every technological advancement such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, becomes more elusive. Through his experiments, including a six-month stint living with his girlfriend under 24-hour electronic surveillance which led to his mental collapse, Harris demonstrated the price we pay for living in public.

To anyone who has given in to the tactics of today’s technological society (meaning you if you’re reading this), watch this. It will blow you away.

grayskymorning: via rememo, funeral ‘Through the...

Sun, 02 May 2010 21:35:00 -0400

grayskymorning:

via rememo, funeral

‘Through the wormhole, the scientist can see himself as he was one minute ago. But what if our scientist uses the wormhole to shoot his earlier self? He’s now dead. So who fired the shot?’

To learn more about what Stephen Hawking has to say concerning time travel, the fourth dimension and wormholes, click on the diagram.

Just bought this book from a street vender for $5! So excited to...

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:47:58 -0400

Just bought this book from a street vender for $5! So excited to read it, I hear it’s amazing. Has anyone read it? What did you think??

crookedindifference: Cape Wind Finally Approved For nine long...

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:46:07 -0400

crookedindifference:

Cape Wind Finally Approved

For nine long years, the Battle of Cape Wind has raged on—often pitting environmentalists against environmentalists—but today Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that there will be turbines. It will be the nation’s first offshore wind farm but not, according to Salazar, the last. “This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic coast,” he said.

This is so exciting!

The history of April 26th!

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:00:46 -0400

In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, was killed by federal troops in Virginia.

In 1937, German planes bombed the city of Guernica in Spain.

In 1986, fires and explosions at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union spread radioactive material over much of Europe.

In 2000, Vermont governor Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing gay couples to form civil unions.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:05:33 -0400

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this is “a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.’”

The 45-letter word was coined to serve as the longest English word and is the longest word ever to appear in an English language dictionary

herseaoflove: The most detailed true-color image of the entire...

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:38:22 -0400

herseaoflove:

The most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth created to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-solor mosaic of every square kilometer of our planet.

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

Via The Big Picture

fuckyeahtheuniverse: thecosmos: Orion Nebula (via John...

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:33:00 -0400

fuckyeahtheuniverse:

thecosmos:

Orion Nebula (via John Castillo)

Beautiful!

wbotd: brouillon: Shows lava spurting out of the site of a...

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:06:01 -0400

wbotd:

brouillon:

Shows lava spurting out of the site of a volcanic eruption at the Eyjafjallajökull volcano some 125 km east of Reykjavik. With lava still gushing, a small Icelandic volcano that initially sent hundreds fleeing from their homes is turning into a boon for the island nation’s tourism industry, as visitors flock to catch a glimpse of the eruption. (HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images)

fuckyeahchemistry: mildlyamused: Science limerick ftw!

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:32:00 -0400

fuckyeahchemistry:

mildlyamused:

Science limerick ftw!

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day: repartee

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:21:00 -0400

\rep-er-TEE\ - noun

Meaning

1 a : a quick and witty reply *b : a succession or interchange of clever retorts : amusing and usually light sparring with words 2 : adroitness and cleverness in reply

Example Sentence

The talk show host is a skillful interviewer whose deft use of repartee and quick-witted banter keeps his show moving at a lively, almost manic, pace.

Did you know?

One person often noted for her repartee was Dorothy Parker, writer and legendary member of the Algonquin Round Table. Upon hearing that Calvin Coolidge had died, she replied, “How can they tell?” The taciturn Coolidge obviously didn’t have a reputation for being the life of the party, but he himself came out with a particularly famous repartee on one occasion. When a dinner guest approached him and told him she had bet someone she could get him to say more than two words, he replied, “You lose.” “Repartee,” our word for such a quick, sharp reply (and for skill with such replies) comes from the French “repartie,” of the same meaning. “Repartie” comes from the French verb “repartir,” meaning “to retort.”

hunsonisgroovy: Airplanes, Ash, and Their Contributions to the...

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:32:58 -0400

hunsonisgroovy:

Airplanes, Ash, and Their Contributions to the Atmosphere

Already born at the length of ten feet, humpback whales average...

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:56:07 -0400

Already born at the length of ten feet, humpback whales average between 40 to 50 feet long and can weigh up to 45 tons. Their heads alone take up one-third of their body’s length. The skeletal structure of a whale can be compared to that of a human’s, with a similar bone structure when comparing the bones in a human hand to the bones in a whale’s fluke (only, their fluke bones could outweigh a car). Humpback whales occupy all main oceanic bodies, excluding polar waters. These whales only have two natural predators: the killer whale and the shark. Unfortunately, humans count as a third, and most dangerous, predator. Because of mankind, the population of the humpback whale has dropped from an original population of 115,000 to an estimated 11,000. Reasons behind this can be traced to marine debris, commercial whaling, illegal whaling, ocean and noise pollution, over-fishing, and the conceivable notion of global warming.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day: alacrity

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:37:00 -0400

\uh-LAK-ruh-tee\ - noun

Meaning

: promptness in response : cheerful readiness

Example Sentence

“The good-humoured little attorney tapped at Mr. Pickwick’s door, which was opened with great alacrity by Sam Weller.” (Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers)

Did you know?

“I have not that alacrity of spirit / Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have,” says Shakespeare’s King Richard III in the play that bears his name. When Shakespeare penned those words some 400 years ago, “alacrity” was less than a hundred years old. Our English word derives from the Latin word “alacer,” which means “lively.” It denotes physical quickness coupled with eagerness or enthusiasm. Are there any other words in English from Latin “alacer”? Yes — “allegro,” which is used as a direction in music with the meaning “at a brisk lively tempo.” It came to us via Italian (where it can mean “merry”) and is assumed to be ultimately from “alacer.”

(via loveyourchaos)

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:28:55 -0400

(via loveyourchaos)

(via somethingintellectual)

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:42:23 -0400

(via somethingintellectual)

fromme-toyou: Awakened with a kiss “This sculpture by Antonio...

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:38:00 -0400

fromme-toyou:

Awakened with a kiss

“This sculpture by Antonio Canova recreates the moment at which Psyche awakens from her deathly sleep by the kiss of Eros. The dynamic sculpture conveys a deep sense of love, passion and energy as Eros sweeps from the sky to awaken Psyche from her slumber. Psyche throws up her arms elegantly to receive Eros’ kiss .”

Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss

by Antonio Canova 1787

Louvre, Paris

Found on the back of Ben & Jerry’s Americone...

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:23:00 -0400

Found on the back of Ben & Jerry’s Americone Dream:

“Nation! Have a cold, bold, caramel-swirled, fudgecoveredwaffle-cone-loaded spoonful of Truth: This is Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream! Sweeter than the Bill of Rights, colder than Valley Forge & with twice as much caramel is the Louisiana Purchase. This is the only ice cream with an official thumbs-up from America’s greatest news corres-pundit. Please enjoy… or go On Notice! For more information on Stephen Colbert & The Colbert Report log on to www.colbertnation.com.”

And yes. I bought a pint and ate it all myself JUST because it’s endorsed by my favorite person in the world. However, I did learn while reading the rest of the packaging that the family farmers who work for Ben & Jerry’s oppose the Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone! No wonder the ice cream tastes so good. Vermont knows how to raise a bunch of happy cows.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson,

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:07:00 -0400

who is better known as Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland), was not only a writer but a photographer, Anglican deacon, mathematician and logician as well. Dodgson has been noted for knack at word play, logic, fantasy, and literary nonsense. Dodgson enjoyed creating word puzzles that resulted in silly (yet valid, not to be mistaken with true) outcomes, such as:

“No duck is willing to waltz.
No officer is unwilling to waltz.
All my poultry are ducks.”

By putting the premises into arithmetic notation (A = duck, B = willing to waltz C = officer, D = my poultry) and canceling middle terms to find out a valid conclusion, the result of the logical equation will lead to another nonsensical premise.

Like so:

~~No A is B~~ All A is non-B
No C is non-B
All D is A

leads to canceling of the middle (like) terms:

All A is ~~non-B~~
No C is ~~non-B~~

which leads to:

No C is A
All D is A

brings you to the conclusion:

No C is D or No D is C

so:

No officer is my poultry or none of my poultry is an officer.