Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

Pea Green Boat

pyrofibonacciology, n, the study of Fibonacci sequences created using flaming objects

Unlike me, you may not have an encyclopedic memory of all my writings. So you may not recall the time I evaluated the Fibonacciness of Katy Chalmers‘ golden fire spiral.

Apparently, it was enough to convince the folks at the e-zine Pea Green Boat that I knew something about patterns in nature. As a result, you can now read my responses to their questions (formatting removed the questions and turned it into a, hopefully, more coherent piece) in the latest issue, entitled “Ascend”.

I think this apparent problem may be driven by the fact that patterns in nature are not always reliable. Sometimes that twig snapping is a harmless deer. Sometimes its a leopard* about to pounce. It is probably a better evolutionary bet for us to have brains that are willing to believe in the pattern that a twig-snap almost always precedes a pouncing leopard, even if it almost always the deer.

*I think my obsession with the idea that leopard predation was a major evolutionary pressure on the human species was the result of having read 2001: A Space Odyssey just a bit younger than is advisable.

Observing Charlotte

Back in June I did a short interview* with Tyler Dukes for the Charlotte Observer. Here’s a taste:

Q: Science in pop culture tends to turn up a lot in your posts. Are you ever surprised by where ideas turn up?

If you want to, you can really can find science in everything because it’s about how the world works… It’s being able to find things that are really compelling and interesting and make you spend more time than you should writing about it or investigating it.

They actually published the interview in a timely manner. I’m only getting around to posting it here because I have been busy. How busy? I’m not sure how to quantify the business involved in international house hunting, relocating two small children transatlantically, and switching from full-time researcher to full-time science consultant/writer. I know how to describe it qualitatively, but not without swearing.

I’m also writing this from a laptop computer sitting on a desk made of cardboard boxes, because affordable moving companies are (a) slow, and (b) do not care.

*Well it was short by the time Tyler was done editing it down to something palatable.

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” Day

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Day is an official holiday in my house, and apparently in the UK this year (though they are claiming its for some chick named Elizabeth). According to the calculations of Larry Granillo, the inaugural Ferris Bueller’s Day Off occurred on 5 June 1985..

In honor of the 27th anniversary, I give you Ferris Club*:


*If you have not seen Fight Club, you will not get this; but, if you have not seen Fight Club, that probably happens to you a lot.

Pictionary

I think my major concern about physicists successfully developing a Theory of Everything (TOE), from which everything in the Universe can be described in a series of equations, is that it would absolutely ruin Pictionary:

Please don’t put industrial strength bleach in the butts of autistic kids

Sadly, we live in a society where we need to tell people not to do this. The industrial strength bleach (sodium dichlorite solution) called Miracle Mineral Solution or MMS previously came to our attention as a “treatment” for Crohn’s disease, as well as everything else from HIV to colds. Now it is being marketed as a “treatment” for autism via oral administration, baths, and enemas.

MMS treatments cause side effects like discomfort, fever, diarrhea, and vomiting (these are the one’s its proponents advertise) with no evidence that it is an effective treatment for anything other than being comfortable and not having diarrhea. Fortunately, there is something you can do to help. Emily Willingham has started a petition to ban the sale and use of MMS as a treatment for autism (read the whole petition below).

The claims made by MMS are duping concerned parents into torturing their children, who are not in a position to understand why mommy and daddy are hurting them. Continue reading “Please don’t put industrial strength bleach in the butts of autistic kids”