Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

The Rise and Fall of “The History of Rome”

One of the guilty pleasures of running your own blog is that you get to write about whatever you care about. At The Finch & Pea, we like to celebrate everything that excites us1, not just science. That may mean that Mike speaks at length about sixty year-old post-apocalyptic science fiction; or that Marie-Claire channels Barry from High Fidelity periodically; or that I launch into meandering digressions about, well, almost anything with some regularity.

It also means that I get to spend some time lamenting the end of one of my little joys. I started listening to Mike Duncan’s weekly podcast The History of Rome in 2007. I’m a bit of a history buff, especially for ancient/medieval stuff, as you might expect. I’m also pretty picky. Most efforts to address these periods drive me up a wall. Obviously, I have not been listening to The History of Rome for nearly 5 years because it irritates me.

The History of Rome not only inspired a whole genre of history podcasts, but has consistently dominated that genre. Mike Duncan is always honest about the quality, or lack thereof, of his sources. He does not pretend to be an expert. He tells us what is known or suspected with good humor and an accessible format.

Mike Duncan is not only going out on top. He is also quitting for a pretty good reason – he (technically, his wife) is having a baby. Lacking the time to be both a father and a podcaster at a standard that he would find acceptable, he picked. My rugby career ended on the same logic. I sympathize and know he chose well.

But, I will miss it2 and eagerly await his next project.

1. Everything that is “Safe for Work”. This is, after all, a respectable online science pub.

2. Every episode is still available on iTunes. I may or may not have already gone back and downloaded all of them with the plan to revisit Roman history in an ear blistering marathon.

Adaptive humor

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill WatersonDear Calvin,
The correct answer may be genetic drift, unless you can reject the null hypothesis.

Yours truly,
Josh

Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?

My favorite Animaniac was always Wacko Warner, but my brother and I spent countless hours riffing off Pinky and the Brain, voiced by the immortal Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. Now you have LEGO Pinky and the Brain signed by the immortal Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche.

The Publishing Engine

Am I unreasonably excited that my favorite webcomic, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, is going to be published as a book? No. For those of you familiar with the funny, hyper-referential, quirky work of Sydney Padua, my excitement would be considered entirely reasonable in its grandiosity.

Now it my great pleasure to announce that this humble comic has been elevated to the PANTHEON one might say, actually, one would definitely say, because Pantheon Bookshas heard your pleas (a lot more effectively than I have it seems) and we are going to do Lovelace and Babbage: The Papery Thing with Ink On!

If you were wondering what to get me for my birthday next year. . .

Just right

The Three Bears – Note the thermodynamic impossibility of the depicted bowls.

Goldilocks & The Three Bears is more than a bizarre endorsement of woodland home invasion. It’s also a thermodynamic riddle that has befuddled the wisest among us1. One word – porridge.

The facts of the case are these. At the initial time point (t0), all Three Bears thought their porridge was too hot. At the second time point (t1), when Goldilocks gets there, the three bowls are at different temperatures (TPB > TBB > TMB). No one cares about the porridge’s temperature at the final time point (tf), as one doesn’t after one’s home has obviously been broken and/or entered. Continue reading “Just right”