Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

You call yourselves nerds?

Last Thursday (or as Thursday was migrating into Friday), I was revelling in the Frazetta covers collage posted at BoingBoing and discussing how Conan the Barbarian (1982) was a truly great swords & sandals movie with Natalie Willoughby (Leia Shot First, which she did), when I saw that Conan the Barbarian was on TV.

In the spirit of #SciWars, I thought retooling Conan the Barbarian quotes to represent scientific experiences would be a great idea. It was fun for me, but almost no one else (Storify of tweets here).

Continue reading “You call yourselves nerds?”

The Mobiest of Dicks

I know that title doesn’t sound right…or does it.

Thanks to a tweet by Jimmy Stamp that was retweeted by Alexis Madrigal, I found this delightful post by Robin Sloan entitled “The Moby Dick Variations” that speculates about what it means to be a novel as a unique work of art. In the post, Sloan investigates how a novel can vary and still maintain its identity. The post instantly connected to two divergent thoughts in my brain. Continue reading “The Mobiest of Dicks”

On the underrepresentation of cheese in literature…

GK Chesterton expounds on the poetic nature of cheese and condemns its notable absence from poetry. The essay is well worth reading, and I a particularly endorse this line with the proviso that it is applicable to man, woman, or child*:

…nor can I imagine why a man should want more than bread and cheese, if he can get enough of it.
–GK Chesterton

*My four and five-year olds are extremely fond of Stilton, which is how we know they are mine.

Hat tip to Steve Silberman.

Bang for Our Buck in Research

In his weekly column at Pacific Standard, our Mike White discusses the importance of basic science for productive science:

…Congress wants to know: Are we getting the most out of our research dollars?…the National Academy of Sciences…came back with its answer…If you care about the economic returns of research, don’t focus too much on the economic returns of research. Focus instead on cultivating a world-class basic research community, and the economic returns will come.
–Mike White

Science Caturday: All the Artz

hoominartMichele is busy this weekend presenting her art to “hoomins” at Artscape (18-20 July in Baltimore). Your regular Science Caturday service will resume next week.