ONESELF IS AN INSUFFICIENT TOOL with which to measure the Universe.
Tag: Committee For A Bigger Universe
Transcendent Science and Knowery.
Word Of The Year, 2011
MMaXImize!
What I Hope God Wants
SEEMS TO ME THAT MORE accuracy would be obtained from statements beginning “God does/wants/says” by prefacing them with “I hope.” Because seriously — that’s as far as you’re going to get with figuring out God. (If nothing else, it rather…
5 Thoughts: The Solstice Eclipse
1. A CORRECT USE OF FACEBOOK is evidenced by all the pictures my friends took of last night’s eclipse. (Also nice: Chanukah’s virtual latke banquet.) 2. The overhead wonder was no less wondrous for being swathed in translucifying cloud at…
Season’s Regreetings
THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE OUTSIDE your comfort zone wishes you a merry holiday-you-don’t-celebrate, don’t take umbrage — just wish them a happy “Same To You.” This three-syllable Teflon Shield of Banter will save you from giving and receiving earnest but…
Listen Up
TODAY IS THE NATIONAL DAY of Listening, which, if you hadn’t heard — and I hadn’t until about five minutes ago, which saddens me because it’s such a neat idea and it’s in its third year — is dedicated to…
New Superhero!
DELIGHTEDMAN! HIS SUPERPOWERS ARE HIS 100% Infectious Enthusiasm! the Smile of Impenetrability! and the deadly Triple Exclamation Point!!!
Accented Enlightenment
SO MANY OF OUR VERBAL surroundings are invisible to us; we live like blind fish in a sea of words. Two experiments to make the background pop out: 1. Try shifting the accent on multiword phrases; e.g., “Vanity Fair” turns…
Arm’s Reach To The Stars
PERHAPS “ARM’S REACH TO AN asteroid” would be more accurate, but: For the first time ever, humanity has reached out with metal fingers and grabbed a hunk of asteroid to hold before its face. To put it less poetically, Japanese…
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Ghosts Don’t Interest Me
NOTE THE SPECIFICITY OF THE title — I didn’t say I don’t like ghosts, or that I shun their company or “disbelieve” in their “existence.” But they’re no big thing to me, any more so than the other amazing things…
World’s Smallest Particle Accelerator!
SCIENCE NEWS IS REPORTING THAT the humble adhesive-tape dispenser packs more X-ray wallop than the most sophisticated electrical machines: Forget fancy particle accelerators — a cheaper tool for emitting X-rays is right there in the office supply cabinet. Pulling back…