Tag: Entertainment
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Why I bought a house
From Spokane News: 900 East Sitka Ave, Assault Reported. Reported male cut a hole through his apartment into another apartment and was caught by the resident in the other apartment. Police arrived and male fought with Police and now detained. The new Facebook explainer bots don’t offer any fake explanations or point-missing fake questions about…
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Gernsback’s 1918 iPhone
The idea of a portable videophone was common around 1910, written and illustrated in electronics and sci-fi mags. Here’s one I hadn’t seen before in a 1918 Gernsback magazine. I’ve modeled it with one age-appropriate improvement to free up the user’s hands. Gernsback’s version resembled a vanity mirror mounted on a candlestick phone, including the…
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Hey four eyes!
Via Smithsonian, a close look at an early vertebrate shows that it had four eyes. = = = = = START QUOTE: The earliest known fossil vertebrates, from 518 million years ago, may have viewed the world through four eyes — and one pair of them was the precursor to the pineal gland, according to…
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Imagination, not Intelligence part 2
The silliest point-missers think the I in AI stands for Intelligence, and bash it for “hallucinations” instead of logic. Nope, the I stands for Imagination. Altman knows what he’s doing and knows who he’s destroying. There’s no need for a new kind of intelligence. COMPUTERS BEAT RATIONAL INTELLIGENCE CENTURIES AGO. The first mechanical adders were…
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Reprinting Ferguson’s orrery
Reprint from 2021, triggered by previous item about ancient mitochondria. Are mitochondria the sensors for universal magnetic influence? Is Solarion the original orrery? = = = = = Picking up from previous post on James Ferguson. Previously I showed a couple of science entertainments using static fields to drive gadgets. Ferguson’s main focus was orreries…
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Ned Green and enjoyable science
Linked in previous, worth a reprint. = = = = = START 2021 REPRINT: Following part 1 and part 2 and part 3. Saved the best for last. Colonel Ned Green was the most influential of these three men. Money talks, and intelligently-directed ENJOYABLE money talks best. His mother Hetty Green was the equivalent of…
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Today is & day!
Time to reprint again the genuine history of the symbol, which doesn’t match the standard etymology. = = = = = START REPRINT: I’ve always been bothered by the bizarre-sounding etymology of Ampersand. The symbol itself is no mystery: just a stylized version of et. But the usual etymology for the name doesn’t make a…
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The Ponca Folly House is for sale!
Many years ago I wrote up my personal experience with Follies, as part of my long-term theme of Science as Entertainment. Some of the best science labs were Follies in this sense, structures added to a house or yard purely to entertain or amuse guests or neighbors. One of my personal experiences was a house…
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Good oneliner
Spokane News is back in the entertainment biz after being too serious for a while. 1500 North Argonne, Assault Reported with one male who tried to flee from Deputies but obviously skipped Track during High School and didn’t make it far. Male in custody. One commenter saw the chase and said Deputy was quick af.…
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Lowe’s perfect word
The “two” “sides” are pointlessly arguing about the network decision to drop Colbert. One side says the network was cowardly, the other side says it was brave. (I hardly know who the dude is, since I haven’t watched any TV since 2010 and never watched the late night “comedy” shows either on TV or on…
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Thatcher as editor
Enjoying the latest print issue of History Today. I appreciate both the content and the form. It resembles an old-fashioned newspaper with features and short human interest stories. I read those first, then the articles that look interesting. This month includes an inside look at Thatcher’s speechwriters. Unlike most politicians she recognized her own limitations.…
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The other Charles
I’ve never understood the appeal of spaceflight and ETs. Sciencey nerds are supposed to be fascinated by planets and stars and endless space. Nope. Give me creeks and houses and streets and people. I’d rather look about me, take hold of the things that are here, talk to them and let them talk to me.…
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Farmers are about to be replaced!!!
All those outdated old-fashioned farmers who are still doing it the stupid way, planting seeds in soil and harvesting the crops, had better watch out! Their hopelessly obsolete methods are about to be overturned by: The Most Holy And Noble Innovator ***C*R*A*I*G***W*R*I*G*H*T*** After successfully overturning a thousand years of obsolete fiat banking and replacing all…
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True and deep
Myq Kaplan, a pro comedian, has been posting oneliners on Substack. Most are good puns, worth a quick smile or chuckle. This one is true and deep! The meek shall inherit the earth…. as soon as the bold are off conquering the rest of the solar system and don’t want earth anymore.
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No sympathy
I note that the “mayor” in Spokane has joined other “mayors” in a court brief opposing Trump’s cuts to research funding. No sympathy. The corruption of federal funding has been blatantly obvious and perfectly well known inside academia. Everybody knows it and everybody keeps taking it. For christ’s fucking sake, EISENHOWER warned about it in…
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