Links: T-Shirts for Geeks and Weirdos

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Kari Lucin

Want to promote science? Some of these T-shirts are probably good for that… others are probably a bad idea. The T-rex burger one is pretty funny. There’s also a set of "Teach the Controversy" T-shirts that are parodies of the creationists’ desire to "teach the controversy" of evolution. If you are a creationist, you may not find them funny.

Another weird T-shirt asks "What would Nietzsche do?" The answer to this is actually "Get kicked in the head by a horse and then use a lot of exclamation marks!!!!" but I doubt anyone wants to hear that.

Blizzard sells World of Warcraft t-shirts that can feature your character’s name and guild crest. I wouldn’t ever wear one of these for two reasons: 1. I hope to go on a date some day, and 2. My guild changes its crest every week, because I get bored easily.

To really make people do a double-take, wear FrankEinstein.

Some people really, really love cats. With hollandaise.

And here’s a campaign T-shirt we can all get behind. Taste we can believe in!

Finally, the gamer’s version of the Last Supper. A lot of people I knew at Seminary would giggle like crazy at this T-shirt, and as a theology nerd I thought it was pretty funny too.

Too Manly or Shy for a Hug? Try a Shug

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Kari Lucin

I am not, by nature, a hugger.

I don’t like to be touched and I have a very large personal space bubble, which has been known to confuse Europeans and make them believe I hated them.

I didn’t. Nor did they smell bad. I just like people to stand a little further away from me than Europeans tend to, so I back up when they get close, they get closer to be more comfortable, I back up again… it’s a proximity tango.

Things have to get pretty dire before I’ll hug someone who isn’t a family member or significant other.

There is a whole science out there, I learned, called proxemics, that documents personal space and how far people stand away from each other to chat or to speak in public. People from Latin America like to stand close. People from Nordic cultures have a bigger space bubble.

Little did I know I could have solved everything by trying a shug – a combination handshake/half-hug. Here’s an article (oddly enough, from Esquire magazine, though it came to me through another web site) about the shug, one of the moves President Obama is apparently fond of.

I personally like the idea of the shug because it stops me from having to hug anyone apart from my family or significant other.

Magenta Is Not a Color

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Kari Lucin

Now you may accuse me of having an unfair prejudice against magenta because it is bright pink, and you may or may not know that I am not especially fond of pink.

But as it turns out, magenta is apparently not a color. Our brains made it up. Wikipedia doesn’t agree, though, or at least, doesn’t say a word on the subject either way.

It’s all part of the way our brains work, making things up when contradictory items are perceived. The phenomenon is called "qualia," and if you’re not careful, thinking about this will break your fragile little mind.

Links: Rude People, Mean People, and People Who Aren’t Nice

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Kari Lucin

Not everyone wants to wear a bike helmet, so to cheat a law in Nigeria, people are wearing vegetables as helmets.

If you’ve ever seen a pumpkin smashed on the pavement, you’re well aware of how well that works.

Here’s a little column about Christian Bale’s now-infamous rant on the set of his latest movie. To me this ranks right up there with Joaquin Phoenix’s recent bout of ridiculous insanity, but either way it’s definitely not nice.

A snowplow operator who was ticked off over a parking place dispute buried a guy’s car in snow. Now that’s mean.

And it also was not very nice for one high school to beat another by 100 points.

There’s no mercy rule in basketball, but usually when you’re that far ahead, you rest your starters and let the people play who aren’t as good, and maybe lay off a little on the full court presses and 3-points. Not that you let the other team win–certainly not. But you don’t have to murdalyze them either. (I know, that’s not a word, but I like it anyway.

And finally, for all you Twilight fans (or people like me who are fans because they believe the series was brilliantly hilariously awful), they recently dug up a female vampire in Italy.

Links: Nazis and the Power of Evil

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Kari Lucin

Authorities believe they finally tracked down Aribert Heim, one of the most-wanted Nazis who was never brought to justice for his part in the Holocaust. Others are not so sure.

Meanwhile, people continue to focus on the life of Hannah Arendt, a writer and philosopher who penned the novel "Eichmann in Jerusalem," containing her coverage of the infamous Nazi’s trial. Arendt was a wonderful writer, but was in something of a complicated position as a Jewish woman and philosopher Martin Heidegger’s lover.

Heidegger joined the Nazi party.

Some U.S. teens have been moonlighting as hitmen. Really.

Finally, Columbus did not bring anthrax to America. It was here before Columbus got here.

Literary One-Hit Wonders

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Kari Lucin

As I noted before, I can’t resist a list.

And being a big book geek, I absolutely could not resist this list of literary one-hit wonders, especially since I’ve read a few of them. Anna Sewell‘s Black Beauty, for example, a classic children’s book about the life of a horse.

Like so many young girls, I went through a horse phase and a cat phase, in which I passionately adored horses and cats. We didn’t live on a farm, so obviously I never got a horse, and my mom is allergic to cats, so clearly a kitty was totally out of the question. My horse and cat phases pretty much consisted of me reading everything about horses I could get my hands on, so of course I read Black Beauty.

Why was it a one-hit wonder? Well, Sewell died five months after Black Beauty was published.

There are, however, some sequels/prequels written by other people, some of which I felt were quite good. I haven’t read them for a long time, however, so I can’t testify as to their greatness; I liked quite a few things when I was 12 that make me cringe now. (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, for starters. And that’s one I’m willing to admit to in public…)

Links: Weird and Wacky Wildlife

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Kari Lucin

You know those pesky Canada geese that like to wander around your yard, pooping and scaring the heck out of small children? They were on the verge of extinction at one point. Since then, they’ve become almost prevalent enough that we wish they had disappeared… but not quite.

Here’s a weird critter I’d never heard of before it popped up on the news: a sea squirt. Freaky weird little animals; here’s the wikipedia link if you want to know more.

How did scorpions evolve those tails? Here’s a proto-scorpion that may provide a missing link.

And finally, the funniest animal news of the day: a bat who wanted to go to space. And almost did, by clinging to the side of the space shuttle. Everyone assumed the bat would just fly away when the shuttle lifted off, but it didn’t. So somewhere out there, is a very intrepid and probably slightly confused bat.

Celebrating Women in Science

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Kari Lucin

Today, March 24, is

Ada Lovelace Day

, created for bloggers to celebrate women in science.

I have referred to the real Ada before on Reprint, but I’m not sure I’ve written anything about her here before. Lovelace is recognized as the first programmer, having written programs for Charles Babbage‘s difference machine (the first computer, though it was never completed) before the machine was built.

And yes, she was the first programmer ever, not just the first female programmer.

Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron, which pretty much makes for a messed-up childhood, but she was intensely, brilliantly intelligent and mathematically gifted, prompting Babbage to call her "the Enchantress of Numbers."

Here’s Ada’s Wikipedia page.

Make sure you celebrate your favorite girl geeks today, and encourage a girl you know to go into science! There are lots of great female (and male too) science role-models at Worthington High School, too, don’t forget!

Vacation

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Kari Lucin

I am about to go on a vacation for the first time in a couple years, so I am making a list of the things I need to do first.

Buy snacks and soda for the trip.
Buy towels, because the person I am visiting lacks towels, and he’s letting me sleep on his couch for free. Even though I snore.
Return "Bride and Prejudice" to Family Video, after having watched it once without the commentary and once with the commentary.
Try to blog ahead… don’t know how well that’s going to go, but I will try.
Put gas in the car.
Go to the bank, since I still can’t remember my pin number.
Pack suitcase.
Check garage for possum incursion.

… it’s going to be a long couple of days.

Thunder, Storms!

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Kari Lucin

We heard something at the Globe office tonight that we haven’t for a long time: thunder.

I haven’t looked outside since, but I bet it’s raining nice and heavy too.

For the next couple of days, the forecast is cloudy or mostly cloudy, and scattered showers or chance of showers or chance of light showers. (What the difference between these things are, I have no idea.)

If April showers bring May flowers, March showers probably bring April mud.

Oh Look, a Shiny Thing!

The weird and the wacky of the web

Monthly Archives: March 2009