Airline food?
Sat Feb 14, 2009 19:17 (UTC -5)Today, Jordon weighs in on…
- Hot dogs: Hot dogs are like the universe. They’re filled with all sorts of stuff, but it’s more or less evenly distributed throughout. Also, they may contain intelligent life.
- The Middle East: Can anyone recommend a good book on the history of the Israeli conflict? I feel like it’s a soap opera that I wouldn’t understand unless I had started watching it years ago.
- Natasha: I want to meet my Canadian friend more than I want to go to Europe this summer. For obvious reasons, she’d prefer to visit me in my natural subtropical habitat. I hope she can this year. We could do some fun stuff.
- Vaccines: I was raised with the belief that vaccines cause more harm than good and that they can induce autism. As I broaden my horizons I notice that this is considered nonsense by almost everyone, including the scientific establishment, which has the scientific method to back it up. There must be a reason that children no longer get diseases like the measles, rubella, or polio in large numbers, and smallpox didn’t just decide to stop infecting people. Also, while diagnoses of autism may be increasing, diagnoses are not equal to cases. More people are diagnosed with allergies these days also, but that’s because we no longer shrug off the symptoms by just saying that little Johnny is a sickly child.
- Regime change: Last week, Archie, my RA, quit and moved out. So we were RA-less for a week, during which time I took the liberty to hang up a flyer for my Esperanto club in the common room, there being no one to stop me. Yesterday, I bumped into the new RA. Her name is Jordan, which might get confusing. She didn’t know which rooms she was responsible for, so I had to tell her. Should be interesting.
There’s one born every minute. Here’s the story of a Canadian who lost $150,000 in a Nigerian scam. (Via J-Walk Blog)
Some people with lots of time on their hands calculated the acceleration due to gravity in the Super Mario Bros. games. (Via waxy.org)
Here’s a map of the United States that shows the motto of each state. Some of them are pretty weird. Most are in English or Latin, but there’s one each in Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Hawaiian, and Chinook. (They’re all listed below the map.) (Via J-Walk Blog)
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Filed under Computers, Friends, In the News, Internet, Musings and Observations, Science, Stuff
Filed under Computers, Friends, In the News, Internet, Musings and Observations, Science, Stuff
11 comments
#1 by Keith: Sun Feb 15, 2009 18:02 (UTC -5)
Vaccines cause autism? I never heard of such a thing.
I know West Virginia’s motto is Latin, but I can’t remember what it is atm.
#2 by Jordon Kalilich: Sun Feb 15, 2009 19:19 (UTC -5)
Yeah, some people believe that vaccines or a certain vaccine causes autism in children. They tend to be the people who don’t get their kids vaccinated. I guess people with kids would be more likely to know about this.
According to that page, West Virginia’s motto is Montani semper liberi – Mountaineers Are Always Free.
#3 by kristen: Mon Feb 16, 2009 15:36 (UTC -5)
florida has, quite possibly, the lamest state motto ever. how unoriginal.
#4 by Jordon Kalilich: Mon Feb 16, 2009 17:47 (UTC -5)
I know, how unconstitutional.
#5 by kevin: Mon Feb 16, 2009 19:18 (UTC -5)
Florida’s motto IS lame. Lame, lame, lame.
I’d also like to add in that Maine’s motto is in Spanish. Dirigo is Spanish for “I direct/lead”. However, it could as well be Latin too, but I’d like to add in that it is the same thing in Spanish.
#6 by Jordon Kalilich: Mon Feb 16, 2009 20:45 (UTC -5)
Hey, I did not know that. Fun fact.
#7 by Sarah: Tue Feb 17, 2009 13:54 (UTC -5)
I feel the same way about the Israeli conflict. When factored in with my general distaste for drama and television and news, it feels sort of… hopeless. I’ll listen in to hear of any books recommended on the subject.
#8 by natasha: Thu Feb 26, 2009 14:45 (UTC -5)
I really hope we can work something out this summer. [ :
#9 by Jordon Kalilich: Thu Feb 26, 2009 17:27 (UTC -5)
Me too, of course.
#10 by Yves: Mon Mar 16, 2009 20:37 (UTC -5)
A great book about the middle-east conflict is “The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East” by Robert Fisk, a British journalist, writing for The Independent, which has been leaving in the area for years now and is very very knowledgeable about the whole conflict. A superb book !
#11 by Jordon Kalilich: Mon Mar 16, 2009 22:18 (UTC -5)
Thanks for the recommendation, Yves. My university’s library doesn’t have it, but my local libraries do. I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m home.