New Energy Source Discovered

... what do we find today, now that the internet is so common and so many people are using it to communicate and share ideas?

A new energy source, that's what.

Ahren Paulson has recently published his discovery of a new source of energy which could fuel the world's power stations.

The new energy source has the added advantage of reducing the incidence of trolling on climate - related blogs.


Hat tip to Daniel Bailey for - indirectly - leading me to the above news story.

How many beans make five?

6.25

Caveat: the above answer is only a ballpark statistical assumption.

In many jurisdictions there are statutory requirements relating to the sale of goods.  Of relevance to this discussion are the laws regarding 'fitness for use'.  Regulations covering the sale of seeds commonly require a germination rate of at least 80% under some set of standard conditions.

80% of 6.25 seeds produces how many bean plants?  You do the maths.

Of course, there are many varieties of beans.  Then there are various climatic conditions, soil types, fertilizers etc.  Now factor in the chances of fungal rot, insect and bird predation etc.

Yesterday I had to explain what a light bulb joke is - to somebody from Mongolia – they seem to not have discovered that joke yet or don’t find it funny. The joke in question was already highly on the meta level, that is, the answer was not involving a number at all and only funny if you already heard at least a few of those typical how many to screw in or change a light bulb jokes:

Question: How many Feminists does it need to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: THAT’S NOT FUNNY!

One time on a dreary (particularly dreary- 300 of them a year are rather so) Seattle afternoon I was approached by a hobo(1) so I gave him some money and asked him, since he clearly had no place better to be, "Just curious, but if you are going to be homeless, why Seattle?  Why not pick some place like San Diego where the weather is good?  This has to be miserable for you."

His reply; "I have family here."

!!!

Yesterday I attended the 48th episode of Boskone, a science fiction literature convention held in Boston. I found that Boskone was not just about books however, illuminating me with discussion panels such as "The Five Definitive Criteria By Which SF Cinema Is to Be Judged."



The panel consisted of Esther Friesner, Craig Shaw Gardner (lord of obscure SF movies), Ginjer Buchanan, and Bruce Coville.

From Melville's under-appreciated Mardi: On a quest for his missing love Yillah, an AWOL sailor pretending to be a demi-god travels the (imaginary) Mardi chain of Polynesian islands via canoe fleet, in the company of fellow demi-god King Media and his entourage. After viewing some fossils, the group's resident philosopher, Babbalanja is asked how the islands were created. A scientific explanation being unsatisfactory to the group, Babbalanja presents an alternate hypothesis:

Media said:—"Babbalanja, you love all mysteries; here's a fitting theme. You have given us the history of the rock; can your sapience tell the origin of all the isles? how Mardi came to be?"

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Must say, now that's effective communication !