Random Thoughts

Halloween Squid: The Game

I started looking for a seasonally appropriate squid cartoon, and found this cute little flash game called Halloween Squid. "Mr. Squidly" follows your cursor around an underseacape littered with pumpkins, candy, and dead costumed children (really ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Oct 25 2009 - 11:52pm

Richard Heene and the Balloon Boy Hoax

Well, it seems that the issue surrounding the runaway balloon has finally been resolved with the entire event being a hoax. Certainly there are many people that are angry and there's much talk about criminal charges being brought.  No doubt, virtually ...

Blog Post - Gerhard Adam - Oct 26 2009 - 11:49pm

The Say of the Week- on Black Cats

"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere". Groucho Marx ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Oct 27 2009 - 8:06am

Gender, Society and the Brain. How aggression and culture make us the gender we are.

Gender is socially mediated, and constructed, as well as neurologically predisposed.  Innate qualities have to be qualities that do not depend on social interaction.  Consider the so called feral children known to history.  They are what people are like wi ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Nov 2 2009 - 5:48pm

Online Shopping Is Great, If You Like Fewer Choices

Most people would probably say they love shopping online. With the prices of online stores being so much cheaper than traditional retailers, what's not to love? According to recently released research, the increasing lack of product choices found onli ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2009 - 5:36pm

Should Government Do More To Protect Your Virtual Privacy?

The details of your personal life, such as grocery purchases, pizza topping preferences and Amazon wish lists, are collected every day ― by both websites and traditional retailers. Though this data seems fairly innocuous, when it's put together it can ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 3 2009 - 8:03pm

Want To Promote Literacy? Let Kids Read Comics

Comics have typically been shunned by educators and parents who want to promote literacy among children. After all, kids should be reading "real" books, which are more complex and require more effort to understand than colorful, picture-filled co ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 5 2009 - 12:32pm

The Concept Of Fairness

I recently read, in one of the posts, the following statement. "Evolution is not fair, economics is not fair." http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_articles/chemical_engineer_solves_capitalism_problem I'm sure we've all heard the plat ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Nov 5 2009 - 1:27pm

A law about to destroy legality (or what is left of it) in Italy

The Berlusconi government is about to force a devastating law through the Italian bicameral system. And I am appalled by the absurdity of the situation and by the straight face these clowns who govern my country have put up. ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Nov 14 2009 - 8:42am

Attacking for the sake of it

I wish to report here the moves of a game of chess I played on the Internet Chess Club a moment ago, against a similarly rated opponent. This was a 5' game-all your moves have to be done in five minutes, or you lose on time. Under such circumstances, ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Nov 14 2009 - 5:35pm