Random Thoughts

Travel Blog

While I do intend to update this blog today or tomorrow with a report on a nice new measurement, my blogging activities have generally slowed down a bit this week, as I am traveling. On Monday I flew from Venice to Paris and then to Miami (in a brand new A ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Dec 11 2014 - 9:55am

Armchair Socialists More Physically Active Than Armchair Centrists- BMJ Christmas Science

It is often said that the middle of the road is the worst place to drive, yet centrists pride themselves on always arguing the opposite of whatever the conversation is. They believe we should split the difference on all issues, though the actual functioni ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 12 2014 - 11:09am

Ah, Cuba

Ah, Cuba. My father’s college roommate’s mother – are you following so far? – was a travel agent, and had gone on one of these agent junkets to Havana. She danced with the dictator Batista at a formal ball, and returned to the US with stars in her eyes. W ...

Blog Post - Fred Phillips - Dec 18 2014 - 7:42pm

Preface to Enlightenment Finding Eternity in the Now

For several years I felt the desire to give readers a positive message around this time of year, as it is the most depressive for many. Alas, as you can tell from my writing ever less, I have little to say. Mostly because I understand now that my writing i ...

Blog Post - Sascha Vongehr - Dec 21 2014 - 9:57pm

Not So Smart Money

Not So Smart Money In modern English the term 'smart money'  is most commonly used in reference to money invested in the course of business or gambling by people presumed to be knowledgeable about the investment.  Less formally, the term is used ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Dec 22 2014 - 11:03pm

In Our Star Trek Future, Cardiac Arrest Will Still Be A Problem- But For Different Reasons

In the mid-1960s the Elizabethan morality play space western known as "Star Trek" debuted and series creator Gene Roddenberry was cagey about when exactly it took place (thus the reason to use 'star dates'), but it had to have been in t ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 29 2014 - 5:42pm

Machine translation poetry

Nonsensical but oddly beautiful Bing and Google translations from Facebook posts in a variety of languages: 袁嘟嘟第一次以老公的身分參加部門聚會，泡完湯好舒服 ...

Blog Post - Fred Phillips - Jan 3 2015 - 12:22pm

Je Suis Charlie

Cartoon Credit: Dave Brown (Source) Twitter: https://twitter.com/steveschuler20 ...

Blog Post - Steve Schuler - Jan 8 2015 - 11:48am

#JeSuisAhmed, I am a muslim police officer killed defending freedom. UPDATED

Nothing justifies the killing of people for expressing ideas no matter how repugnant one finds them. However, these things don't happen in a vacuum. These things are not simply the fault of the minority other person and their refusal to see how superi ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jan 15 2015 - 2:20am

Haggis, Neeps And Badness: Enjoy That Dinner But What About The Real Robert Burns?

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Article - The Conversation - Jan 23 2015 - 5:08pm