Month: December 2008
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2008 Year in Science Review
Science Etcetera 2008 Tag Cloud Via TagCrowd CNN making the boneheaded decision to dump its science unit, the Origin of Blue Eyes fitting another interesting piece of the human origins puzzle into place, and “Dwarf Planets” becoming “Plutoids” earn an honorable mention for science news in 2008, and the Large Hadron Collider will make next…
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Dear Neighborhood Gangster…
Although I have no idea who you are, I get the feeling you’re trying to tell me something. I’m not sure what, but I can’t help but think that shooting my house with a shotgun was some sort of message. I’m sorry if you’ve left me other messages, like peeing on my house to mark…
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American Museum of Natural History: Miscellaneous
There are some very cool subway stops in New York. One stop has tiny bronze cartoon-like characters doing comedic thinks like sawing through support columns, others have beautiful tile work, but the 81st street subway stop in New York is the absolute coolest. It has casts of dinosaur bones and tile-work murals of sea life…
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American Natural History Museum: Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat. – Jacques Yves Cousteau Blue Whale Balaenoptera musculus You can check out the complete flickr set here.
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Flash SF: The Prototype Sanctuary
Is up at 365Tomorrows. An orangutan and a brain in a vat were playing chess across the room from me. It was a joke I hadn’t figured out the punch line to in five years of working here. The disembodied brain was Philo, and, lacking eyes, I had no idea how it understood the game.…
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Happy Winter Solstice!
“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley Does the economy have you down? The stress of the holidays getting to you? Tired of getting off work at 5pm to find its dark outside and you missed the daylight? Then cheer up! As of today (in the Northern Hemisphere)…
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Did Michealangelo Paint a Brain on the Sistine Chapel?
Apparently Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger hypothesizes the “Creation of Man” mural painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel actually depicts god bestowing intellect on man, arguing that Adam’s eyes are open in the painting, god and the angels take on the distinct shape of a brain, and that Michelangelo was well aware of human…
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Happy Birthday Sir Arthur C. Clarke
He would be 91 today: Of all the creatures who had yet walked on Earth, the man-apes were the first to look steadfastly at the Moon. And though he could not remember it, when he was very young Moon-Watcher would sometimes reach out and try to touch that ghostly face rising above the hills. He…
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American Natural History Museum: Asian Mammals
A sad thought from the AMNH’s website: since many of the environments represented have been exploited or degraded, some dioramas preserve places and animals as they no longer exist. The viewer of a habitat group diorama is able to travel not only across continents, but also, in some cases, through time. Sambar and Swamp Deer…
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The Day the Earth Stood Still Redux
So being the nerd that I am, I had to see TDTESS opening night. Understand, though, that I went into the film completely biased against it. The trailer had me pretty upset when I first saw it months ago. It was clear that the original 1951 film’s thoughtfulness was being replaced with flashy swarms of…
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Flash Fiction: Our Benevolent Enemies
I don’t think the attack was really an act of hostility, not when you look at the way it changed the world. I get to see stars every night now, in the sky above my head. For real stars. I don’t have to navigate to a satellite telescope web address or anything. I just go…
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CIS500 Information Systems for Decision Making: Cohesion Case Study for the Broadway Cafe
Download a PDF of this Paper here. Abstract Established in 1952, the Broadway Café starts out with a competitive advantage from an established menu and loyal customer base; however, in a business landscape where new competitors are arriving on the scene rapidly, the café also has much to benefit from upgrading its business practices with…