ideonexus

interweaving ideas

  • SF Flash Fiction: Virtuals

    “Hello Mr. Chasbak,” Vyonray tapped up the volume on her bluetooth. “How are you today?” “I’m well thanks,” the soft-spoken gentleman was as unenthusiastic as ever today. “I was just following up with you to see if you had the opportunity to review those listings I forwarded last night?” Vyonray managed to sound chirpy despite…

  • A Message for Barack Obama from Ideonexus

    I’m enjoying the Message to Obama Flickr Pool (HT TGAW). I added this photo: Support Science More about the pool.

  • 11:11 Powers of Eleven Day (Veterans Day and Kurt Vonnegut’s Birthday)

         We living creatures are the mud that gets to sit up and look around at all the other mud. And then we lay back down again. Lucky us; lucky mud.      – Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Credit: Vidiot Eleven is an unbalanced number, a prime number we cannot count to on our hands; yet, there…

  • American Natural History Museum: New York City Birds

    The atomic physicist Ernest Rutherford famously said that, “All science is either physics or stamp collecting.” A glimpse at this cold, sterile hallway, which connects more dynamic museum displays, really lends strong argument for Rutherford view. Sandpipers, Woodcock, Snipe Check out the complete flickr set here

  • Flash SF: Social-Engineering Simulacrum

    “Where did you meet Ms. Antaran?” “In a chatroom.” “May I ask what kind of chatroom?” “It was…” Mr. Langbacher twiddled his thumbs uncomfortably and sniffed loudly. “It was a dating… It was a chatroom for meeting single women overseas.” The detective scribbled the words ‘Mail Order Bride‘ on his notepad and nodded thoughtfully, “And…

  • Are Homo Sapiens More Like Bonobos or Common Chimpanzees?

    The title of this article might mislead some readers. While Bonobos and chimpanzees share a 94% genetic similarity to us, we need to remember that they are merely the closest relatives on the evolutionary tree that survives today. If both these species were to go extinct, which appears increasingly likely, the title of this article…

  • American Natural History Museum: Akeley Hall of African Mammals

    I’ve been struggling for some profound insights concerning this display. I discovered at this display that I prefer dioramas that depict the animal’s natural habitat to just displaying the animal in a glass box. I’ve previously covered the fact that the African continent is big enough to put USA, India, Argentina, Western Europe, and China…

  • Flash SF: The Illusian

    Jwandry was just about to take a break from digging her husband’s grave when she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. Two hours of chiseling away at the rock-solid soil had produced only a shallow indent. At this rate, it would take days to complete it. There were no schools here…

  • Halloween Urban Legends Abound

    Tomorrow is Halloween, and that means it’s time to trot out BS stories about razorblades in snickers bars and more BS stories about poisoned candy perpetrated by silly people who must want to believe this stuff because it fits in with their preconceived notions that the world is a dark and disturbing place. So I…

  • Antibacterial Soaps are Bad for You

    Antibiotic Resistance This message brought to you by the American Medical Association, Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control: There is no scientific evidence that antibacterial soaps and other products have any health benefits, and there is reason to suspect they could contribute to a problem much more dangerous than a bellyache from…

  • American Natural History Museum: Reptiles and Amphibians

    I was going to post a little blurb about how one result of the fact that reptiles and amphibians have been around much longer than mammals on planet Earth is how advanced many of their adaptations are. While armadillos have armor, no mammal has anything to compare to the turtle shell, a home the animal…

  • Flash SF: The Meme Virus

    “Status…” “Status…” “Status! Now!” Chiandrii practically jumped out of her spacesuit, “I-I’m sorry. I’m here. I’m here. I just wasn’t expecting a status update for another ten minutes.” “I’ve lost three Information Scientists on this expedition all ready,” Director Kawlah’s displeasure was clear. “So when I request status, I don’t care how early it is,…