Author Archives: Dan Gezelter

The Pitch Drop Experiment

Another deep time experiment has been going on since 1927. Thomas Parnell set up an experiment to measure the viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar once used for waterproofing boats. The Pitch Drop Experiment is a glass funnel full … Continue reading

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MossCam

In response to the Sociopathic Cephalopod movie in a previous entry, Katherine Preston sent us a link to The MossCam Project at the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve. That’s right, a moss cam. I admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by … Continue reading

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Maybe the Feds should be watching NOVA

Our buddy CES links to this prescient 12-minute segment from NOVA’s scienceNOW which aired on January 25th, 2005. It contains this amazing quote from Walter Maestri, the emergency manager for the city of New Orleans: What really scares me to … Continue reading

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When Cephalopods Rule the Earth

At the Seattle aquarium, two Giant Pacific Octopi were put into a holding tank with several sharks for a while. The aquarium employees figured the octopi would be safe from the sharks because of their ability to hide in the … Continue reading

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Best Katrina Quote

By way of Pharyngula, we have this quote from The Sideshow: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice. (A combination of two famous sci-fi quotes: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” from Arthur C. Clarke and Hanlon’s … Continue reading

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Other Presidential Appointees besides Michael Brown

In all of the discussion on the net over whether being fired from a job overseeing judges at horse shows would qualify you to be the head of FEMA, and whether the head of the department of homeland security could … Continue reading

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A Conversation on Charles Murray and “The Inequality Taboo”

Charles Murray, one of the authors of The Bell Curve, has broken his decade-long silence on the subject of group differences in IQ. Shockingly, he’s come out of his shell to defend Larry Summers. This has seen a number of … Continue reading

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Krakatoa

Four days ago, this sign appeared all over campus: REMEMBER KRAKATOA August 26, 1883 Today, this sign appeared beneath the original on a few lamp posts suspiciously close to the physics department: FORGET VESUVIUS

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The Big Storm hits The Big Easy

(image via NESDIS Satellite Services Division (NOAA))

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Arc-team

This site was just submitted to the Software section. It looks like an interesting discussion site for the use of open source software in Archaeology. It has forums and software pages (largely in German and Italian). I’m amazed how widely … Continue reading

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