English, she is a funny language as she is spoke. But strangest by far is the odd bunch of words we use to connote groups of animals. A <I>chain</I> of bobolinks? A <I>nuisance</I> of cats? A <I>raft</I> of otter? A <I>mob</I> of kangaroo—wait, shouldn't that be a <I>court</I> of kangaroo?
<I>Computerworld</I> posts a fascinating interview with J. Presper Eckert, who co-invented the first practical all-electronic computer—a <I>tube</I> computer.
Mostly because the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum had Julia Child do a hilarious Julia Child parody for its "Life on Other Worlds" exhibit, in which she "made" primordial soup. Still, sorry to see this theory go.
Maybe just better run. Mark Thoma at <I>Economist's View</I> has some thoughts. So do his readers.
Over at <I>Popular Science</I>, there's a post about a gargantuan "cruise blimp" that just seems too cool to ever get built. Check out the illustration of the observation deck—it's like an irony-free <A HREF="http://www.jamesgoodmangallery.com/mccall/pages/exhibframez.html">Bruce McCall</A> illo, which is kind of disorienting.
<i>JA captured the image: I watch as Michael Bishop works with a dirty pot. Robert Baird sits in the hotspot. Lukas Lipinski monitors the session.</i>
Hours of mindless fun!
The BTP posits that it's possible to take a solid sphere, cut it into pieces, rearrange the pieces using nothing more than rotation and translation, and then re-assemble them into two identical copies of the original sphere. "In other words," <I>www.kiro5hin.org</I> explains, "you've doubled the volume of the original sphere."
Teaching Buddhist precepts with a cartoon kitty. Probably won't cause riots.
Turns out, it might reinforce a bad call rather than correct one. What works better? Maybe the pause button.