TV Ad Campaign Deemed Too Suggestive

Ah the invincibility of youth, or at least the perceived invincibility. And the incredulity of decision makers, advertisers and government officials in this case. But that feeling of being invincible, that sense of immortality that can come with youth, was reaffirmed in drinking and driving surveys of “young men [which]… Continue reading

A Moment of Magic

Sometimes it’s just nice to believe in magic. Even if it’s just a temporary illusion. To be held in awe as someone seems to be cut in two, or another disappears altogether only to return with an abracadabra. Nostalgic magic tricks these, but so classic they conjure up a magic… Continue reading

Ocean Stats 19th Century Oceanographer Already Knew

Some things we just take for granted. We know the world is round, well spherical, but there was also a time when the we of yesteryear knew that the earth was flat. Well another thing I just took for granted was that we knew how deep and voluminous our oceans… Continue reading

Bacterium in Dirt Makes Us Smarter and Happier

What do you know? It turns out digging in the dirt is even better for you than I thought. I love coincidences. Maybe it’s just the universe having fun with us, or maybe it’s a tool to help get a point across to us we might otherwise miss, were it… Continue reading

Coffee Cons Confuted

Yesterday I talked, well typed, about the many health advantages of coffee. Today I’d like to focus on the con side. Well, more accurately, the perceived con side. Aside from the fact that coffee, and other caffeinated beverages, are mostly water and therefore inherently hydrating, it’s been a long held… Continue reading

More Evidence Coffee is Good for Us

They say you can prove anything with statistics, and there’s probably a survey or study out there to support just about anything, so it’s no wonder it’s hard to know what to do sometimes. Given our propensity to believe the worst, and indeed the reality that many things we enjoy… Continue reading

Different Treatment for End of Lost and Law & Order

As the 2009-2010 television season winds down, a number of shows have aired their last new episodes. Cancelled. Two notable shows in particular come to my mind. Lost and Law & Order. While I’ve written about Law & Order and its abrupt cancellation, I have not mentioned Lost before. But… Continue reading

Bye Bye Watch Batteries

Citizen Men's Solar WatchWith all the massive ills that accompany our ever-increasing quest for energy, I’d like to concentrate for a moment on something on a much smaller scale. My little dead watch battery. It occurs to me that there are actually ways to get a free energy supply. Solar power is nothing new, but mainstream, widespread use remains elusive. Continue reading

What Else Will Germ-Killing Paper Towels Kill?

What is this thing we have about germs? Easy to forget sometimes we are a bacteria factory ourselves, and supposed to be that way. We could never digest food if we didn’t have this symbiotic relationship with these little organisms. I remember being freaked out as a kid when I… Continue reading

15th Century Version of Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter

We have been preserving our communications probably as long as we have been. From cave drawings to hieroglyphics to alphabets the world over, languages continue to evolve. Although I suspect many would say it’s devolved a bit since the advent of digital shorthand, IYKWIM (if you know what I mean,… Continue reading