Quick! Take a breath and try to hold it. If you reach 11 minutes and 35 seconds, congratulations! You are now tied for the world record. For most of us the ability to hold our breath lasts 30 seconds, maybe even 1 or 2 minutes. Much longer than that and the sensation that your lungs are bursting becomes too painful to endure. Breathing of course is a reflex action; we do it more than 19,000 times a day automatically and without thinking. And while we can intentionally control the pace, rhythm and depth of our breath, the overall voluntary ability…
The Science Creative Quarterly
The Science Creative Quarterly (SCQ) is not a quarterly, but instead publishes new material at a non-linear rate. Currently, it is sleeping and in a sort of stasis (turpor?) It used to seek science writing of any genre, and your contribution would have involved checking out our submissions guidelines.
The Science Creative Quarterly (SCQ) has a single print edition so far (half SCQ pieces, and half fake science journal – see here for more details). Also, badges?
Stay safe everyone!
ONE MUST PUBLISH
“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must publish.” – Wittgengenerator 2.0 As we all know, boys and girls, the mechanical industrialization of philosophy was an unqualified boon to academic productivity. It is hard to believe, indeed, that Once Upon a Time there were merely a few hundred journals published by a few thousand academicians toiling slowly in their dusty cubicles. We can all remember, can’t we, how it all began? The lonely professor noticed with dismay (one day) that not one word he had written in his twenty-year career in academia had been read by a single human being. And…
BAD SCIENCE: THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND EXAGGERATED AND FALSE RESEARCH
Click on image for full size. – – – Note that the original graphic lives at http://www.clinicalpsychology.net/bad-science/
IT’S A DEBATABLE CHRISTMAS
Characters (in order of appearance) Sean Connery Her Man Pain Michele Bachward Katy Perry’s Dad Moot Romney Newt Vader Santa HOST Hello, Hello Everyone, and welcome to the Special Christmas Edition of The Sean Connery Show. I’m your host. You know, of course, me as the star of Zardoz and Dragonheart, but my friends just call me Sir Sean Connery. Thank you, thank you – please hold your applause. On today’s Special Christmas Edition of The Sean Connery Show we have a real treat for you Yanks…it’s the First Ever U.S. Public Debate Among Candidates for the Next Director of…
SANTA BREAKS SILENCE TO DISPUTE RIDICULOUS CLAIMS BY SCIENTISTS THAT HE DOESN’T EXIST
For Immediate Release North Pole – December 12, 2011 – Against advice from Mrs. Claus and 62% of the elves, Santa Claus today excoriated what he called the irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric of overeducated physicists with nothing better to do than employ fancy mathematical equations in an effort to deny children a sense of wonder. I am beside myself, Santa said. Literally, I’m standing next to myself. How can the supposed brilliant and creative minds at Fermilab not only question my existence but proclaim it impossible? Here’s their proof: Theorem: Santa does not exist. Assume: a) Using simple math and…
BAD ASS POKEMON (I MEAN PHYLOMON) CARDS. LOOKING TO HIRE SOME ARTISTS
Just saying that biodiversity isn’t all about beauty and things being cute and cuddly. These cards at the Phylogame website rock! And in case, you’re new to the Phylomon idea, it’s basically a crowdsourced art, science and gaming project that revolves around the reality of children knowing WAY more about Pokemon than they do about the flora and fauna around them. This, of course, is problematic since one might suggest that it’s not a bad thing for children to also know a little more about the real environment around them (a more detailed description of the project can be found…
MERMAID EXPLAINS YOUR TONGUE TO YOU
The mermaid’s eyes bulge from the sides of her head, one aimed at you, one at the lead-colored sea. You cross your eyes; “No fair,” she says, and wheezes a little laugh; her breasts lift, ribs out, ribs gone again, skin shining and white like a porcelain platter wet in the sink. You want to reach out and see if it squeaks to the touch. “Okay, let’s see,” she says, and absently pinches at her bluish teat, thinking. “It’s hard to explain,” she says, “Ironic. …Isn’t it?” Her voice is hollow, like she’s swallowed a boy your age, and he’s…
THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AS TAUGHT BY A PLUMBER
The shortage of qualified surgeons in this country has led to drastic measures being taken. Here is a transcript of a lecture given recently to new surgical interns by Master Plumber Fred Johnson of Johnson’s Plumbing and Heating. “Let’s go over the design plans briefly before we begin our operation, fellas.” “We’ll proceed from the top, here at this access panel, and then move our way down to the waste stack, here.” “Behind the access panel opening you’ll usually find several enamel fixtures in a curved array, with multiple small valves supplying fluid to the fixtures and the upper end…
LIFE IN FORMALDEHYDE AND ALAS! POOR YORICK
Science is beautiful. Art is beautiful. There is a schism in our cultural consciousness: the humanities and sciences have been separated, and you have to choose a side and then be intimidated by the other. I want to present science in a way that its visual beauty is apparent, I want to present art to science so the connection can be understood. Neither is above the other- art and science exist on the same plane, they are closer and more intertwined than many realize. They cannot exist independently of each other, no matter how hard they try to make it…