In 1890, the German chemist Friedrich Kekulé woke up from a dream. After spending a few decades trying to figure out the chemical structure of benzene, the dream had revealed the secret. What he saw was a kinky green snake with the masochistic idea to eat its own tail. Whether the self-destruction of such a […]
Monthly Archives: December 2012
The short history of psychology has given the world such noble names as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Ivan Pavlov. Their pioneering work helped us realize that we want to sleep with our mothers and we will salivate at the sound of a dinner bell even if no dinner is […]
The following is a selected entry from the pioneer John Wesley Powell’s diary. At the time of this entry, Powell was exploring the Colorado River north of the Grand Canyon. In all my life, I have not turned down an adventure. The two days after our Day of Independence, Goodman—a Brit anyway so what […]
Alright, it’s time for another Science Sunday. I mean Saturday. Did I say Sunday? Oops. Well the topic this week is the Golden Ratio. Sounds boring and mathematical. It is. But the Golden Ratio has implications at the smallest levels of the universe and (you guessed it!) the largest levels—assuming the universe is the scary, […]
Nietzsche can be a downer sometimes: “That everyone may learn to read will in the long run corrupt not only writing but also thinking. Once the spirit was God, then it became human, and now it is even becoming the mob.” –It’s a Beautiful Day, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
It's a Beautiful Day I Need a Drink 