Vintage NASA hype gallery
[slideshow] Thanks to the Paleo-future blog and nasaimages.org (NASA + Internet Archive project)
Science hype
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration is notoriously good at finding means for justifying its science budget, sometimes deploying what amounts to science fiction (see vintage hype image gallery in a separate post). Mostly, though, it’s simple...Ten Jargon Poems
One day in the late 1980s, my friend S’mores and I were thrashing a rad quarter-pipe (skateboarding) at his house in the suburbs of Houston. S’mores’ Dad, responsible for a fleet of company cars, was reading about cleaning up spilled oil. He had put a research report...
Helping out one of the least of these, my brothers
I am a world-changer, at heart. I have led a privileged life, not without its challenges; but it still provides a stable place from which I feel an obligation to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Sometimes, you never know what impact you’re...Awesome words
First of all, I need to talk about “awesome.” It’s a lofty word, brought low. Awe describes an overwhelming sense of wonder, mixed with dread and fear. It’s a word more suited to describing enchantment or mystical, non-ordinary states of consciousness, not graphic...Otter things have happened, it’s a big universe
Nads is on a roll and I thought I’d share a set of my own loose associations triggered after my facebook status update netted a comment by an astronomer. My original caption: “See, otters. OR It otter be illegal to kayak near otters. Oh wait, it is; 50...
It doesn’t allow for psychoanalysis
My science career was in social psychology. It’s a field full of individuals, but a common motivation I found I shared with many of my colleagues is a serious understanding and critique of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. These topics are the core of...
Once bitten, twice shy
Many of our sources are going to be once bitten, twice shy concerning the media.