Winter’s Haven

I read the following quote in a Wired article:

sales associate Babs Brockaway says she’s seen the number of customers leaving with shiny new fixed-gear (”fixie”) and single-speed bikes skyrocket. …The simplicity appeals to neophyte riders overwhelmed by too much technology. “It’s simple: You just pedal,” she says. “This is shocking, but there are people who [...]

Some people think that scientists doing theoretical work can use mathematics to prove things about the real world a priori of any empirical investigation. This is wrong. Allow me to explain.
It is true that the results of pure mathematics do follow from whatever axioms one starts with a priori of any empirical observations. Indeed, empirical [...]

The Economist brings us an article about some very cool biologically inspired architecture.

PZ points out a video showing a squid giving birth to hundreds of tiny offspring. Truly wonderous.

In case you missed it, there was a terrorist incident at Los Angeles International airport last week. Care to guess what notorious group was responsible?

As should be [...]

Here’s an abstract view of how the Ontological game is played.
A philosopher constructs some property, p, and asks you to consider the following statement:
(1a) You can imagine that a thing with property p exists.
Or alternately, if the philosopher wants to use modal logic,
(1b) It is possible that a thing with property p exists.
Now, unless [...]

I need to buy a crowbar, stock up on canned food and water, put in some practice time at the shooting range, and go running more often and for longer distances. Doing so will up my chances to 79%, supposedly.
My brother Stillman scored quite a bit better than I did. Terre Haute, Indiana [...]