• Archer Vocabulary: jingoist

    I won’t go off on a Ferris Bueller-esque rant about -isms in society today. I also won’t rant about people unnecessarily adding -esque to proper nouns. Having removed myself almost entirely from the realm of mainstream political news, I tend to encounter words like this less often than before. Context Season 3 – Episode 6 “The Limited”The…

  • Paper or plastic?

    I carry cash. I always have. As a member of the last generation to grow up before the widespread existence of cell phones, I learned to always have at least a little cash on hand, if not only in case of an emergency. Overall, people carry very little cash. A May 2014 survey by Bankrate showed…

  • Shoe Size – Age Math Trick

    You’ve likely seen this type of math riddle before. Take some number, do some arithmetic, and you get some other number. This variation begins with your shoe size and ends with your age. Can your shoe size really determine your age? Of course not. The explanation is below the fold. Editor’s note/spoiler alert: This riddle is…

  • Notes missing after Yosemite upgrade

    If you recently upgraded to OS X Yosemite from Mavericks or another previous version, you may have found that your notes not synced to iCloud did not appear when you opened the app on your computer. Since I sync none of my notes to iCloud, I was worried that my notes were gone forever. Luckily,…

  • Language Nerd

    I love XKCD. The What If? blog is also pretty amazing.

  • Archer Vocabulary: putative

    Archer Vocabulary: putative

    For too long, I have heard about television’s deleterious effects on child development. I don’t know about all of that, but some shows are definitely beneficial to vocabulary development. Animated comedies occasionally push the intellectual envelope but, more often than not, they tend to cater to the lowest common denominator. Archer is a shining example…

  • How to Spot a Parody News Item

    EDIT: The list of example sites are only accurate as of the original publish date of this post. That list is ever-growing with players only rarely dropping from the scene. ALWAYS verify anything that appeals to your emotions or deeply-held beliefs by checking to see if other reputable sources have also reported on the topic.…

  • Vegetarians eat what they deserve

    I have no problem with vegetarians. I really don’t. I equally have no problems with vegans, pescatarians, ovo-lacto-whatevers, or any other dietary choices. People choose vegetarian diets for many reasons including concern for animal welfare, living a healthier lifestyle, or concerns over food safety. Polls show that the 7-13% of Americans who identify themselves as…

  • Wordle for Game of Thrones Season 4

    I love Wordles. If you’re not familiar with a Wordle, it is a composite image of words of varying size based on the frequency of their use. The user (that’s you) pastes a block of text or provides the URL to a webpage. Wordle then generates an image for you which you may customize with…

  • Separating pseudoscience from science

    It’s so easy for people to “research” a new health technique or practice or dietary approach and find plenty of websites supporting it, but are these practices backed by science or do they just look and sound scientific? Spoiler Alert: It’s almost always the latter. A few symptoms of pseudoscientific hype from RationalWiki: A simple…

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