The physics of sexuality

Dr. John Marshall has a site entitled Sexual Physics. His motto is "Love is a matter of chemistry. Sex is a matter of physics."

In a Q & A format, Dr. Marshall seeks to answer questions such as "Sex at the speed of light," "It wasn't me... it was the rest of the Universe," and "Relativistic penile length enhancement." Particularly good is the short essay "Top 10 reasons why sex at the speed of light is not an advisable form of procreation" (which brings to mind the classic "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," a piece about the problems of Superman having sex).

This is kind of the advice column for people who read XKCD and understand why it's so funny.

The physics of sexuality

"Congress-Created Dust Bowl" signs

Hank Graham reports seeing a great many large, well-printed, expensive "Congress-Created Dust Bowl" signs in Southern California, blaming the California drought on the government.

So, just to be clear here: Human-caused global climate change completely exaggerates our abilities (and you'd be a fool and a Communist to think so), but droughts affecting major portions of the country are completely within our control? Riiiiiight.

"Congress-Created Dust Bowl" signs

Are you troubled by infestations of artists?

I happened to see something today that rang funny. The city of Paducah, KY (a perfectly nice place, I understand), is trying to encourage a measure of revitalization of the downtown area. They want more artists to come to the downtown area and make it more scenic, more interesting, and generally more colorful. It's pretty cool, too: artists from all over the country have come to the town. The city is trying to create an atmosphere of an artists colony and, from the look of it, they're doing a good job.

All this is well and good. I like the idea very much, honestly.

The part that comes off a little strange to me is the name: the Artist Relocation Program.

It just sounds like they're trapping artists in the city when they get too close to human populations to safely interact and then they're transporting them 50 miles out into the country to release them into the wild to make a new home.

I know, I know, it's just me....

Are you troubled by infestations of artists?

Fun: An exercise in editing

This is an article from Vanity Fair. It's the text of Sarah Palin's resignation speech, red/blue penciled. It really needed a lot of editing, but if you listened to any of it, you knew that already.

Fun: An exercise in editing

"Made with high-fructose porn syrup"

These are a couple of ads for Sprite from Germany that, for some reason I can't quite put my finger, were banned in about a day. These is probably not entirely safe for work. The first is my fave, but they're both pretty tacky.

(For those who speak no German, the motto at the end of the ad is "Follow your thirst.")

"Made with high-fructose porn syrup"

Ever want to fly in a B-17?

The B-17 "Flying Fortress" is the bomber that was the signature Allied bomber of WWII. The B-24 "Liberator" was produced in larger numbers and had a larger payload and longer range, but the B-17 was somewhat more popular because of durability and significantly lower chance of catching fire in combat (surely a positive feature if you were flying in one, I'd imagine).

You can fly in B-17 for yourself. They're rattly and noisy, but you sure knew you were flying. The Liberty Foundation maintains a B-17 and sells flights on it. For flight nuts and WWII buffs, this sounds like a heckuva deal.

Ever want to fly in a B-17?