Ask Dr. Science

I wonder why scientists are treated with such disdain?

Horrible Histories - Natural Selection

I got my first "Horrible Histories" book when I was in London for a conference.  I loved the authors' instincts about how to make corny - but not too corny - jokes about history and provide a lot of facts of daily life that aren't captured in traditional history materials.  They use alliterative titles like "Rotten Romans" or "The Terrible Tudors" (the latter is the book I bought).

Well, they have a TV show that is based on snippets taken from the various books.  The TV show bounces through the time periods more than I'd like, but they caught the irreverence and wit of the books.

Here's Charles Darwin.  Singing.

Five Minute University

Oh, I can't believe I left this out!

Father Guido Sarducci was a hit on Saturday Night Live.  I don't know what other classic bits he's put together, but I must say this is my favourite by far!

The cyber-conductor

My kids are playing at the Jubilee Auditorium tonight for the Kiwanis festival.  It'll be a long night:  they start at 4 pm and go to 9:30.  Penny's out of town tonight, so it's just us three... I'll take the kids out for a treat afterwards.  I know Tim's a bit under the weather - had a sleepover on the weekend (therefore no sleep) and then went skiing with his class yesterday.  A total phlegmball today.

So I was happy to see this cute piece to show them when we get home!  Thanks to Rob Willard, a friend from Stampede band a few decades back, who put this on his Facebook page!

Old but always relevant: The Medieval Help Desk

Introducing ... "The Book".

I'm getting an iPad and was thinking about whether my mother, an avid reader, would do well with something like that.  Or a Kobo or Kindle.  Then I remember what it's like when the scrabble game on her computer isn't loading fast enough.  I get a call:  "I don't want to be a bother, but..." and, after I explain that I can get over there after picking up my kids from band practice and get some water boiling for supper, and also get the grades in for class, she'll prod "Well, yes, those are all important things, but if you were just to pop over for a minute, you can do all those things afterwards".

And then when I realize she's off to Arizona tomorrow, I imagine myself trying to talk her through technical assistance on one of those toys.  Then I want to cut my wrists.  I'll let her stick with the bound book.  We'll both be happier.

"The Sliver of Perception"

This cartoon from the Abstruse Goose very cleverly points out why science is so important.

(Via Pharyngula)

Touchscreen frog

You'll want to clean your screen protector if you play this game with your pet frog!

Evolution videos

The only real thing that there is about evolution here is the word "evolution".  These videos have good humourous takes on evolution, though, and amuse me - so I thought I'd pay it forward to you.  Be aware that there are some strong language and religion issues!

I'll start with Lewis Black and his rather calm and collected way of describing how he views fossils and young Earth creationism.

Next let's look at a beer commercial.  Guinness put this together.  It's not the best quality, but I was reminded of this by my kids, who saw it a few years ago and still visit the site for old time's sake.

I just stumbled on this one with Louis CK.  It's got less science than the other two, but is pretty funny in my opinion.

More homeopathy fun

From my brother I got this:

Culture and science

I occasionally get sent some first-rate links to excellent science humour.  Thanks to Elise, I got a great laugh from this stand-up comedian Dara Ó Briain (yeah, I double-checked the spelling!).

Here he goes with some good sense about homeopathy!

Warning:  strong language.