Back from New York

I just returned from a weekend trip to New York City.  We did lots of walking up and down Manhattan.  Saturday along included 38,000 steps on my FitBit.  The sights and sounds of the city were amazing, but one of the best parts was a Broadway show.  We saw The Book of Mormon, written by the guys from South Park.  I didn't know what to really expect, but if you go to any show, this one is worth it.

Here is their performance from the 2011 Tony Awards:

TED Talk Tuesday: Charlie Todd

Charlie Todd does improv in New York City.  In one of my favorites, he talks about the shared experience of the absurd.  People doing weird things in public just for the amusement of others.  Which is very different from doing weird things just for your own amusement.  The most important thing is that it is all in good fun.

Enjoy!

I Hate These Word Crimes

"Weird Al" Yankovic returns with an awesome parody of Blurred Lines.  The American language has devolved into text-speak and emojis.  Weird Al takes on every complaint about language in this video that will probably show up in every English class across the country.  I mean ... these grammer mistakes literally makes my head explode and I definitely LOLed at it's message.

Enjoy!

Lucky Fish

In high school, my favorite wrestling shirt featured this quote.  Learn it.  Live it.

This is Rule #3... more to follow.

John Oliver Takes Down Dr. Oz

Corespondent John Oliver left the Daily Show for his own show on HBO called Last Week Tonight.  On the episode from June 22nd, Oliver went after Dr. Oz who had appeared before Congress the previous week.  Dr. Oz has made a ton of money teaching people to be healthy.  He wrote You - The Owners Manuel and has a daily television show.  On that show he often promotes products to help you lose weight.  More recently, Oz hawked Green Coffee Extract to shed pounds describing the product a a magic cure.  Under oath, Oz admitted that there is no such thing as a magic cure, despite his use of the phrase over and over again.

The real problem is nutritional supplements that suggest they offer cures for numerous maladies.  Dr. Oz got caught filling time with hype and taking money from a $32-billion business.  FDA has very little control over nutritional supplements despite their label as "food".  Some products are no better than placebos and some cause health problems rather than cure them.  When the FDA sought to establish control over the market, the supplement lobby responded to squashed such laws by scaring the public and buying congressmen.

John Oliver details the long story of fake cures and FDA oversight in this excellent commentary.  It goes a little off the rails at the end, but he is a comedian.  Enjoy.

VP Joe Biden goes full VEEP

I changed by Time Warner deal and somehow landed HBO for a year.  I know how.  They want me to have it cheap for one year so that I won't be able to get rid of it next year when the deal ends and my bill skyrockets.  Anyways, I had wanted to watch VEEP with Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing a gaffe-prone vice president.  Other than the excessive use of expletives, the show is hilarious and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.  For the White House Correspondents dinner Julia Louis-Dreyfus got the real Vice President, Joe Biden to go on a full VEEPish trip through the White House.

History's Most Influential Person?

On Wikipedia, there is a rule that you can start at any innocent article and be fewer than 7 clicks away from Adolf Hitler.  The mass-murdering bastard played such an important role in the 20th century that eventually any object, place or person with a Wikipedia page is inevitably linked to him.  But is he the most influential person in history.  Clearly, the founders of modern religions have great influence on today's Wikipedia - Jesus, Abraham, Mohammad.  America's Founding Fathers must be important - Washington, Jefferson, Franklin.  But who tops the list?

Carolus Linnaeus: Most Influential Person

New Scientist featured an article about research by Young-Ho Eom, from France that attempted to answer just that.  He looked at Wikipedia links from 24 languages to determine the answer.  And at the top of the list sits:  Carolus Linnaeus!  The Swedish botanist that devised sciences modern system of species classification.  Any Wikipedia article about a living object must include its scientific name, and thus a link to Linnaeus.  That and of any person, Linnaeus has the most species named in his honor.  To round out the list of most influential people:

1. Carolus Linnaeus
2. Jesus
3. Aristotle
4. Napoleon
5. Hitler
6. Julius Caesar
7. Plato
8. Shakespeare
9. Einstein
10. Elizabeth II

Things were a little different in the English with Napoleon, Obama, and Linneaus taking the top three spots.  Interstingly, he also did a 2DRanking of Wikipedia that measures both incoming and outgoing links.  In this case, the extra layer produced this global result:

1. Hitler
2. Michael Jackson
3. Madonna
4. Jesus
5. Beethoven
6. Mozart
7. Pope Benedict XVI
8. Alexander the Great
9. Charles Darwin
10. Barack Obama

Again, the English version differed with Sinatra, Jackson, Pope Pius XII leading the way.  Does this prove anything?  Probably not.  But it always makes for a great debate!

Cake or Death - Disney Style

Eddie Izzard is funny.  Now he is animated with clips from Disney movies during one of his funniest bites.

The Daily Show on Vaccinations

After typing out the post about vaccines, I sat down to watch the Daily Show.  To my surprise, they tackled the exact same topic.  Their take was much more crass, but much funnier as well.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

TED Talk Tuesday: Randall Munroe

As the cartoonist of xkcd comics, Randall Munroe combines science and comedy in a simple but creative way.  His famously funny stick figure drawings show up all over the internet, and he showed up at TED to talk about "What if"?  As a side part of xkcd, Munroe also produces a series of comics that answer that very question.  In this talk, he explains some of his thoughts and a very funny but powerful example.

How to Find Waldo

Ben Blatt of Slate solved the age-old problem (if your age is 30): Where's Waldo?  I enjoyed scouring the pages for the red-white striped eponymous character.  The hectic scenes included many fakes and frauds, but also Waldo's friends.  A simple experiment revealed the approximate location of Waldo for 50% of the scenes.  By mapping the location from each page, Blatt showed that most scenes place Waldo 3 or 7 inches from the bottom.  Check out his work!

By the way, in Europe the character is named Wally!  Happy Hunting!!!

TED Talk Tuesday: Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland, an incredibly funny advertising man, talks to TED about Value.  In a world running out of resources, we should focus on making things seem better.  Sounds strange, but Sutherland takes you through a series of examples including train rides, placeboes, potatoes and breakfast cereal.  Many problems, can be solved better with lateral thinking.

I guarantee that you will enjoy this one!

The Evil that is Lawns

I have to mow the yard this morning.  So I will present this guy, who is kind of crazy, but he makes a good point and brings some good information.  The idea of a lawn seems kind of weird when you think about it.  We put this wide empty space which we really don't use out in front of the house.  I will say that I actually like mowing.  It is peaceful and I can listen to podcasts or music.  Or I can just spend an hour thinking.

Actually, I enjoy mowing.  Since we will be moving to Chapel Hill next week, I won't have a yard to mow anymore.

What do scientists Really Know

Quick video asking random scientists random questions.  It is funny watching them to struggle with the answers.  We typically think about scientists as know-it-alls, but while they will be intelligent they tend to specialize in narrow categories.  

So here are some questions for them to answer outside their realm of of their expertise!  See how many you can answer and enjoy!

Scientists are Different

I really liked this comic.  Scientists look at the world differently from everyone else.  This comic sums it up beautifully.

Remember: Results must be replicated!!!

Check out xkcd for more hilarious comics

Polar Bears Playing

This video shows just how difficult it is to get the amazing videos of polar bears for BBC or Discovery.    Since you don't want to walk up to a polar bear with a camera, videographers use remote controlled cameras to get close ups.  Amazingly, the polar bears become intrigued by these toys.  They start playing with the expensive equipment like my dogs play with their toys (or my shoes).

Enjoy!

Human Speciation

Species refers to a group of individuals that can reproduce and produce fertile offspring.  As populations of the same species become isolated from each other, their gene pools become different enough that their offspring would no longer be fertile.  I usually teach this by talking about several common examples:

Horse + Donkey = Mule

Lion + Tiger = Liger

Horse + Zebra = Zorse

We know that the organisms on the left are distinct species because the animals on the right are infertile.  Mules cannot make more mules.

Calamities of Nature have given me a new example of speciation in human populations:

State Stereotypes

Some guy shows us the stereotypes for each of the 50 states.  Some states are funnier than others, but overall it is worth your two minutes.

50 State Stereotypes In 2 Minutes - Watch more Funny Videos

An Explanation for Inception

If you watched the movie "Inception" and become confused as to what in the world was going on, this quick video can explain the different levels of dreams.  It offers a creative metaphor for the layers of dreams.  One problem: it still doesn't help explain the ending of Inception.

Enjoy!

INCEPTION_FOLDER from chris baker on Vimeo.

The Evolution of Creationism

In humor you will find truth.  This comic strip from Calamities of Nature speaks volumes about the evolution of creationism.  Cultural evolution works in similar ways to biological evolution, except bad ideas will stick around much longer than bad genes.  

Calamities of Nature