science

Gelato Massimo: Surprisingly, it’s not a controlled substance.

Do you know what gelato is? Sure, you’ve probably heard of it—it’s essentially the Northern Italian version of ice cream—but you probably haven’t had any of it. Well, not the real stuff anyway. Fortunately, that’s easy to find out: If you’d rather ingest gelato than oxygen, you’ve probably had the real stuff. But if you prefer breathing, even just a little, then you’ve only had the fake stuff. And that’s a damn shame. Because the real stuff is more addictive than crack cocaine.

Done screwing up the Pledge of Allegiance for generations to come, meddling Reverend dies.

The Reverend George Docherty, most famous for misleading hundreds of millions of Americans who don't fully understand the founding principles laid out in the Bill of Rights, has died at his home in rural Pennsylvania. He leaves behind a wife, probably some kids, and a national fallacy that will probably take centuries to correct.

Ogg Theora: sci-fi character or the future of televsion?

As you may, or may not know, the Internet is changing. And I don't just mean its slow, corporate take-over and subsequent ruination. No, I mean the advent of HTML 5. Why should you give a crap about something that doesn't involve sports, religion or celebrities? I'm glad you asked.

Who sucks less? Comcast plus Tivo, or AT&T plus DishNetwork?

I hate paying monthly fees. In fact, I hate paying monthly fees so much that I'm willing to spend stupid amounts of money upfront to avoid them. How stupid? How does $1200 sound? That's how much I almost spent when I was considering a MythTV box (specifically, the MonolithMC, a kick-ass Linux-based Media PC) to avoid paying Tivo their $13 a month service fee.

Spoiler Alert: The villain in the new Star Trek movie is physicist, Enrico Fermi.

We just got back from watching J.J. Abrams latest effort, Star Trek, and enjoyed ourselves for the most part. Casting, I thought, was particularly inspired (although I did fully expect Spock to point his finger at one of the aliens' heads, make an incision and take his super-power). The acting was also far more nuanced than that of the original series, largely due to the absence of William Shatner. And, of course, the special effects were top-notch, not surprising since the movie cost almost as much as the Republic of Kiribati's GDP (it did, look it up). However, we did have a few issues with the plot afterward. One issue in particular could destroy all science fiction as you know it.

Blog | 10.03.08 | By thecroz

Blog | 11.04.09 | By thecroz

Blog | 05.21.09 | By thecroz

Blog | 05.01.09 | By thecroz

Blog | 04.30.09 | By thecroz

Blog | 06.04.07 | By thecroz

Blog | 06.02.06 | By thecroz

BOOKS

I am America (And so can you!), Stephen Colbert—Sage advice for an ailing nation.
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens—The case against belief.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality, Brian Greene—A mind-bending romp through quantum physics.
Adam's Curse: A Future without Men, Bryan Sykes—It's not MY fault, it's my chromosome's.
1984, George Orwell—Who says no one can predict the future?
Nonzero : The Logic of Human Destiny, Robert Wright—It gives you hope for the future.
The Stranger, Albert Camus—Alienated existentialism at its best.
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson—Why aren't textbooks this funny?

POLITICS

Change Congress Help keep Big Money out of politics
Earmark Watch Bringing citizen oversight to congressional spending
Money And Politics Illuminating the connection
Open Congress The real story behind what's happening in Congress
Fortune 535 Find out how wealthy your local politicians are
OpenSecrets Center for responsive politics
Citability Making government accessible, reliable, and transparent
Data.gov Public access to high-value, machine-readable data sets
Public Markup Review and comment on proposed bills before they are even introduced
FedSpending Find out where your tax money is going
The Sunlight Foundation Shining light on money, lobbying, and government
Transparency Int'l. Stop corruption to save lives.
Congresspedia The citizen's encyclopedia of Congress

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