"You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird. You'll only know about humans in different places, and what they call the bird. So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing - that's what counts."  --Richard Feynman

1:42:27 PM  #  

Another question to ponder: Is the rising divorce rates among people today caused by a decline in morals or is it simply the fact that modern day humans are in contact with more people than at any other point in our history and thus we can more easily see our reproductive "options," leading us to inevitably question our choices?

As little as a century ago, most of us would live in a village and never venture outside of it. Our family circle was extremely close knit and divorce would be a terribly socially rending activity. Now with frequent moving, a lack of a social group exerting significant social pressure, and a family that is often far removed, I would argue that the cost of divorce is negligible.  With a lower cost and an expansion of the average persons superficial contact network through proliferation of low cost communication technology, it would seem that the ability to enter and exit relationships would be  easier, and divorce could be a natural extension of that.

12:32:20 PM  #  

Sheet Music to Set Tiny Hands a-Tinkling. There are many ways to use the Internet to help children learn to play music. via [New York Times: Technology]
10:51:52 AM  #  

Shoring Up the Signal of a Faltering Network. For those of you who find the strength of your WiFi signal is woefully inadequate to pleasure that special someone in your life. via [New York Times: Technology]
10:49:34 AM  #  

Textbook arbitrage gets US students a deal. American students are discovering that they are gouged by textbook publishers, who charge them double or triple the price that they charge for the same books in the UK and Canada. Now, thanks to the Internet, they're able to mass-import these cheap textbooks and get the same deal that students enjoy abroad.

Since I'm heading back to school in the spring, I don't want to lose this link.
 Link

via [Boing Boing Blog]
10:29:37 AM  #  

Ocean City, Maryland dog dogs.  A dog owner in Maryland makes the same realization that I made a few years ago, which is the fact that your dogs don't really care about living conditions as long as YOU ARE AROUND.  Their order of preference is to be 1) In your presence or 2) In their home being fed by a friend who they recognize or 3)  Being fed by some complete stranger in their home.  Being fed in a strange location is so distant from any of the other 3 options that my dogs will border on paranoia when it occurs.

Even so, we had a terrific time. We even treated our dogs to a doggy day care stay... we thought it would delight and pamper our two dogs.
...

We humans are stupid. Both dogs were just frantic when we picked them up. Both were dehydrated, and panting, with dry tongues... and drank 16 ounces of water each, right before I put them in the car. Neither one had eaten any treats, not even the greenies they loved. Neither one had eaten all day ... too scared to eat. I don't know if either one was walked or why they hadn't drank any water or even if they had water. I had asked for water, when I saw their water bowl was empty, before I left them in 'day care.' Both dogs were restless that night and stayed close to us...

via [Dog News: weird, inspiring dog tales]
10:21:04 AM  #