Check it out:

Jan 01 2023
I’ve recently discovered the website of AIR – Annals of Improbable Research – a magazine which I subscribed to way back when. I’ve been working my way through the site and highly recommend same to others interested in a sort of ‘Monty Python does Science’ humour.
Just read How to “Write a Scientific Paper”
https://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume2/v2i5/howto.htm
Also recommend “Does a Cat Always Land on its Feet”.
And this one: https://improbable.com/airchives/classical/articles/peanut_butter_rotation.html
Couldn’t find one “The Aerodynamics of Potato Chips” (I’ve actually still got a list of favourite giggle-inducing titles on my wall from way back when …), but it’s also a good one.
Enjoy the site!
(And you can still subscribe to the journal and/or the mini-Air newsletter in addition to surfing their site!)
(They’ve also got a podcast now …)
(And a book: This is Improbable Too: Synchronized Cows, Speedy Brain Extractors, and More WTF Research–gotta love the title)
(And of course, the annual IgNobel Prize …)
Dec 30 2022
Dec 29 2022
So much is alarming and enraging only because so much is trying to get your attention.
The more people agree, the less likely they are thinking for themselves.
Therefore, beware of consensuses.
h/t: @IAmMarkManson
50kg.
Sound crazy? A reminder that the truth is often counterintuitive.
They do this because their peers cannot comprehend that someone could see flaws in anyone other than the enemy team.
h/t: @SarahTheHaider
Projects that require the least attention tend to get the most.
*Goebbels didn’t really say this, but everyone thinks he did because of the Reiteration Effect.
h/t: @EricRWeinstein
It takes a lot more energy to refute bullshit than to produce it. Hence, the world is full of unrefuted bullshit.
If you wish to grow, defy the robots’ recommendations.
h/t: @david_perell
a) Future people matter morally as much as people alive now.
b) There are likely many more future people than people alive now.
c) Small changes now can have huge repercussions in future.
If these are true, should we be doing more for future generations?
Stop mindless scrolling and seek out info that changes you.
Dec 20 2022
Just finished reading Camille Perri’s The Assistants — highly recommended! It’s Nine to Five updated and with a great moral element; better than any nonfiction book about the income inequity between the top 1% and the rest of us … With attitude, to boot!
“Robert had tie-clips that cost as much as those [student loan] debts. one man’s private-jet ride to Key West was another woman’s second chance at life. …” (p219)
And the sexual harassment seminar — delightful!!
Dec 15 2022
Another reason to hate men:
“By 2050 at the latest, and ideally before 2040, we must have stopped emitting more greenhouse gases [typically caused by the burning of fossil fuels] into the atmosphere than Earth can naturally absorb through its ecosystems (a balance known as net-zero emissions or carbon neutrality). In order to get to this scientifically established goal, our global greenhouse gas emissions must be clearly on the decline by the early 2020s and reduced by at least 50 percent by 2030.” The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, (architects of the Paris Agreement), pxxii
Snowmobiles and ATVs “emit 25 percent as many hydrocarbons as all the nation’s cars and trucks put together, according to an EPA study.”
“In one hour, a typical snowmobile emits as much hydrocarbon as a 2001 model auto emits in about two years (24,300 miles) of driving. “
“Two-stroke PWC engines dump 25 – 40% of uncombusted fuel in the lake, the air, or on the land.”
“In a single hour of run time, a 2000-model PWC will dump about 4 gallons (15 liters) of unburned oil and gas into the water [source: CO Parks].”
Snowmobiles and ATVs “emit 25 percent as many hydrocarbons as all the nation’s cars and trucks put together, according to an EPA study.”
Over 95% of those who drive snowmobiles, ATVs, and jetskis are men.
That is to say, men are producing fossil fuel emissions — lots of fossil fuel emissions — just for fun.
(And that’s quite apart from “”Snowmobiles create a noise corridor five miles wide” and “PWC produce noise levels in the range of 85-102 decibels (dB) per unit — levels at which the American Hospital Association recommends hearing protection (above 85 dB).” https://www.stopthrillcraft.org/statistics.htm)
Dec 06 2022
December, Like It’s 1989
Tell it.
Geneviève Bergeron, civil engineering
Hélène Colgan, mechanical engineering
Nathalie Croteau, mechanical engineering
Barbara Daigneault, mechanical engineering
Anne-Marie Edward, chemical engineering
Maud Haviernick, materials engineering
Maryse Laganière, finance department
Maryse Leclair, materials engineering
Anne-Marie Lemay, mechanical engineering
Sonia Pelletier, mechanical engineering
Michèle Richard, materials engineering
Annie St-Arneault, mechanical engineering
Annie Turcotte, materials engineering
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, nursing.
“Hey, come on.
Not all men are like that, okay.”
Not really a question.
Reductio ad absurdum.
That’s an order, okay?
Men are proud, they have all the good qualities.
A penis.
Inalienable rights.
Access to female bodies.
(Everyone knows the females don’t have real minds, okay?)
Not really a question.
Look, don’t men suffer?
Aren’t they brave?
Aren’t they manly?
Aren’t they courageous?
Aren’t they rational?
Not really questions.
They deserve what they get.
That’s an order, okay?
Cold day, ordinary winter day, right?
Not really a question.
“He told us to leave, and we did.”
Just walked out.
Not one of them tried to tackle him.
Not one of them tried to grab the semi-automatic.
Just walked out.
They were very rational.
Didn’t want to get hurt.
Weren’t they brave?
Weren’t they manly?
Weren’t they courageous?
Not really a question.
Reductio ad absurdum.
Not all men are like that, okay?
Don’t ask the question.
That’s an order.
Pat Parker said it, paraphrasing here…
“Brother, that system
you hit me with
is called
a fist.”
Tell it.
Geneviève Bergeron, civil engineering, 21;
Hélène Colgan, mechanical engineering, 23;
Nathalie Croteau, mechanical engineering, 23;
Barbara Daigneault, mechanical engineering, 22;
Anne-Marie Edward, chemical engineering, 21;
Maud Haviernick, materials engineering, 29;
Maryse Laganière, finance department, 31;
Maryse Leclair, materials engineering, 25;
Anne-Marie Lemay, mechanical engineering, 23;
Sonia Pelletier, mechanical engineering, 22;
Michèle Richard, materials engineering, 28;
Annie St-Arneault, mechanical engineering, 21;
Annie Turcotte, materials engineering, 23;
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, nursing, 21.
six decembre mille neuf cent quatre-vingt neuf
C. Osborne
Dec 05 2022
Dec 04 2022
“The GAS (Genetic Alternative Sports) … Sports fans were no longer interested in seeing a conventional boxing match, when they could witness two genetically engineered pugilists — who were created with their brains in their shorts, and all their other major organs crammed into their legs and feet, leaving their heads solid blocks of unthinking muscle — knock hell out of one another for hours on end in a way that normal boxers could only manage for minutes.” Red Dwarf Omnibus (Better than Life) p490