The WLBOTT Library y Biblioteca Extraordinaria received a new tomb from Elder DZ this holiday season. Mr. E. Townsend Artman’s book is available on Amazon, and ranks significantly higher than any WLBOTT metric. Los Toastadores Elder G is accompanying me on today’s Toast Quest. We did not stay in the confines of our cozy test […]
Category: Mildly Interesting
The WLBOTT Museum of History, Anthropology and Technology (WHAT?) is currently hosting A Short History of the Air Fryer. Big shout-out to our enthusiastic, unpaid interns! Air Fryer – The Nuts and Bolts An air fryer is a small countertop convection oven that is said to simulate deep frying without submerging the food in oil. […]
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Spore Spa
Austin is mold-friendly: warm and humid, and proximity to the State Capitol offers plenty of decaying organic matter. It’s basically a spore spa. To satisfy the absolute minimum OSHA requirements, we placed DIY mold test Petri dishes in various locations of the sprawling WLBOTT campus. And we waited…. Lab Results Some disturbing results from the […]
Let’s talk about the historical phenomenon known as “segmented sleep” or “biphasic sleep.” It was quite common in Europe, especially before the Industrial Revolution. Let’s step back those 350 years and take a look at what was happening in the candlelit hush of a winter night. First Sleep and Second Sleep: A Forgotten Rhythm In […]
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An Old Joke
I remember reading this joke in a Scholastic Book Service joke book as a kid, and not really getting it. I get it now. Mom: Did you tell your father that you dented his car?Son: Yes.Mom: What did he say?Son: Do you want me to leave out the swearing?Mom: Of course!Son: Oh, he didn’t say […]
For several decades I’ve had this fantasy[1]: [1] Elder G: UC#4, are you sure you understand the concept of “fantasy?” [2] Admittedly a daunting challenge. I could sweeten the deal by making her an honorary Elder of WLBOTT. In 1975, she moved to WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to host and produce Fresh Air, which was […]
I periodically resort the books on my bookshelf. Previously, they were sorted by how useful they’d be during a Zombie Apocalypse. But today, my new sorting algorithm is this: How likely would I be able to defeat the author at arm wrestling? On the easy side (left), we have Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, and […]
Today we go down the Periodic Table rabbit hole. Many of today’s screen shots are from the excellent web site Periodic Tables.com Human Abundance What exactly are you full of? https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/HumanAbundance.html Q: Did you hear about the boy that ate uranium?A: He got an atomic ache. Notice how uranium is present in the human body. […]
We previously talked about Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, but today it’s back in the news! This moon discovered by Galileo made the front page of The Guardian. This is huge news! Did any astronomers have their telescopes trained on Ganymede to capture this cataclysmic event? Well, it looks like The Guardian may have buried the lead: […]
Some days can be more routine than others. And some, even more so. But the Elders embrace the challenge: Dare to be Dull! The Watched Pot With patience, a watched pot does indeed boil. Elders UC#1 and KM demonstrate the technique: Elder G When Elder G has some down time, and while not calculating the […]