Today I Learned

Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner, via Wikipedia.org Wile E Coyote  is one of my favourite Looney Tunes characters. I love the wonderfully absurd plans he comes up with in order to catch the Roadrunner. These range from such simple things as pulling the pin from a hand grenade, then throwing the pin, to ridiculously complicated, Rube Goldberg-like  plans (often with blueprints) that fail spectacularly. A common element of many of these plans is some product from Acme Corporation .

Page from Diamond Sutra, 868 CE, British Library, London, via Wikipedia.org I like Rhianna , but had never really dug into her music in any serious way. Maybe it’s partly because she’s such a young artist – she only hit the world stage about 20 years ago, after all – but I think it’s probably more because the song “ Umbrella ” was overplayed (in my opinion) to an incredible degree. I don’t particularly like the “-ella, -ella, -ella...” refrain, and it really gets on my nerves

Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), from The Princess Bride, via YouTube.com “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” For anyone not familiar with The Princess Bride , go watch it. I’ll wait. (The tragic death of director Rob Reiner  may lead to many new people watching this wonderful film, and many others to re-watch it. A true masterpiece.) For everyone else, just enjoy the exchange between Inigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin ), and Vizzi

Mumble, from Happy Feet, via YouTube.com It seems obvious in retrospect. Look at the way penguins walk, then watch Happy Feet , and tap seems like the inevitable style for a dancing penguin. But maybe that’s just because of the masterful dancing (via motion capture) by the amazingly talented Savion Glover  (who was also co-choreographer). For any not familiar with him, Glover got his start on Broadway at age 11, appeared on Sesame Street in his teens, and was called “possibly

Cover art for the single “Revolution”, by The Beatles, via Wikipedia I didn’t realize there were two Revolutions. Of course I knew the song Revolution , but unlike people who owned the White Album , my exposure to the Beatles was almost entirely through the “ Red ” and “ Blue ” compilation albums, and whatever I heard on the radio. Thus, I was only familiar with a relatively small part of their total output. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there were TWO “Revoluti

Cartoon by Tom Gauld, 11 th  April 2013, for @newscientist One letter can make a big difference. Or one number. I’ve mentioned You Are Not So Smart  (YANSS) before. It’s a podcast created by David McRaney , who is a science journalist, author, and speaker who is fascinated by brains, minds, and culture. I’ve been listening to YANSS for years, and it’s well worth the time. On episode 313 , David McRaney and his guest, Erica Chenoweth , discussed the work done by Chenoweth and

Bernie Sanders doll, via Wikimedia Commons People often call Bernie Sanders  a (gasp!) socialist! But then, many people on the “right” call anyone who disagrees with them a socialist, communist, anti-American, traitorous, or a variety of other terms which they (apparently) don’t understand and (often) can’t even coherently define. My suggestion would be to ask anyone who uses a term like “socialist” as a knee-jerk response to define it – if they can, respond appropriately. If

Escalator, via Wikimedia Commons Whew! So, I CAN spell. I was worried. On the 1-Nov-2025 October Recap  of Cybersecurity Today, I heard something I found very interesting, and decided to look for more information. On investigation, I discovered that the panel consisted of host Jim Love, David Shipley of “Boer on Securities”, and Laura Payne of “White TOK”. Uh, no. Obviously AI-generated, so I dug a bit deeper. David Shipley is actually the CEO (or “head of the pack”) at Beauc

Nachtmahr (“The Nightmare”), by Johann Heinrich Füssli TIL that the German translation of the word “nightmare” is “alptraum”, which led me to the wonderful painting above. While “ alp ” is the German cognate of the English word “elf”, the creature in question bears little resemblance to the Tolkienian Elves most of us are familiar with. Instead, they appear to be more closely associated with the vampire, or incubus, and attack sleeping people, either by giving them “elf dream

Wartime picture of a Bletchley Park Bombe, via Wikipedia.org I’m mentioned Alan Turing  and (some of) his contributions to computer technology, and still managed to not even mention the work which probably had the greatest influence on the world at the time. For a bit of background, the Enigma machine  was a cipher device that was developed in the years after World War I. To simplify dramatically, it used three rotors (four, in some models) which turned in sequence after each

Cover Art, Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941, via Wikipedia.org One of my favourite stories by Robert A Heinlein , was actually written by Anson MacDonald. Early in his career, Heinlein wrote under several pseudonyms , but only one of them was “obvious”. I’m not aware of any way to link the names Lyle Monroe, John Riverside, Caleb Saunders, or Simon York to Heinlein. In contrast, knowing that Robert Anson Heinlein was, at that time, married to Leslyn MacDonald made “An

Lionel Hampton, playing Flying Home (1957), via YouTube.com With a title like “Good Vibrations”, you’re probably thinking I’ll talk about the Beach Boys, but no. Instead, I want to go back a bit further, and talk about jazz legend Lionel Hampton . Hampton started his career as a drummer, and combined brilliant technique with wonderful showmanship. An excellent example can be found here , where he demonstrates his ability, while also juggling his drumsticks and showing his sim

Charlie Chaplin, in The Great Dictator, 1940, via Wikimedia Commons Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about fascism. While I already had a fair degree of familiarity and understanding of the big picture, I’ve been picking up (and often blogging about) items which are new to me. Predictably, most are disturbing, but I occasionally come across something wonderful. Charlie Chaplin  was an immensely influential figure in the history of cinema, and his “Tramp” character has been an

The School of Athens. Print by Giorgio Ghisi, of painting by Raphael, via Wikimedia Commons What most people call “debate” really is not. I found the Wikipedia article quite amusing. My favourite bit was where it says: “...debates emphasize logical consistency, factual accuracy, and emotional appeal to an audience.” I guess one out of three isn’t bad? Even so-called “formal” debate, where there are rules, judges, and guidelines for acceptable conduct, are more about competit

Cover of "Living Next Door to Alice" single by Smokie, via Wikipedia Living with the name “Alice” was not always easy in the 1970s and...

Pac-Man Fever, by Buckner & Garcia, via Wikipedia A Pac-Man song? I should not have found that surprising, but I did. Originally called...

Tai Chi Single Whip – sculpture by Ju Ming, via Wikipedia.org Even though I’ve written several times about martial arts training,...

Star Trek Title Sequence – Original Pilot – via YouTube Probably everyone has heard the iconic line: “Space: The Final Frontier.” I hear...

42 and Douglas Adams – Numberphile, via YouTube I suppose it’s not surprising that I’ve mentioned The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy...

Life of Brian – “I’m not”, via YouTube Even though I’ve seen it about a dozen times over the years, there’s always something new to learn...