The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention
Here for sharing far and wide is a handy guide to stemming the flow of nonsense in your daily life. Originally written by science writer Michelle Nijhuis for the outstanding science blog The Last Word on Nothing, these words have the power to make you a more discerning consumer – and sharer – of information.…
The Men Inside of R2-D2 and C-3PO Actually Hated Each Other
In 1975, George Lucas was casting for his upcoming sci-fi film The Star Wars (name later changed to simply Star Wars). After a joint casting session with Brian De Palma, who was looking to hire actors for his new horror movie Carrie, Lucas was able to cast many of his principal actors. He decided on…
Navigate by Barcode and Never Get Lost Again
Libraries have terrible maps; supermarkets and department stores have bad signage; all of them have a built-in system for navigation that we don’t use: barcodes. That’s the argument of researchers Simon Robinson, Jennifer Pearson, and Matt Jones from the Future Interaction Technology Lab at Swansea University. They’ve come up with a way to use barcodes…
