Category Archives: Mind-blowing Miscellania and other Neat Stuff

From Wikipedia: Ithkuil is a constructed language created by John Quijada, designed to express deeper levels of human cognition briefly yet overtly and clearly, particularly with regard to human categorization. The language is notable for its grammatical complexity and extensive … Continue reading →

Via Sullivan, a fascinating article in The Smithsonian, about the Lykovs, a religious fundamentalist family that hid in deep Siberian forest to escape Bolshevic persecution. There were four of them – wife, husband, and 2 small children – when they … Continue reading →

I found this post at Face In The Blue, going through each of the 44 presidents and asking which would win in a 44-President knifefight melee — oddly entertaining. The rules, as set by redditor Xineph: * Every president is … Continue reading →

I’m a regular reader of Ethics Alarms. Jack, the blogger there, is a great deal more conservative than I, although I think he might describe himself as a centrist. But he posts opinions I find unpredictable now and then (Jack’s … Continue reading →

This might make a fabulous setting for a science fiction novel. From Esri.com: If earth ceased rotating about its axis but continued revolving around the sun and its axis of rotation maintained the same inclination, the length of a year … Continue reading →

In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn’t work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. … Continue reading →

If you’ve ever studied anything related to fractals, you’ve no doubt come across the Mandelbrot set. Named for its progenitor, mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, the image takes a simple formula, repeats it, studies how quickly or slowly results approach or escape … Continue reading →