Quirk Books, the publisher of such gems as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and Night of the Living Trekkies is back with another classic. Behold, Meowmorphosis:
One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten. [...]
Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten.
His family must admit that, yes, their son is now OMG so cute—but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? How can Gregor be so selfish as to devote his attention to a ball of yarn? And how dare he jump out the bedroom window to wander through Kafka's literary landscape? Never before has a cat's tale been so poignant, strange, and horrifyingly funny.
Kafka would be proud! Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] | Get yours on Amazon here: The Meowmorphosis - Thanks Mari Kraske!
Look Out Schroedinger's Cat, It's a Trap! - $14.95
The warm T-shirt weather is coming, so get your Science and Funny T-Shirts from the NeatoShop. We've got lots of really neat T-shirts (cheap, too!) like this cute one above. Your purchase helps support the blog, so thanks in advance for taking a look!
Every day people try to outdo each other in the military, at the workplace, and at school by showing their “power.” But did you know that there is an actual list of 48 Laws of Power as outlined by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers to help you get ahead? My favorite is law number 15 “Crush Your Enemy Totally.”
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.
(vimeo link)
Just in time for Mothers Day, StoryCorps has a new animation. No More Questions! features feisty 87-year-old Kay Wang. This should inspire you to enjoy your mother as much as you can if you still have her. Link -thanks, Krisi Packer!
(YouTube link)
In order to explain a nuclear fission reaction, the folks at Harvard University set up a grid of mousetraps and ping pong balls.
In a nuclear reactor or atom bomb, a fissile material such as 235U can capture a neutron. The resulting unstable nucleus fragments into two smaller nuclei, releasing energy and several neutrons (a typical equation is given below). Each of these neutrons can in turn cause the fission of a 235U nucleus. If there is above a critical concentration of fissile material, this chain reaction will continue unaided, and if unregulated, can result in a very loud bang.
We have a 120 × 70 × 100cm high plexiglass case, onto whose base we set a 5 × 20 array of mouse traps. 1 Onto each trap is rested a ping-pong ball. The traps represent the fissile atoms, and the balls the neutrons. When an extra ping-pong ball is dropped through a hole in the top of the case, it lands on an triggers a trap. Now there are two ping-pong balls each capable of setting off a trap. Thus a chain reaction ensues; the whole explosion lasts about three seconds.
(YouTube link)
Andrew McMurry made this short film in which Seth plays the game in the great (real) outdoors. -Thanks, Andrew!
