Oct 29, 2013

Quote of the day: Stan Musial, nicest man in baseball

Bob Gibson once described his teammate, "Stan Musial is the nicest man I ever met in baseball. And to be honest, I can’t relate to that."

He also won the MVP award three times and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.



Learn more here.

Oct 28, 2013

Just lose

You know that person. The one who is never wrong. The type that digs in their heels no matter what someone else says. The one who, when they are wrong, are more right. 

This article makes a point that the person who loses an argument is actually the winner. Why?

Because they came away with a new belief, that is well thought out and convincing.
“Suppose you and I have an argument. You believe a proposition, P, and I don’t. I’ve objected, I’ve questioned, I’ve raised all sorts of counter-considerations, and in every case you’ve responded to my satisfaction. At the end of the day, I say, ‘You know what? I guess you’re right.’ So I have a new belief. And it’s not just any belief, but it’s a well-articulated, examined and battle-tested belief. Cohen continues, “So who won that argument? Well, the war metaphor seems to force us into saying you won, even though I’m the only one who made any cognitive gain.

Oct 25, 2013

Headline of the day

Deadspin's headline made me smile: 


And you know what, the donkey is photogenic.


Oct 23, 2013

Everything you wanted to know about cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese originally comes from the village of Cheddar in South West England. The cheese is actually PALE YELLOW, not orange.

More here.


Oct 22, 2013

The males are showing off

Our friend Lance Mannion tells a story about woodpecker trouble:
Uncle Merlin called in from the Cape this morning to report he’s having woodpecker trouble. Judging by his description, a female downy has punched a hole in the eave of his house. He wanted to know how to drive her away. 
“I can’t have her building a nest in there and having babies.” 
I assured him that’s not what was happening. Downies don’t nest until the spring. What she’s doing is building a little apartment for herself for the winter. 
Uncle Merlin was not mollified. “Well, I don’t want her banging away up there all winter either.” 
She won’t be doing any banging. 
“I heard her!” 
When? 
“I don’t know. Last time I was down here. Two weeks ago?” 
That might not have been her. 
“Of course it was her. It’s her hole!” 
It didn’t take her two weeks to make that hole. A day, tops, and she did it quietly. Lots of poking and pecking with her beak. But no banging. That’s not how they work. The banging you heard was probably a male woodpecker showing off.
Rest of the story here.

I'll let the teens take this one


Oct 5, 2013

Oct 3, 2013

Doritos - engineered to stop you from stopping

This post is dedicated to that special someone who loves Doritos and never reads this blog.


NYTimes has a great article on how Doritos are created, from flavor to color, in order to make them irresistible. You love them because you can't help it.
Despite the powerful tastes in Nacho Cheese, the Doritos formula balances them so well that no single flavor lingers in the mind after you’ve eaten a chip. This avoids what food scientists call “sensory specific satiety,” or the feeling of fullness caused by a dominant flavor. Would you eat a whole bag of rosemary chips? With Doritos, you go back for more.
It gets better here.