The City Club of Portland has been trying to get fluoride into the city’s drinking water for almost 60 years. So the central conclusion of a report the club sent to media outlets Wednesday—with strict instructions it wasn’t to be reported on until this morning—comes as no surprise: the City Club still wants our water […]
Science!
Posted inMovies & TV
Hold Onto Your Butts! It’s Jurassic Park 3D!
This is me right now: 😀 Ahem. Here we go. So we’re old, and it’s been 20 years since the game-changing Jurassic Park came out. I bet that since that time, you, like me, got obsessed, got it on VHS, watched it too many times, eventually gave the VHS to Goodwill, then maybe found an […]
Posted inScience!
Too Smart? Try the MinusIQ Pill!
If you are tired of feeling like you’re in the minority—and by that I mean the smartest person in the room—you may want to try the latest in IQ-lowering pharmaceuticals, called MinusIQ. Let Dr. Cornelius Grouppe explain. NOTE: If you are a regular commenter on Blogtown (with the possible exception of three of you), there’s […]
Posted inSports
The Cooties of Full-Contact Sports
Masonite Burn (AKA Sharkey) This germy story made me think of this picture from Masonite Burn during last fall’s Rosebuds championships. Those junior derby gals know how to get close. There’s been a hubbub among roller derbers (hmm?) over the last couple days about a scientific study that’s been making the internet rounds—all about germs […]
Posted inSex
Penguin Hookers. Really.
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE Very important information has recently come to my attention. Some penguins are prostitutes. We all know humans do it. Some people will even show their boobs to a prison guard for a chocolate chip cookie, but penguins?! Those adorable animals dressed like banquet waiters who engage in Morgan Freeman-narrated lifelong monogomy? […]
Posted inTV
Hey Funny Voice Lovers! Meet the “Anti-Helium”!
You know what happens and how you sound when you inhale helium right? Well, Neil Patrick Harris and Kelly Rippa inhale sulfur hexafluoride—and the results may surprise you!
Posted inScience!
Rocket Glam: On the Ground with NASA Social
[Mercury friend Robert Fortney recently went to Vandenberg Air Force Base for a NASA social, where he had VIP access to a rocket launch. We think rockets are neat, so we asked him to blog about his experience.- Eds] It’s 7:30 A.M. I’m standing in front of the South Gate of Vandenberg Air Force Base, […]
Posted inComic Books
Scientifically Accurate Spider-Man
Peter Parker had it preeeetty lucky if you ask me. A radioactive spider bites him, and he only gets spider powers that would be convenient to a human? If it REALLY happened things would be preeeeetty different, as demonstrated in this very catchy and informative video entitled, “Scientifically Accurate Spider-Man.” (Audio a touch NSFW.)
Posted inNews
Mailbox Monday! “Fluoridation is Public Health Quackery”
Most of the letters I receive come from one or two diligent Oregon inmates—including one who was very upset about the hard pears served up by the prison commissary. But today was special. Ahead of the coming fight over fluoridation, a passionate anti-fluoride advocate from Washington State sent us some new information I couldn’t help […]
Posted inEthics
A Golden Moment: How I Saved One Invasive Animal From Another
Chinese Golden Pheasant In Portland. First came the sound: the loud thumping of a soft body plummeting into hard glass. Then the sight: colorful plumage knocked silly by the cunning entrancement of the ersatz sky, that perfect illusion afforded by a window reflecting the sunlight in just the right way. “Holy Shit!” I yelled to […]
Posted inScience!
Will We Be on Mars in Twenty Years?
Popular Science says: Here’s some optimistic news: 71 percent of Americans are confident humans will get to Mars in 20 years, according to a new poll. Here’s some disappointing news: Americans think NASA gets way more of the federal budget than it really does. The second sentence doesn’t surprise me at all. Most Americans think […]
Posted inTV
The Mythbusters’ Brand Of Fake Science Takes OMSI
Mythbusters is one of my favorite shows that I’m not on. OMSI is one of my favorite places to spend $28 to have children push me out of the way so they can play with the block crane when I WANTED TO PLAY WITH THE BLOCK CRANE. And now those two things have come together […]