"The Fool's Tale": Dramatis Personae

Today we take a short pause from our blogging to present the characters to an semi-autobiographical sequel to the Canterbury Tales, The Fool's Tale. Based on the people with whom I work, this will only be up for a short period before it's taken down.  

To be sure there's some exaggeration here and there -- some dramatic license is necessary, it's a story -- but I have no doubt all of the characters could easily identify themselves and everyone else.  The humor is in "you've got to know these people -- that's so true" type of nonsense, but since you'll never meet most of them, well, you'll just have to make do. Yet The Fool's Tale itself will never be written -- I have no plot -- and if it were written, then the story would need a self-reflective subtitle: How the Fool Lost His Job.

Our characters:

Having Learned We are Publishing Again ...

Leonardo Sagan is now hastily rushing back. Yep, things are really heating up around here.

Winter is Coming Apparently Sometime Far Away from Now

I've been intermittently reading the Game of Thrones (er, I mean A Song of Fire and Ice) series, having watched the HBO drama.  I whole heartedly agree with this review, except for the part about I am not going to read it anymore.  That's because I knew this was nonsense coming in -- it's a soap opera in fantasy trappings -- but it's my damn soap opera and I'm hooked.

And, yes, the majority of the best characters are dead:

Comic-Con 2013: In Memoriam

Exciting Blogging Action Returns

After a short hiatus, I thought I should get back to the blog.  This is, after all, our 1 year anniversary.  Previous calculations about how long we had been publishing have proven to be inaccurate.

Today's Our 27th Anniversary!

While it feels like it was only a few short months ago, it's been twenty-seven since we began turning out this we-blog or "weblog" for short. You've come to know and love us today due to the efforts of our main poster boy, Galileo Feynman. To celebrate here's a sneak peek at what goes on behind the screens:

Before any post is published we run a 17,000 amp current through the author "just to test."

Something is Wrong on the Internetz

"And is this NOT your list of reference sources?"

A Courtesy Post for Leonardo Sagan's Cats

To hell with resolutions, there are some things that have to be seen.

Via Boing Boing.

Revision of the Reference Sources Tab

I've edited and better organized the references found at the Reference Sources tab of this blog. Reference Sources is sort of like a reference desk with all of the key sources I use accessible from one page. It does not contain blogs, and for a detailed list of the blogs I most often frequent go to the Link Sources tab, which is sort of like a blog roll but with lots of info about the blogs.

The Reference Sources tab contains some key stuff missing at places like Martindale's Reference Desk, which, on the other hand, contains a lot of links I do not, most of which appear to every related site, while I focus on what I see as the most useful ones.

Nonetheless, I can see my Reference Sources is missing a number of good references which I'll be adding in from time to time. I am also not so happy with the table formatting in Blogger (whose CSS makes formatting the table exactly like I'd want too difficult), which is why I did not use it originally, but it is plainly clearer in a table with subject lines. Anyway, I hope someone out there finds this useful.

Upcoming Posts at Galileo Feynman

When I began this blog I imagined a mix of posts on art and politics, music and culture, science and society interspersed with short essays on a variety of more philosophical subjects. I haven't had much chance to focus on the essay side -- which I'd normally post under the tag Blah blah blah, among others -- but I thought I'd mention what's in the hopper. It's all pretty nerdy, so abandon all hope if you're looking for something else. A lengthy list follows bellow the break.

"True Facts About Sloths"

Admittedly sloth-like posts by me lately as I am working on a project and have quite a lot of old links to clear out .. and who doesn't like sloths? (This may be in violation of Our New Year's resolutions, but I haven't checked the terms ....)

We Just Gotta Get This Out of Our System

We previously posted several times on PSY's Gangnam Style -- and we should probably apologize, but we refuse -- and, anyway, we thought we should show what is expected to be his next big hit, even though he released it two years ago:

"Right Now" was banned from under-19 audiences by South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for what it deemed an "obscene" lyric, "Life is like toxic alcohol." Not speaking Korean, I don't understand any of these lyrics.

While we're on it, one of my posts was a mash-up of Gangnam Style and the Ghostbusters Theme -- which was awesome, by the way -- and that was in a tradition of posting excellent musical and video mash-ups. So here's another one: Whole Lotta Helter Skelter. (Look, I have to own up to the fact that I don't really like either the song Whole Lotta Love or Helter Skelter, but that they fit so well together is, to me, somewhat amazing.)

The Blogosphere Having Been Duly Collected, Be It Now Resolved ...

Whereas it is traditional on New Years Day of the Gregorian calendar to make and announce sober resolutions of commitment to future good attitude, thought, and deed; and

Whereas today is indeed New Years Day as so marked upon the Gregorian calendar; and

Whereas if anyone needs to resolve to better conduct it could be the staff of this Blog;

Now, therefore, Be It Resolved as follows: 

1. This blog shall in the future avoid referring to Republicans, Libertarians, Ayn Randian "objectivists," and/or the "Tea Party," or their ilk, as dimwits, boobs, morons, boneheads, or idiots; nor shall this blog imply that they are such; nor shall this Blog do other things bringing disrepute upon the mentally challenged;
2. Galileo Feynman shall not eat chili to excess on New Years Eve, particularly as he is allergic to beans (true fact);
3. When at meals Galileo Feynman shall not make offensive sounds, when avoidable, that could lead his children to rue their lineage or question his maturity;
4. This blog shall not promise to post things and then forget to post them, busy, busy, busy, though It may be, such as year end lists, just speaking hypothetically, of course;
5. This blog shall not post photos of cats no matter how cute, silly, absurd, or human-like said cats appear, and we will have a stern talking to with Leonardo Sagan if he attempts to post photos of cats, including his own cats;
6. Sigmund Kirchner shall not in the future claim to have discovered things without first doing the math (or at least some sort of experiments);
7. We shall not in the future order from the Lord of the Rings specialty menu at Dennys Restaurants, even under threat of torture;
8. Albert Newton shall stop calling Marie Fermat the cutest little poster ever or referring to her as having "substantial bloggers" no matter how innocent he claims that is;
9. Marie shall stop punching Albert repeatedly in the eye; and
10. We shall attempt to post three to five times a day with the vast reserve of quality material we have to post, unless we feel like posting more or less or get some other wild weird ass hair brained idea.

So Be It, this 1st day of January 2013.

Winston Churchill, "Class Act"

All people are complex, capable of great wrongs and great rights, products of their cultures, victims and victimizers from ignorance, lack of understanding, and happenstance; we are vessels for creation and destruction. For these reasons hagiography is rarely accurate, this blog's name notwithstanding. Thomas Jefferson was a vindictive slaveholder; Mahatma Gandhi not only abused his wife but was a time-to-time racist (he referred to blacks as "uncivilized races," suggested black Africans are lazy, and actively supported the British military campaign against the Zulu, among other things); Albert Einstein essentially abandoned his natural children and was a notorious womanizer (his second wife was his cousin -- he still had many affairs after than marriage -- but he married her only after her daughter turned him down); Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had numerous affairs and plagiarized a large part of his doctoral dissertation. These people also were great leaders and thinkers. Gandhi, for example, for all his foibles still fought for woman's rights and human equality and ultimately became an icon to Steven Biko and Nelson Mandela in South Africa, not to mention King.

Which brings me to Winston Churchill.

Galileo Feynman's New Sponsor: Tho-Radia, for the Best in Radium Based Beauty Products

Just kidding. Galileo Feynman remains as always 100% income free. We are brushing our remaining teeth, though, with Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste. I don't know why I keep loosing teeth.

A full set of images of Tho-Radia's ads can be found at Retronaut. Oh, ehem, yes, also, "Doctuer Alfred Curie" of Tho-Radia was apparently no relation to Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. 

The FBI Files of Richard Feynman

Earlier this year Michael Morisy, one of the founders of the group MuckRock which specializes in Freedom of Information Act requests, obtained files from the FBI  for Richard Feynman. Given the brevity of the response (365 pages) and the importance of Feynman to so many substantial federal projects, it seems to me this is likely incomplete, but that is but a guess.

Regardless, some apparently thought Feynman was a communist and a spy. One tipster (whose name the FBI redacted in its response) stated:

I do not know—but I believe that Richard Feynman is either a Communist or very strongly pro-Communist—and as such is a very definite security risk. This man is, in my opinion, an extremely complex and dangerous person, and a very dangerous person to have in a position of public trust, particularly a position that so vitally affects the safety and welfare of this nation-both present and future as that of Science Advisor [sic] for President Eisenhower.

Our Editing Policy

I make typos -- lots and lots of typos -- I sometimes correct tme. Um, them. Taat is all.

Good News About Women!

We're thinking about getting us some women here at Galileo Feynman. Many people have told Us We need to find a woman. What a relief, then, it is to find out they are teachable, cooperative, and patient! Apparently We may need to get a "trained woman counselor," though, "to interpret woman's attitudes and actions." That has always been a shortcoming for Us.

These images are from an RCA training manual and found at the National Archives at Atlanta (or Southeaster Region, I can't tell which it wants to be called), and they come to us from John Walkenbach (formerly of the J-Walk blog, now on Google+) who found then at Retronaut.

What happened to the good old days when women dressed like appliances?

Who is Galileo Feynman?

A D in Roman Numerals

I happened to notice a few minutes a go that my next published post -- that is, this post -- would be my 500th. (I have about 20 to 30 posts right now partially drafted or scheduled for the future.) That's not quite 4 posts a day since I started blogging in July. I've received several very encouraging emails and comments, and I'm very appreciative of those. Nonetheless, mistakes remain on the internet, and I've got to get cracking on correcting them.

In Ovum Learning by Superb Fairywrens

Male breeding plumage. Superb Fairywrens are usually gray brown. 

As reported in Discover, an article in Current Biology (behind a paywall) involves a study suggesting that Superb Fairywren chicks learn their familial feeding call while they are still in their eggs. Each family has a unique call passed from mother to chicks, and, given its uniqueness for each mother and chicks, appears to be learned. The mother sings it to her eggs, and the chicks emerge apparently knowing the song. The clear implication is that the chicks can learn before they hatch.

The article speculates that the learned song allows the mother to distinguish her chicks from impostor cuckoo chicks that are lain in her nest. Apparently it's not too effective, and only works about 40% of the time.  Cuckoo chicks, by the way, usually hatch before other chicks and grow faster, and when the other chicks emerge they kick them out of the nest. That behavior is not learned -- there's no cuckoo mother to teach it -- and so must be innate.