Tornado versus freight train
This video will give you a good idea of the power of tornadoes.
Fear of heights? Visit the new Sears tower balconies
If you want to confront your fear of heights, consider visiting one of the new Sears Tower Balconies,
which allow you to step out onto a Plexiglas floor and look straight down. Here's the full AP story.
I know that this will not be for everyone. I once told a buddy about seeing how close I could stand to the edge of a cliff at the Grand Canyon until he tersely asked me to stop talking about it because he was getting nauseated.
Actually, a few years ago, my wife and I visited the CN Tower in Toronto, and had the opportunity to stand on Plexiglas balcony to look straight down. Here's a photo I took:
Woody Allen on raising secular humanists
Woody Allen discusses raising his children as secular humanists:
We've raised them, not in any particular religion, but as what we call secular humanists – meaning we've taught them to be honest and kind, and to have respect for human dignity and the rights of other people. And, apart from that, we're trying to keep their minds as open as they can be. We're trying to educate them by giving them as much information as we can, so that when they grow up, they will be competent to make their own evaluations about what they believe.
Sarah Palin resigns
Yes, it's true. Sarah Palin resigned today. Although the collective political IQ in America just went up about fifty points, the Alaskan moose just became a little bit more endangered. Here's PZ's take (presumably with apologies to Monty Python & The Holy Grail):
Brave Dame Sarah ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!") When danger reared it's ugly shead, She bravely turned her tail and fled. ("no!") Yes, brave Dame Sarah turned about ("I didn't!") And gallantly she chickened out. Bravely taking ("I never did!") to her feet, She beat a very brave retreat. ("all lies!") Bravest of the braaaave, Dame Sarah! ("I never!")Yeah, I LOL'd. We'll miss ya Sair ... you betcha.
Richard Feynman and Doubt
Richard Feynman was one of the brightest physicists ever. His books, although dense and precise, are nevertheless some of the most accessible. He stood on the field at Trinity and looked at the first atomic explosion without dark glasses because (he said) he knew the simple bright light couldn't hurt him. He was a tireless debunker of nonsense, a very funny man, and he blamed bongos. But the thing that made him special...he was never afraid to look and he never used tinted glasses to do it. Via pharyngula.