science

Wednesday’s Wonderful World Of Wikipedia: The Grandfather Paradox

The paradox is this: Suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler’s grandmother. As a result, one of the traveller’s parents and by extension, the traveler himself would never have been conceived. This would imply that he could not have traveled back in time after all, which in turn implies the grandfather would still be alive, and the traveler would have been conceived, allowing him to travel back in time and kill his grandfather. Thus each possibility seems to imply its own negation, a type of logical paradox. The grandfather paradox has been used to argue that backwards time travel must be impossible. However, other resolutions have also been advanced.

An equivalent paradox is known in philosophy as autoinfanticide — that is, going back in time and killing oneself as a baby — though when the word was first coined in a paper by Paul Horwich it was in the malformed version autofanticide.

Wednesday’s Wonderful World Of Wikipedia: The Mongolian Death Worm

The Mongolian Death Worm is a cryptid reported to exist in the Gobi Desert. It is generally considered a cryptozoological creature, one whose sightings and reports are disputed or unconfirmed. There are a number of extraordinary claims by Mongolian locals (such as the ability of the worm to spew forth a yellow poison that is lethal on contact, and its purported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge). However, there are no known reliable sightings.

Colorado Café Scientifique

In the Colorado Café Scientifique, people (often science buffs) come together in a friendly pub after work and hear a free, informal, introduction to an interesting current scientific topic, led by an expert. They take a short break for refreshments, to meet new people, and chat, and then return for questions and answers and general discussion. Everyone and anyone is welcome and they meet at the Wynkoop Brewing Company starting at 6:30 PM in the large & comfortable first floor Mercantile Room. All questions and comments are welcome, as this isn’t a seminar, it’s a chance for everyone to learn, express an opinion, and drink a beer. This months meeting is on Tuesday the 27th of March (2007) and is titled: “Stem Cells: Hype or hope? Clearing away the confusion”

Cartoon Laws Of Physics

I love these Cartoon Laws of Physics
Cartoon Law IX: Everything falls faster than an anvil.
Cartoon Law X : For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite revengeance. This is the one law of animated cartoon motion that also applies to the physical world at large. For that reason, we need the relief of watching it happen to a duck instead.
Cartoon Law Amendment A: A sharp object will always propel a character upward.

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