Smile

Thanks to Clark Boyd at The World for cheering me up with this one.

Update: The end credits say the song text is an adaptation of the poem Stream of Life by Rabindranath Tagore.

Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Rabindranath Tagore

Update 2: You can see a higher resolution version of this video at Astronomy Picture of the Day.

XKCD hits the sweet spot

This web comic strip from XKCD struck a chord in the skeptics community.

The Bad Astronomer Phil Plait says it’s why we love XKCD, Rebecca at Skepchick posted it and PZ Myers at Pharyngula would wear it on a t-shirt.

No surprise there. No-one has claimed James Randi’s million dollars.

Personally I think Larry Niven has it right when he states in his fifth law:

Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.

If that were not true; then natural selection would have given people with such powers an edge, evolution would have run it’s course and everyone would have such powers.

21st December 1913 – First Crossword Puzzle Published

The first crossword puzzle was published in the New York World on 21st December 1913 by Arthur Wynne.

Do you feel the need to try one? Help yourself.

I can’t remember where I first saw this joke. It was long before the internet was invented.

18th November 1985 – Calvin and Hobbes first published

And their totally cool names were translated into Norwegian as Tommy and the Tiger. Oh well.

Jake the Peg

It must be forty years since I last saw this:

My age is showing. Don’t you just love YouTube.

Difference

What’s the difference between a sceptic and a religious fundamentalist?
The sceptic believes only what he sees.
The religious fundamentalist sees only what he believes.