Science myths

Here’s an interesting set of myths and truths in science. I’ll just start with the first one I saw:

It takes seven years to digest gum

While it may prove a bit more difficult to break down than organic foodstuffs, chewing gum gets no special treatment from the digestive system. Doctors figure this old wives’ tale was invented to prevent kids from swallowing the rubbery substance.

and another interesting one for anyone with kids:

The five second rule

Having an arbitrary rule justifying the consumption of food dropped on the floor within a certain time frame is convenient, especially when said food is a brownie. Unfortunately, tests (and logic) confirm that germs will stick to most foods right on contact.

[tags]Science, myths[/tags]

Bark at the moon – Guitar Hero savant

If you are a gamer, you’ve probably heard of Guitar Hero.  And if you’ve read much about it, you’ve probably heard people talking about how hard the hard level is.  If you have any doubts, check out this video by some insanely great Guitar Hero savant.  The image quality isn’t great, but it’s enough to get an idea of how hard this is.  Every time one of the circles at the bottom of the screen lights up, this guy has to hit a key on the guitar controller.  That’s fast, and tough. (via Dubious Quality)

[tags]Guitar Hero, Bark at the Moon, gaming[/tags]

The real reason blogging is hard

As someone who is just getting in to maintaining a web site and trying to keep it active, I completely understand this article. I’ve tried doing web sites in the past, but always ran out of steam within a few weeks. Blahblahblahg is the first I’ve kept going and stayed interested in maintaining for a more extended time period. And reading the linked article does say pretty much what I’m finding true. And I’m not even running a real blog yet – more a link to other sites and comment briefly on them when it interests me site.

Day in and day out, day after day, night after night, you have to keep working. Read, write, comment. Over and over. A lot of the time, it comes natural and it’s fun, but sometimes it doesn’t and it isn’t.

. . .

So What Does It Mean?

It just means that like a lot of things, blogging is hard. It’s hard for all the reasons we’ve talked about over the past few months: because of the gatekeepers, because of the people who whine about the gatekeepers, because someone didn’t answer our email, because somebody else sent us an email, because of the blog networks, in spite of the blog networks, because some of our posts are boring, because the RIAA is suing dead grannies.

But mostly it’s hard because of the grind.

If you have ever thought about running a blog-type web site, read this and see if you are still interested.

[tags]Blogs, blogging[/tags]

Unsurprising headline of the day…

This from Live Science:

Sex Still Satisfying For Men In Their 50s

Call Guiness. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that! More from the article:

Despite weakened sex drives and flagging erections, men in their 50s enjoy sex almost as much as those in their 20s.

The 30s seem to be a time of disappointment.

Researchers in Norway surveyed 1,185 men aged between 20 and 79 about various aspects of their sex lives, including drive, erections and ejaculations. The men were asked to rate their satisfaction with each aspect on a scale of zero to four, with four representing good sexual function and no problems.

The average scores for men in their …

20s: 2.79
50s: 2.77
30s: 2.55
40s: 2.72

As a man in his 30s, let me just say I’m not so sure I’d call the 30s a time of disappoinment. This study makes it look like the 40s and 50s could be better, but calling the 30s a time of disappointment sounds like a headline grab to me.

[tags]Science, Sex, Satisfaction[/tags]