majak

 Why is it so hard to pin someone down to an agreed interpretation of what a particular phrase or sentence means? […] Language is not intended for debates. For pre-Darwinian philosophers like Descartes, who believed that language was designed and delivered to humans by a divine power, this must have been almost impossible to understand. Only when we recognize that language is a human invention, designed for a specific purpose, can we see that there are some things which language just can’t do.

Here’s a simple example: imagine there are two types of fruit tree that grow on Mars. They look completely identical, but one smells of oranges and the fruit is instantly fatal: the other smells of lemons and the fruit is sweet and healthy. A party of starving explorers gets in touch with you by radio and asks for your help in determining which fruits they can eat. The only problem is that they grew up on Venus and have never smelt either an orange or a lemon before.

Okay, i know i’ve had a lot of posts lately that are not directly biology related, but this one is just way too cool not to share with all of my wonderful followers.

Heres the basics: In a lab about 50 miles outside of San Francisco, scientists are soon going to try to form a tiny star right here…

Also worth checking out is the very interesting and less technical article on Comic Book Grammar and Tradition detailing the lesser known rules of word balloon placement, form, color and content.

Four Catholic men and a Catholic woman were having coffee.

The first Catholic man tells his friends, “My son is a priest, when he walks into a room, everyone calls him ‘Father’.”

The second Catholic man chirps, “My son is a Bishop. When he walks into a room people call him ‘Your Grace’.”

The third Catholic gent says, “My son is a Cardinal. When he…

On Tor.com. Up to volume 6 now.