Editor’s Note:

66.67% of the contributors of this site have Vegas-induced Rubella, so if you’ve notice a drop-off in work-product this week, pat yourself on the freaking back.  Activity will pick up when we aren’t sidetracked by our insatiable desire for brains.

Out of Context Instant Message of the Day

6:31pm Alexander

this show is like a combo of walker tanger, spiderman, and every law procedural

it will make 100 million dollars

wow, walker tanger = walker texas ranger

Practical Solutions for California’s Budget Crisis

Now that the ballot measures intended to help shore up California’s deficit have gone down in flames, lawmakers are turning to inventive ways to raise new revenue.  You may have heard that State Assemblyman Ammiano recently drafted legislation that would legalize marijuana, and tax the sale of the drug.  What you may not know is that there are similar “outside-the-box” measures under consideration.  Five highlights after the jump:

Out of Context Instant Message of the Day

doubleimge: the pink eye is definitely from ben’s butt

Time Wasting, Vol. 3

Rules for Time Travel.

Always fun, although I have a couple of issues with the rules:

Rule Zero: No Paradoxes, because, according to the author, no true paradoxes can exist in the real world, only as concepts.  Someone tell that to the pre-observationally equally alive and dead Shrodinger’s Cat. (dealt with later in Rule 9: Parallel Universes…but I still think quantum superposition negates this rule)

Rule Five: Black Holes ≠ Time Machines, but wormholes could be. (Correct) Unfortunately no one knows how to make negative energy to keep them open (Incorrect).  We can’t manufacture Negative energy in sufficient quantities to make working wormholes…but we can make tiny amounts through the Casimir effect)

The article is still fun though.  If you like “Lost” you’ll recognize Rule 6: Whatever happened, happened (note: read that in the whispery nerd voice of Daniel Faraday)

(Sweet article from awesome science blog: Cosmic Variance)

**UPDATE**

If you ARE going to travel back in time, and you don’t mind creating a messed-up parallel universe, this might come in handy

The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round and ‘Round (for a seemingly interminable amount of time)

Who has two thumbs (one in working order, the other jammed all to heck) and is taking a 15 hour overnight bus ride to Las Vegas tomorrow?  This guy:

Microsoft Paint arrow indicating spaceman, not female Mario

Today in Science

Hey Gang!  Your trusty science correspondent Dr. Snerpus, here, with an exciting new development in science:  The discovery of a 47 million year old, remarkably well-preserved primate fossil that is possibly the precursor to everything from lemurs to humans.  (Synopsis here.  Full Scientific Paper here)

An artist's rendering of the "Missing Link" creature based on scientific evidence

It should be noted that the study appears flawed in a few respects.  The fossil is probably only about 3,500 years old, and it didn’t “evolve” into men, it died out for worshipping false idols.

Out of Context Instant Message of the Day

12:17pmDanny

yeah. your body gets mad at you and gives you a hangover

then you interrupt it by getting drunk

for alcoholics, it’s called stasis

for the rest of the world, it’s about the same mentality as starting a fire in your bedroom trashcan after being sent to your room for lighting a fire in the kitchen trashcan

Time Wasting, Vol. 90

I just found out about this website and I seem to be enjoying it.  News and profiles by young, smart, happy people.

http://thestimulist.com/

It’s Friday, and I’m tired

So if you don’t like these half-jokes, you can F off.

Uninformed Review: Lord of the Flies.

This is a book about the largest fly in existence, Gauromydas heros.  Because it is so large, it can be considered the “King” of all the Flies, hence the title.  This is a picture of some other type of fly that I stole from this blog about Africa Science

Hey, you don’t think that is clever?  Well you can F’ing die.