two things that made me laugh today

#1. Google "recursion."

#2. From the New Yorker April 29, 2013:

We got used to it.

"It takes time for an acorn to turn into an oak; but the oak is already implied in the acorn."

I hope you enjoy this absolutely lovely video as much as I did this evening.

"For example, people used to believe ... people who lived in the antiquities would fall off. And that was scary. But then when somebody sailed round the world, and we all got used to it, and we travel around in jet planes and everything... We have no problem thinking that the earth is globular. None whatever. We got used to it."

I have faith in mankind, that someday we will get used to a lot of the scientific ideas that are controversial today. Pretty neat to think about it.

Why you can't talk about how foxy-looking that lady is

I enjoyed reading this explanation in response to President Obama calling Kamala Harris the "best looking attorney general in the country" at a fundraiser. I hadn't heard about this incident, but I do identify with the feeling. (Though fortunately I have never been introduced as such. I don't think it would ever cross the average engineer's mind, thank goodness.) And I like the article because it's really funny too. What better way to break it down?

Along the same lines, I got to that article from this one, which describes a study in which study participants decided between hypothetical male and female political candidates. The conclusion is that the more the media talks about the woman's looks, even in a positive or neutral way, her percentage of the vote drops pretty dramatically.