Contrarian readers just can't get enough of those starlings: H/T: Joshua...

10 November, 2011

Contrarian friend Dave Atkinson one-ups that video of a starling flock's undulations. Walking home the other day from my work at the University of Prince Edward Island, I saw two men ahead of me on the Confederation Trail. They were mesmerized by something in the sky. One of them was taking photographs with his phone. At first, I thought they were watching an eagle, as they're not uncommon in Charlottetown. When I caught up to them, they asked if I could see the magic smoke. "Magic smoke?" I asked, wondering if they'd inhaled some. "Yeah, look!" Low on the horizon, a few hundred metres away, whisps of...

07 November, 2011

Two women in a canoe on Ireland's River Shannon stumble across one of nature’s greatest phenomena: a murmuration of starlings. Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo. H/T to The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal who writes: The starlings coordinated movements do not seem possible, but then there they are doing it. Scientists have been similarly fascinated by starling movement. Those synchronized dips and waves seem to hold secrets about perception and group dynamics. Last year, Italian theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi took on the challenge of explaining the murmuration. What he found, as ably explained by my old Wired colleague Brandon Keim, is that the math equations that...

07 November, 2011

Sunni Brown thinks the stigma against absent minded jottings is misplaced: The bottom line: People who doodle when they are exposed to verbal information retain more of that information than their non-doodling counterparts. We think doodling is something you do when you lose focus, but in reality, it is a preemptive measure to stop you from losing focus...

23 October, 2011

When people learn that my son Silas and his wife Jenn Power adopted a pair of identical twins with Down Syndrome, they often say one of two things: "I could never do that," or "You must be saints." I love Silas and Jenn beyond measure, and admire them hugely, but I can attest they are not saints. The explanation for their decision to adopt Josh and Jacob lies elsewhere. As members of the L'Arche Community in Iron Mines, Orangedale, and Mabou, Cape Breton, Silas and Jenn have lots of experience working and living with developmentally disabled people. It's what they like doing,...

08 October, 2011

A Cape Breton and Central Nova Freight makes its way across the Canso Causeway during that no'reaster last Wednesday, pictured here earlier in this video. H/T: Bob MacEachern of 101.5 The Hawk via Charlie Phillips...

08 October, 2011

Hint: It's closer than you think. Jon Stewart reveals that Halifax is the real promised land. Best quote: What's wrong with you two? You can't even get along in Nova Scotia. It's the most polite part of Canada. Watch it quick before the Comedy Channel yanks it from YouTube. H/T: Andy Weissman...

06 October, 2011

Radio station 101.5 The Hawk posted this video of a trip back and forth across the Canso Causeway mid-afternoon Wednesday, at the height of the nor'easter that ripped through Cape Breton. Officials later closed the causeway for a period. H/T: 101.5 The Hawk via Cathy Gallagher. ...

06 October, 2011
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