There’s an unusual way to celebrate Easter in the Washington, D.C. area. The National Zoo hosts a major annual event on Easter Monday, which is an unofficial holiday celebrated by African Americans in D.C. since the 1890s. This event is believed to have started because black housekeepers had to work on Easter Sunday, so they
For anyone out there who loves science, especially astronomy, and is fascinated by the size and diversity of the universe (like I am), Astronomy magazine has released the “27 Best Hubble images on its 27th birthday” (http://astronomy.com/news/2017/04/best-of-hubble-images?spMailingID=28849033&spUserID=NDYyNDk0Mjk0MTgxS0&spJobID=1024146748&spReportId=MTAyNDE0Njc0OAS2). Recall the Hubble space telescope was launched into low Earth orbit on April 24, 1990. With a 2.4-meter
Dog owners are quite familiar with the look their pet gives when it knows it’s done something wrong — a bowed head and very large, sad eyes. Biologist Nathan Lents, writing in Psychology Today, has a name for that look: the “apology bow.” But it apparently is more than an attempt to gain your sympathy.
A word for today — onymity. Don’t worry, it’s not an insult. The clue to its meaning is it’s the opposite of anonymity (not being named). Onymity simply means being named. So what? A recent article in the journal Science Advances is entitled “Onymity Promotes Cooperation in Social Dilemma Experiments”. This work reports on a
April 22 is celebrated around the world as Earth Day. The Earth Day Network ( http://www.earthday.org/) considers this the world’s largest secular holiday, with its celebrants estimated at about a billion people. So who’s idea was this? According to The Writers’ Almanac (http://writersalmanac.org/), it started with a politician. Senator Gaylord Nelson ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Nelson) was an
Your first thought is probably astrology. But astrology (how do I say this nicely?) has no scientific basis. And yet, there appears to be a more fundamental, and very earthbound, answer to this question. According to an article in Time magazine’s daily news brief of April 17, 2017, the key may not be the month
Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, but I have been traveling. (I ran the Boston Marathon on April 17, 2017, but that’s another very long story.) But while listening to podcast on the drive back from Boston, I heard of a special day I never would’ve thought necessary. It’s called Email Debt Forgiveness Day. Have
Ah, American ingenuity! The creative people of The Walt Disney Company’s theme parks, the Imagineers, put out a book that highlights the old joke — Q. How many Imagineers does it take to change a lightbulb? A. Does it have to be a lightbulb? Now submissions for building President Trump’s border wall are showing similar
Have you seen any dollar coins in circulation lately? The U.S. Mint began making coins of this denomination with the imagine of the Shoshone woman Sacagawea in 2000. (Recall her claim to fame was as a guide for the Lewis & Clark expedition.) Using coins rather than dollar bills would be a significant savings, since
On August 21, 2017, fourteen states will witness one of the universe’s most impressive phenomenons — a total solar eclipse. (See the path across the states at http://www.astronomy.com/great-american-eclipse-2017.) Throughout human history, eclipses have brought fear and wonder into people’s lives. Fortunately, we now understand exactly what’s happening. But in the past, they have literally changed
