Check out today’s episode of TMIweekly, wherein Mary discusses cute exercise clothes to inspire us all to work out. I actually brought my gym gear to Vegas!!  I’m looking forward to being motivated by the girls - last time we were here, at the Hard Rock for Randi’s bachelorette, Mary gave me ...

Quantum Aspects of Life is a collection of papers edited by Derek Abbott, Paul Davies, and Arun K. Pati which was recently published by the Imperial College Press (this review refers to the paperback edition). The target topic of the book is the role played by quantum mechanics (QM) in living things...

Yesterday, I was with my wife in the L'Occitane store. The shelves were filled with fragrances, soaps, lotions: all sorts of handcrafted beauty products. It occured to me while looking at the labels that I have no idea how these products were made. I am reasonably versed in chemistry, but the proces...

Anybody who knew me back when I was in sixth grade could probably have figured out that I was a Dangerous Nutjob... or at least, someone with the potential to become one. The kind of person who would keep dangerous chemical reagents in his college dorm room, for example. Substances like concentrated...

A version of this piece ran last month in the Tribune's Arts & Entertainment section, but this is the longer "director's cut." MC BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Dustin Hoffman was illuminating a room full of reporters on the intricacies of his craft when he suddenly muttered, “This guy wa...

If there is anyone out there thinking of doing a Humanities major at a university (any university), I will give you some unsolicited advice. DO NOT DO IT; IT IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME AND MONEY . Go back to school; learn your math and do a hard science like Physics, Chemistry, or Mathematics. ANY HARD...

This is an annual tradition here at Crushed by Inertia - one of the few I've managed to keep up - and so even though I've been blogging less lately, I wasn't going to skip it. (Also stay tuned for my "Best Movies of the Year" list, which is currently being written. (I still have to see a few big, Os...

Now comes the second part of my 2008 reading list, which turns from current affairs to unalloyed history. In an effort to be orderly, I’ll keep to approximately chronological order. All of Western poetry flows from ancient Greece, and most of it from a handful of poets living in a small area aroun...

I woke up this Sunday morning feeling chock full of vim and vigor, but after checking email, showering, and feeding the cats I was struck by a wave of lethargy that robbed me of my initiative. Now, this wouldn't ordinarily be an issue, as I would heartily say that everyone is entitled to as many nap...

A new year is usually a time for hope. But today many of us are full of doubt. The financial crisis has brought wave after wave of bad news, replacing the old certainties with a sense of dread and insecurity. And then there's terrorism, climate change and social breakdown... Are our nightmares based...