How To Boil A Frog is a comedic look at the issue of "overshoot," the idea that there are too many people living on too little planet. The filmmaker looks at 5 problems related to this: overpopulation, war on nature, rich vs poor, Peak Oil, and global warming. Then, he gives 5 solutions for us as individuals to consider. I found this short film many years after its release, but it has had a profound impact on me. I often consider how my choices and actions fit into the 5 solutions part of the film, and my 3 year old and I watch it regularly. To me, the film is inspiring, eye opening, and even emotional (weird). And, even today, solutions suggested in 2009 seem to come up in other scientific studies and policy ideas. I admit tha... read more

In the past, if pressed, I probably would not have said I had a specific interest in astronomy. But, I've always had this interest in objects in space. Tell me more about the planet Mercury or give me some amazing numbers on the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy. However, in finding this PBS Digital Studios series, it turns out that I'm an astronomy nut! Written and hosted by Phil Plait, this series of 46 short episodes is almost the perfect way to dive into this huge field. I was originally drawn to the series when I noticed there were individual episodes on each of the planets in our solar system. Awesome.  But, planets are just the tip of the iceberg. Stars are even more interesting. And, the whole thing culminates in a hugely fascina... read more

While listening to Howard Stern one day a few months ago, I heard a discussion of a news story where a man had been denied the right to wear a colander on his head for his drivers license photo. At some point, there was mention of Pastafarianism and a spaghetti monster. It all seemed to warrant some additional exploration. It turns out that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was the brainchild of physics student Bobby Henderson and was initially part of an argument against teaching intelligent design in the Kansas public schools. My favorite discovery in doing a little reading about this movement is the philosophical argument known as Russell's teapot. According to Wikipedia, Russell's teapot is "an argument that the philosop... read more