It’s become trendy over the last few years to denigrate resolutions at the beginning of the year, mostly because we tend to glorify the rebel or the contrarian, and they tell us that a new year is a ridiculous time to make some hollow lifestyle change. The new thinking - the oh-so-evolved thinking - is that resolutions are trite, nothing more than worthless, empty self-challenges that can’t possibly succeed.
Well, I’m going to be contrarian to the contrarian way of thinking. I see no reason why January 1st - okay, maybe January 2nd - can’t be a time of self-examinati …
Braylon Edwards knows that he's been fortunate. His football abilities brought him to the University of Michigan, then on to the National Football League where he's had a long, if colorful, career.
But Edwards also knows that not every young person is so fortunate.
That's why, after signing a hefty rookie contract with the Cleveland Browns in 2005, he pledged $10,000 to 100 local eighth-graders to help pay for college. But as with any good receiver, there was a catch: the students each had to maintain a 2.5 GPA and donate at least 15 hours of community service.
Of the 100 kids who wer …
End-of-the-year lists are popular, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps we feel the need to tie up a calendar year with some form of encapsulation. Or we like to open a new year by placing the preceding year in perspective.
Or perhaps our brains just enjoy lists.
I looked at 2011 from the perspective of a science nerd, a writer, and someone involved in education, and collected my own personal favorite moments. They’re here, in no particular order, for your perusal.
Science
While some magazines offer as many as 100 of their top choices, I’ve narrowed it down to three stor …
Here's a question for you: The average woman has nine pairs of shoes with this in common. What is it?
That's just one of the 100 puzzlers that have helped make The Mindbender Book Volume 1 the top paperback non-fiction bestseller in Colorado this week.
The Denver Post compiles their list of bestsellers based on sales figures from a wide range of local stores. Here's a partial list of Colorado locations that carry the book:
Tattered Cover Book Store (three locations)
Barnes & Noble (multiple locations, including the Park Meadows store at 8374 S. Willow Lane)
The Book …
Welcome back to this very special year-end edition of News for Nerds. This week we'll look at the top nerdy holiday gifts for that very brainy person in your life, we'll explore the remote region of Asia that has recently uncovered 200 new animal species, and we'll get to the bottom of all this talk about the so-called 'God Particle'. But first: a little love for the lefties.
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Being left-handed can be a blessing and a curse. New research has shown that left-handed people are at higher risk for certain mental health issues, including ADHD, dyslexia and schizophrenia. Separate st …
Welcome back to News for Nerds! This week we'll take a look at what may be the world's biggest bug -- plus we'll get to the bottom of an unlikely relationship that involves an endangered species and a nuclear power plant, and a rare cosmic phenomenon that's coming to a town near you. But first: Is that you, Eos?
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The hunt for Earth-like planets is a long and expensive one. But with the discovery this week of a planet known as Kepler 22b, scientists say they're getting closer and closer to finding the elusive 'Goldilocks' planet -- so called because such a planet would be n …
It was Mark Twain's birthday recently. The late, great satirist would have been 176 years old on November 30. (And yet in this picture, he still doesn't look a day over 74.)
As a belated tip of the cap to one of the wisest and wittiest writers in our country's history, we thought we'd share this song from the terrific young Missouri band Ha Ha Tonka. It's called The Humorist, it's about Twain, it's very good, and it's embedded below.
As a bonus, we also bring you this interview with Ha Ha Tonka's Brian Roberts, from a blog called Songwriters on Process. It's a pretty fascinating look into …
After our Thanksgiving hiatus last week, welcome back to News for Nerds! This week we learn what Homer Simpson has in common with our prehistoric ancestors, we plumb the depths of an icy moon, and we scope out some seriously nerdy ink. But first: Remember what I'm about to tell you.
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If you've ever walked into a room only to forget why you were going there in the first place, fear not. It isn't just a 'senior moment.' The culprit is actually -- believe it or not -- the door you passed through on your way there.
A new study out of Notre Dame has shown that even college stu …
