Author: honeyrand

  • Scientists say that spiders dream

    Covid produced some interesting stuff. One German scientist, while on lockdown, noticed that spiders would twitch and move as they slept. This occurred in a regular pattern. She thought they looked like the jerky movements of dogs and cats as they sleep (and frankly, people, too.) Occasionally, the spiders would…

  • $%^*&%#&(^

    $%^*&%#&(^

    Discover Magazine says skip the swear jar. In a June 202o article, Alex Orlando reported that letting a few choice words out during a workout can actually strengthen you. So, pain tolerance. Another study found that people who curse lie less and have a higher degree of integrity. So, trustworthy.…

  • The FOODGASM

    The FOODGASM

    For about 3.5 years, I’ve been doing low carbs, jokingly saying I lost 30 lbs without giving up bourbon, beer, or weed (though I did switch to light beer). THIS month I switched to the Mediterranean diet, and it’s going pretty well, though admittedly, for the month I’ve given up…

  • What’s Lost?

    What’s Lost?

    At least two days a week I hit the road for a 3+ mile walk. These days I’m on the actual road, not a trail. On those walks I’ve seen and found some remarkable stuff. And some gross stuff. And some weird stuff like that time someone had put a…

  • Bees are in trouble. Scientists have a vax for that.

    Bees are in trouble. Scientists have a vax for that.

    You know that bee populations are in trouble, right? Lots of us have native landscaping to support the pollinators, all of them. But scientists have come up with a bee vaccine to protect them from devastating bacteria. Or, as I think of it, “there’s a vax for that.” I’ve been…

  • A School System Preparing for the Future

    A School System Preparing for the Future

    Years ago, at a conference, I heard Alvin Toffler (author of Future Shock and The Third Wave) speak about education. His point is more relevant today than it was decades ago, before the first school shooting. His basic premise was that our school system was designed for manufacturing. We shove…

  • Through the Screen

    Through the Screen

    I’ve read one book and seen two movies that are told “through the screen” or through emails and transcribed voicemails. There have apparently been more than the two I’ve seen on the screen. It seems right, doesn’t it? Or wrong, since we spend so much time glued to our little…

  • Lizard at Lunch

    Lizard at Lunch

    I spend a fair amount of time outside. I am not “gardening” or “puttering” I am moving rocks or mulch or fill dirt around our three-acre yard. I also pick up dog poo from his 90-lb rescue labradoodle. Last weekend it was digging out confederate Jasmine to liberate some rocks…

  • Ants Smell Cancer

    Ants Smell Cancer

    Dogs detect diabetes and epilepsy and cancer of several varieties. They have for years. Some are trained to detect disease, others are just paying attention to their human family members. But humans cannot rely on dogs alone. As it turns out, ants can smell cancer, too. The way we diagnose…

  • Gas. Cow gas, not car gas.

    Gas. Cow gas, not car gas.

    Cows emit a lot of gas. Methane. They burp. They poot and their “waste” collects in ponds and lagoons with more greenhouse grasses. Technology to the rescue! Maybe NASA’s carbon-to-oxygen conversion tech can get the job done. Bill Gates is investing in some new tech to manage cow burps. There’s…