Categories
Agriculture Fashion Scholarship/Erudition Texas

Troubling Tassel Turmoil

Following yesterday’s detasseling BLOTT, we would be remiss if we failed to relay the tassel confusion that occurred at Texas A&M University several years ago. As the official Event Coordinator for Texas A&M‘s commencement, Callahan ‘Cactus Jack’ Kleberg had one job: order tassels. Being an agricultural school, Cactus Jack thought they were corn tassels. You […]

Categories
Egypt History Scholarship/Erudition

Amanirenas, the One-Eyed Queen

As our marketing team was doing due diligence with our new line of playing cards, we discovered that there were no “one-eyed” queens in a standard deck. According to Elder G: However, the Google was able to provide more general information on the “one-eyed” queen. From the cool site Wonderopolis The reign of Kandake Amanirenas […]

Categories
Fine Arts Scholarship/Erudition

Peas in Art, History, and Religion

Adjunct to Pea Cutlets / Січеники з гороху Modern Interpretations of the Pea The Post-Apocalyptic Pea Ancient Pea Worship Heretical Cult of the Pea The Cult of the Pea Goddess The School of Rubenesque Pea Art Pea Nymphs of the Hearth, Field, and Forest The WLBOTT Elders Prep Peas at the Ladle & Lube

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England Italy Scholarship/Erudition

A Well-Curated Joke

I have been carefully curating my son’s life so that, at the appropriate moment, I could present him with this joke. His curating process included an immersion in American pop culture, European Renaissance history, Roman Catholic Cannon Law, a WLBOTT-compatible sense of humor, and a love of boiled eggs. So here’s the joke: Q: What […]

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Book Club Mildly Interesting Scholarship/Erudition

Eric Hoffer: An Introduction

I periodically resort the books on my bookshelf. Previously, they were sorted by how useful they’d be during a Zombie Apocalypse. But today, my new sorting algorithm is this: How likely would I be able to defeat the author at arm wrestling? On the easy side (left), we have Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, and […]

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England Meaning of Life Outer Space Scholarship/Erudition TechnoBLOTT

Dr. Who: The Missing Years

A WLBOTT RESEARCH PROPOSAL [Thanks to UC#1 for his research proposal] One of the great unsolved mysteries of life is, “How can I watch the missing ‘Dr Who’ episodes?” Extensive research has been done in BBC archival sites, personal collections and homes of known hoarders, but many of the early episodes remain lost to the […]

Categories
Mildly Interesting Nature Scholarship/Erudition TechnoBLOTT

Periodic Table Rabbit Hole

Today we go down the Periodic Table rabbit hole. Many of today’s screen shots are from the excellent web site Periodic Tables.com Human Abundance What exactly are you full of? https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/HumanAbundance.html Q: Did you hear about the boy that ate uranium?A: He got an atomic ache. Notice how uranium is present in the human body. […]

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Canada Engineering England Scholarship/Erudition TechnoBLOTT Will there be a buffet?

The Godfather of Artificial Intelligence

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two pioneers of artificial intelligence — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats for humanity. Hinton, who is known as the godfather of […]

Categories
Meaning of Life Scholarship/Erudition

Early Christian Census

Elder G: Early Christianity’s growth during the first three centuries is a fascinating topic, especially considering the challenges it faced. Estimates for the number of Christians during the first three centuries are challenging because of the lack of reliable data, but historians have made educated guesses based on available records, demographic trends, and growth models. […]

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Gods, Goddesses, and Mythical Heros Greece Meaning of Life Scholarship/Erudition

Kaos

Kaos is a new 8-episode series on Netflix. WLBOTT Ministry of Virtue and ViceNot for the children. Maybe not for some adults. There is violence. There is gender-bending. There is satire of organized religion. Although not graphically explicit, there are scenes that imply animal cruelty. Kaos is an unusually creative and though-provoking fantasy. Set in […]