Yesterday morning I did my last potentially useful act at work: I sat with a group of my team members and answered questions they had, while...

Interesting image in today's raw image dump from Curiosity (on Mars).  This one is from the MHLI camera, showing a close-up of the rocky...

I was simply gobsmacked by this story out today about a new report from the National Research Council . The lead: In the galactic scheme ...

Check out the map at right. It shows how long it took to travel from New York City to various parts of the eastern U.S. – in 1830.  Looks ...

Holman Jenkins, writing in the WSJ($) , sets us straight: Said the New York Times climate blog, in an assertion that was echoed throughou...

Today is my last day at work; I'm officially retired as of this afternoon. Wow. I'll be back blogging tomorrow...

Via my mom (the first one) and reader Jim M.:

Via reader Jim M.: LITTLE JOHNNY STRIKES AGAIN The teacher asked the class to use the word 'fascinate' in a sentence. Molly ...

Via friend and colleague Aleck L.: Ha!

Via the irreplaceable Rachel Lucas , whose dog looks just like this one: This brings tears to my eyes...

I have a hard time accepting that these are for real.  Many more photos here , and explanations here .  In some of the photos, it seems cl...

Via my mom, who loves Country & Western music.  I'd never figured out why, but now I begin to understand.  I might have to listen t...

Yesterday I heard from my friend Cliff F. that a former colleague of ours, Art Collmeyer, had died this past September at age 70.  I knew hi...

Martian rocks are covered with a thick layer of reddish dust and dirt, largely obscuring the actual characteristics of the rocks themselve...

The intrepid Cassini robot explorer is still zipping around the Saturnian system, returning reams and reams of great science data.  One pr...

Another nice collection of Linux command line tricks ...

What's the difference between “Holland” and “The Netherlands”?  The answer is much more interesting – and involved –  than I expected i...

It never occurred to me that the physics of dominoes would be interesting:

Oatmeal's latest comic; a story about a cat named Domino .  It's a sad story with a happy ending...

When it comes to producing collectible rants, few living authors can match Megan McArdle.  She's just published another fine one, this t...