Friday, October 3, 2008

Ripped from the headlines, sorta

Here are some interesting stories that I found in today's papers online.

First, how in the hell do you steal a 450-pound pumpkin? I have no idea, but this man in Flint, MI had just that happen to him. His prize 450-pound gourd was stolen from his front yard.

Second, did you know that Coca Cola is an effective spermicide or that wires will inevitably tangle themselves in knots or that slime mold can find its way through a maze? Well, if followed the Ig Noble Prize winners you would know all of that. These awards are given for odd discoveries or research in legitimate science journals.

Third and this one is dedicated to Mathman, here in Chicago the schools are teaching about math using the baseball playoffs. A school near the White Sox park watch the baseball game on TV and learned about computing batting averages. But it seemed to be an excuse to watch some baseball with not as much learning which I fully endorse at times.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boxer -

Pepsi is going to use this to gain market share with the Fundies.

Regards,

Tengrain

Anonymous said...

Gotta tell MathMan!

Unknown said...

Boxer, thanks for the link. I have been really laying low lately. I have never used baseball much in my teaching but the Bears are always part of my first semester routine.