Join the Club!

Still subscribed to this old course blog? Nice.

So, I'm trying to start up a school club -- the "Owning Our Ignorance" club -- devoted to fun and logic, in that order. I've put up a blog for it over here.

Check it out. Please join if you're interested.

Penguin Digestion Experts? You Bet!

So you didn't believe me when I said that there are experts on the subject of penguin digestion? Oh, you did? Fine, well, I'll prove it to you, anyway. Here are some academic articles on the topic:

• Adjustments of gastric pH, motility and temperature during long-term preservation of stomach contents in free-ranging incubating king penguins from a 2004 issue of Journal of Experimental Biology
  
• Feeding Behavior of Free-Ranging King Penguins (Aptenodytes Patagonicus) from a 1994 issue of Ecology

Of course, no list would be complete without the often-cited, groundbreaking 1985 Ornis Scandinavica article:

• Differential Digestion of Fish and Squid in Jackass Penguins Spheniscus demersus

Perhaps my favorite, though, is the following:

• Pressures produced when penguins pooh—calculations on avian defaecation from a 2003 issue of Polar Biology
  

If any of these articles are above your head (I think they're all above mine!), you might like this, uh, simpler video demonstration of penguin digestion.

The Best of the Homework

Here are some of my favorite arguments you came up with on the homework.

From Emily:

(P1) All toasters are items made of gold.
(P2) All items made of gold are time travel devices.
(C) All toasters are time travel devices.

I want some future-toast, spread with alternate-1985 mixed fruit jelly.

From Stefan:

(P1) This pen writes with black ink.
(P2) Black ink from pens sets paper on fire.
(P3) I'm writing on this paper right now.
(C) This paper is on fire.

His homework was tough to grade.

From India:

(P1) Girlfriends is a TV show.
(P2) All TV shows are good.
(C) Girlfriends is a good show.

Slate agrees!

From Chris:

(P1) If Sean wears a Journey t-shirt, he is lame.
(P2) Sean wears a Journey t-shirt.
(C) Sean is lame.

I wish the second premise were false.

Satan's Fingers? The Hospital Bombers?

OK, before we start rocking all night, perhaps we should come up with a name for our logic band. What's a good name for us? Don & the Fugly Emo Kids?

Hmmm... hopefully, you can come up with better names than that. Post some names in the comments to this post.

(Extra love to anyone who knows what the title of this post refers to.)