A Note from Poppa: Today we have brought in a very special guest to the Cottage. Watch his tremendous proposal to Make America Great Again. Or you can read the full transcript below. Not since Jonathan Swift has someone come up with such a magnificent proposal. https://youtu.be/6KKr4oYwAPs A Tremendous Proposal For building a big beautiful wall – a real... Continue Reading →
Donald Trump Is My President: An Analysis of What the Fuck Just Happened
Here at the Cottage, my family and I, like most of the world, were shocked/stunned/surprised (dumbfounded, flabbergasted, stupefied, blindsided, bewildered, nutpunched?) that Donald Trump was elected president earlier this month. As what was supposed to be celebratory wine turned to bitter anodyne, a tumultuous fracas erupted in my head. My id, assholish as always, battled... Continue Reading →
Scientific Policy
What kind of world would we live in if politics were largely guided by science rather than greed or special interests? Under new prime minister Justin Trudeau, Canada is revamping its environmental policy to "ensure that decisions on major projects are based on science, facts, and evidence." Funny that this is, in the words of Science... Continue Reading →
Donald Trump is a Narcissist… and a Psychopath… and a Fascist… and a Liar
I spent the morning channeling Donald Trump. I feel for the guy - he just doesn't get much media play. So I figured, via the huge readership of this blog, maybe we can garner some much-needed attention for The Donald. Donald Trump has been variously described as a narcissist, a fascist, and a psychopath. Of... Continue Reading →
Poppa’s Internet Fuckwad Theory
There's a popular equation about internet trolling called the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory (GIFT): I like the sentiment of this theory, but I think it's missing a wee little detail. You see, before Al Gore invented the internet* there were these things called bathroom stalls, and that's where trolls used to find release (sometimes literally)... Continue Reading →
Rat Love
We've spent a fair amount of time (too much?) discussing the plight of lab mice, so it's time to give the lab rat its due. Rats are amazing little critters, and they have a lot to tell us about ourselves, especially if we subject them to torturous trials and tribulations. In a recent study, rats... Continue Reading →
Irrational Actors
As mentioned in a recent post, we mostly-hairless apes are genetically sucky actors when it comes to economics. In many ways, we display similar irrational behavior to our relatives the capuchin monkeys. Capuchins, like us, don't want to give up something we already have, even for more than we would be willing to pay for... Continue Reading →
Tabula Plena
"I think we have reason to believe that the mind is equipped with a battery of emotions, drives, and faculties for reasoning and communicating, and that they have a common logic across cultures, are difficult to erase or redesign from scratch, were shaped by natural selection acting over the course of human evolution, and owe... Continue Reading →
Getting More Cows
"War, unh, Good god, y'all, What is it good for?" Well, apparently we have an answer to that question now. War is good for getting more cows, which is of course good for getting more women, which is essential to maxing out how many babies you sire. And from a woman's perspective, hooking up with... Continue Reading →
Shocking News
Some scientists get to have a lot of fun. "Hey, let's do an experiment where we get to shock people - there are endless possibilities here. Oh, and maybe we'll learn some stuff." These scientists determined that people would sacrifice a certain amount of pay not to be shocked (no surprise there), but they would sacrifice... Continue Reading →
Poppa's Cottage 