Category: Non Fiction

Pavlov’s Audience

Classical Conditioning and the Invention of the Laugh Track I didn’t know what irony was when I first watched Hogan’s Heroes. I just knew I liked it. The theme song made me feel something, some strange blend of rebellion and optimism, like whistling past a graveyard. It was funny, but not in the way other […]

Alternative Energy Production

In September 1752 Benjamin Franklin erected an iron rod on top of his house for experimenting with lightning. A wire stretched from the iron rod down into the house and out again where he attached it to his well pump. The middle of the wire was split and bells were attached to either end. A […]