Monthly Archives: October 2014

What If? Rejects #1.2: Fire

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Previous post in this series: Teeth. Next post in this series: Antimatter. I am working through the questions in Randall Munroe’s book, What If? that Randall declined to answer. Here is the second one. Q. How many houses are burned … Continue reading →

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Dissecting Spam

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

How is it that spam/phishing emails can look so convincing in some ways, but so blatantly fake in other ways? It’s always baffled me how messages riddled with ch4racter substituti0ns can look at all legitimate and worth clicking on. Phishing … Continue reading →

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What If? Rejects #1.1: Teeth

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Next post in this series: Fire. Randall Munroe’s bestselling book, What If? answers many absurd hypothetical questions with serious scientific answers. However, there are a number of questions that Randall refuses to answer and prints solely for entertainment value. These … Continue reading →

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Book Review: What If? by Randall Munroe

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Q. What would happen if the Earth and all terrestrial objects suddenly stopped spinning, but the atmosphere retained its velocity? A. Nearly everyone would die. Then things would get interesting. Q. Which US state is actually flown over the most? … Continue reading →

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