Curiosity and intelligence

Curious Kitten (who is no longer a kitten, but we'll leave that to one side) has developed a fascination for what might be on top of the dresser. This, along with the top of the TV, is the only place outside of a closet or cabinet that the cats can't get to.

This lead me to think about curiosity generally. Cats are perhaps notoriously inquisitive; the fact that curiosity killed the cat is a cliche', testifies to that. People are also curious. Dogs are curious. Dolphins are, too. These are also intelligent species.

Does curiosity lead to, or require intelligence? Indulging in curiosity involves risk; it can lead on into dangerous situations where intelligence needed to survive - would evolution therefor tend to favor those who are both curious and intelligent, rather than just curious.

Not sure how to test that, though.

The 4th of July, the 1st Tuesday in November

I find it curious that we celebrate the day we declared our independence with parades and fireworks, but don't do the same on the day when we exercise it.

Magazine election poll

I was at a news stand last night and took a look at all of the magazines that I could find.

# of covers with a picture of Barak Obama: 8
# of covers with a picture of John McCain: 0

Jessica Fletcher does penace for Mrs Lovett

I've only seen Angela Lansbury in three roles: Jessica Fletcher, the amateur sleuth on TV's Murder, She Wrote; the devious mother in the film The Manchurian Candidate; and the possibly sociopathic Mrs. Lovett in the musical Sweeney Todd. Of course, Jessica Fletcher was the last of these roles that Ms Lansbury created. Was it in penance for the crimes of the other two?

Mars Bars ...

... aren't made on Mars.

It's false advertising.

Photos? Why?

I attended graduation for several of my friends today, and I was struck by the number of photos that people were taking. For instance, before the graduates-to-be appeared, people busily took photos of the empty stage. Why? Do they really think that they're going to want to look at that photo in the future? "Oh, lets look at the pix from Jonathan's graduation. Ooh - look, it's the stage! Can I get an 8 x 10 of that? And maybe one for my wallet, too?" One person near me took so many pictures that she killed the battery on her camera before they even started to award the degrees.

A few might have been checking light levels, focus, etcetera, but don't try to tell me that all of them were.

Something I wonder about Star Wars

If young Anakin is a poor slave, building a robot with parts that he's scavenged (and probably time that he's scavenged), then why is he building a protocol droid? Wouldn't it be more useful to him to have a robot that could do physical labor, to reduce the amount of work that he and his mother have to do? Or some sort of fighting robot, so he could gain freedom for his mother and himself?

If Darth Vader is from a long time ago...

... does that me that he ran on vacuum tubes?

In the same vein, what happens when he crashes?

Captain Piet: Beg pardon, My Lord, but Lord Vader has crashed again.
Grand Moff Tarkin: Just give him the three-fingered salute for me, will you?