Casey's Law of Hipsterism

Much research and testing went into creating a definition of hipsterism for future scientific debate.

Definitions:

Let j = "tightness of jeans"

Let c = "time since last haircut"

Let u = number of times the subject has dismissively uttered "I liked it before it was cool"

Let i = "irony of eyewear or t-shirts"

Let R'(t) be the frequency of obscure cultural references over time t

Hipsterism (H) as a function of age (t) is defined as the following:

As you can see, the significance of the utterance “I liked it before it was cool” becomes diminished as the subject ages, and irrelevant after 35, as it is more likely to be a factually accurate statement at that time. The choice of clothing has no relationship to age and is consistent regardless of the subject’s age, but the obscure cultural references compound over time.

I present these findings for peer review, and for the edification of my peers and future students of the science of human behavior.

Read more responses to the question "what is a hipster?" at The Inclusive.

A Terminal System

America either has the best health care in the world or the worst of the developed nations. It is either a proud bastion of capitalism that our Kenyan president and his liberal elites are trying to destroy through socialism, or it is a greedy and broken den of thieves decimating the livelihoods of those Americans who are unfortunate enough to get sick. The Affordable Care Act (most often called by its quippy nickname, “Obamacare”) is being challenged in the Supreme Court. The court is expected give its ruling on the subject in the next few days, but there are many emotions involved in this touchy subject no matter the result.

I had a recent run-in with the health care system that left me on the fence, both challenging and reinforcing the various expectations I had about the status quo. One afternoon about a month ago, I noticed some mild but still unpleasant stomach cramps. I assumed I’d eaten something bad, or perhaps was just having a reaction to stress, so I ignored it and went about my day. But by midnight, I was in so much pain I couldn’t even stand up straight...

Read more at: http://theinclusive.net/article.php?id=751

Hapless Star Devoured by Black Hole

Black holes: infinitely deep pits from which nothing can escape. They’ve captured the imaginations of scientists, writers, and the general population, and are commonly found in science fiction, pop culture, and common vernacular. But despite our interest in black holes, we actually know very little about them.

This year has been awash with tales of black holes devouring other cosmic entities. In February, NASA reported that the supermassive black hole at the center of our very own galaxy was “snacking” on asteroids. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have detected a supermassive black hole approximately two billion light years from us that recently swallowed an entire star.