Daily Archives: April 21, 2012

4 posts

Meet Worm Wrangler John Anderson

John Anderson: "I got a stampede once!"

A frequent sighting in central Colorado’s festivals, farmers’ markets, and Earth Day events is John Anderson, “the worm man.” Happy to teach both children and adults the benefits of vermicomposting(worm composting) his mantra is “starve a landfill, feed a worm.”

I had the honor of meeting Anderson in person at a permaculture certification course at the Lyons Farmette in the spring of 2010. He showed up in his refurbished 1975 Dodge ambulance, now called the “wormbulance,” to teach us the finer points of vermicomposting. Continue reading →

Academic Experts Discuss the Talking Pineapple Test Question

New Yorkers this week are increasingly perplexed by a reading passage appearing in a standardized state exam for eighth-graders that at first glance appears to be an Aesop’s fable haphazardly rewritten by a 12-year old with ADHD. Yet despite the best efforts of Jeopardy winner Ken Jennings to answer the questions, his analysis was woefully limited in scope and failed to consider the far-reaching ramifications of the answer choices in the context of all available knowledge. Thus, we asked our fictitious team of self-proclaimed legal and economic experts to address the questions in greater depth, let’s call them Bill and Ted. The following discussion did not ensue: Continue reading →

Indiana’s Little 500: The World’s Greatest College Weekend

“I’ve attended Super Bowls, World Series’, and the Monaco Grand Prix, but the coolest event I ever attended was the Little 500.” – Lance Armstrong –

The official description of the Little 500 is that it is an intramural relay-style bicycle race held annually at Indiana University, in which riders compete in teams of four and ride for 200 laps, or approximately 50 miles. Continue reading →