Entries by Wallace Smith

Seeing Things from 30,000 Feet—a “How To” Guide

This should be brief, but hopefully helpful. As I type this right now, I’m on a plane flying at 30,000 feet. (Technically, the pilot says it’s about 33,000 feet, but round figures are so attractive.) The plane is experiencing a little turbulence, but, frankly, I like it that way. It reminds me I’m literally flying […]

Blubber Rain: Lessons from an Exploding Whale Carcass

Bone fragments, chunks of rotting whale meat, slabs of stinking blubber, droplets of liquids, and a fine mist of various carcass fluids all rained down from a clear sky. Over the ocean? On a deserted beach? No. On a crowd of 75 fleeing spectators and their cars filling makeshift parking lots outside of Florence, Oregon, […]

Podcast: The Case of the Cud-Chewing Pig

For this second episode of the podcast, we visit a question submitted at a camp Teen Bible Study many years ago that went unanswered at the time: If scientists are able to “create” a pig that chews the cud, is it clean to eat? It may not seem a question of cosmic importance, but diving […]