WHY have we been told that salt is so deadly? Well, the advice has always sounded reasonable. It has what nutritionists like to call “biological plausibility.” Eat more salt and your body retains water to maintain a stable concentration of sodium in your blood. This is why eating salty food tends to make us thirsty:…
I’m generally ambivalent about the whole “LinkedIn experience,” but if it wants to inspire confidence, the company should devote the same amount of attention it currently places on badgering its members on tightening its security. —LinkedIn: now officially the most annoying of all social media | Loren Steffy | a Chron.com blog. Similar:Beatrix Potter-pinching and…
In an age when the concept of “separation of church and state“ was unthinkable, the Corpus Christi Play was an integral part of the religious, economic, political and artistic context of life in medieval York. —York Corpus Christi Play Similar:Brilliant, Troubled Dorothy Parker by Robert GottliebIn 1915, Parker, aged twenty-two, went t…CultureThe Myth of the Fake Geek…
Interesting collection of reflections on the status of cyberpunk, that branch of science fiction devoted to the exploration of dystopian networks and augmentations and hacking and information, rather than galactic empires, huge space objects, aliens among us, etc. It Evolved Into Birds: Ten Science-Fictional Thinkers On the Past and Future of Cyberpunk Similar:Touch Me Now:…
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, ‘This,’ said I, ‘requires an extra dram of milk, my favorite pour.’ To the icebox I aspired, motivated to admire How its avocado pigment complemented my decor. Then I grasped its woodgrain handle – here I opened wide the door; – Darkness there, and nothing more.…
And there was much rejoicing. The journals of the Modern Language Association, including PMLA, Profession, and the ADE and ADFL bulletins, have adopted new open-access-friendly author agreements, which will go into use with their next full issues. The revised agreements leave copyright with the authors and explicitly permit authors to deposit in open-access repositories and…
I certainly tell my literature and video game students that they’ll have to study texts that they might not choose to pick up on their own, and I remind my journalism students that part of their job is to find what is important and make it interesting to the reader. I deliberately teach my “new…
By 2015, all food and beverage products that are advertised, promoted or sponsored on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Radio Disney, Disney.com and Saturday morning programming for kids on ABC-owned stations (Disney owns ABC) will have to meet the company’s nutrition criteria for limiting calories and reducing saturated fat, sodium and sugar. Many…
I was at a “serious games” conference several years ago. During a crowded seminar, where I found myself seated on the floor because there were no open seats, one of the industry types was frowning because an educator kept speaking critically of testing. “If you don’t test,” asked the pragmatic businessperson, “how can you assess?”…
I’d argue that what’s happening is that we’re becoming like the mal-formed weight lifter who trains only their upper body and has tiny little legs. We’re radically over-developing the parts of quick thinking, distractable brain and letting the long-form-thinking, creative, contemplative, solitude-seeking, thought-consolidating pieces of our brain atrophy by not using them. And, to me,…
Similar:xkcd: Pathogen ResistanceThis is just an excerpt. Read the whole …AmusingFamily Business (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 23) Quark feuds with his mother…Rewatching ST:DS9 The opening acts re…AmusingPuns really matter to us over here in English.I swore I would wield my powers only for…AcademiaWould YOU trade a Hank Aaron rookie card for a…
This is how my parents finish their Argentine Tango routine. My mother says, “I’d like to get up now.” My father looks down at her. “Oh, you would, would you?” Similar:Past Tense, Part 1 (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 11) Plot contrivance particl…Rewatching ST:DS9 The Defiant is ferr…CultureStudying STEM Isn’t The Career Boost We…
I love this story! Mr. Ackerman — Please excuse Tyler… he was with me!” Obama wrote on 11-year-old Tyler Sullivan’s behalf. The Rochester boy skipped school Friday to attend Obama’s visit to a Honeywell factory in Golden Valley with his dad. President Obama writes sick note for 11-year-old Minnesota boy (VIDEO) – NY Daily News. Similar:‘A…
My daughter shared the role of Alice this weekend (she played “Small Alice”). On one night, she also doubled as the mouse, for a different Alice. Similar:Behind the art: The Westmoreland's 'Death of Elaine' beloved of staff and visitorsI always slow down and spend some time w…AestheticsIn April, 2002, I was blogging about an autistic…
I love the obscure Prufrock reference win this Washington Post story: So as the motorcades come and go, are they talking of Marco Rubio? via Is Bilderberg a conference on world affairs or a powerful global cabal? Similar:Blaze of Glory #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 23) Sisko needs imprisoned traito…Rewatching ST:DS9 At dinner with…
Similar:Shakespeare-themed Math PuzzlesI didn’t know I had a Shakespeare-themed…AmusingPaleo-Future: robotsThis is from the robots category of Pale…AestheticsYesterday's Enterprise (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 15) Alternate histor…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….MediaPrepare to lower the personnel deployment gondola from the forward eployment bay, two deck… AestheticsIt’s been a while since something got me into a…
In the grand scheme of things, this means very little… but still, it’s kind of cool to be one in a billion. —email tips – Google Search. Similar:‘Broken Age’ ReviewThis will be my self-reward when I finis…CybercultureAfter some long-delayed recabling, these are the bits I culled from my work setup.Personal‘I saw the possibility of what…
When I am insanely busy during the academic year, I relish the time before I fall asleep, as time I can think about anything at all. If it’s productive and interesting, I’ll stay awake. If not, well, then I won’t waste much time before I conk out. In an attempt to carve out enouth time…
In 1975 a Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built the world’s first portable digital camera by cobbling together parts scavenged from a Super-8 and a cassette player. Baffled colleagues asked, “Why would you want to look at photos on a TV?” —The Pocket Camera Moment | Raw File | Wired.com. Similar:Reading-Is-Fundamentalists Slaughter 52 IlliteratesCommitted to…
Remember this, Dennis. Remember this, Dennis. Remember this, Dennis. That is all. I ask my students to give me, by email, a proposal two weeks before the essay is due. I tell them what I think is good about their idea and what they need to watch out for; more often than not I advise…