This post originally ran on June 26, 2012. Since then, the researchers have published some of the results of their work with imaginary worlds. I’ve included this (along with making a few other edits) below. My own experience of imaginary friends has also expanded, now that we have two new boys named Pumpernickel and Garbanzo living in our house, […]
Miscellaneous
When we were kids, my brother was the sneezer of all sneezers. There was never just one, or even two or three. It was always 17. No lie. Each sneeze began with this strange little sucking in of air, a pause, and then from his bent body and contorted face flew ah-YESH-ah! Seventeen times. He […]
October 5 – 9, 2015 We look for water on Mars not just for scientific evidence of life, Craig says, but because our species is predisposed to look for water everywhere. Helen revisits her experience eating whale meat and exploring culinary taboos. Ann loves everything about her local restaurants but the cacophony that fills them. […]
It’s October, the start of a new water year. A water year is one of several ways to measure rainfall. This way, water year 2016 starts now–when we hope the rain will begin–and will end in September. A rainfall year runs from July to June, a buffer of dry season on either side of when […]
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about eating meat–as in, whether it’s a thing I still want to do–and thought now was a good time to revisit this post from two years ago about whale. Whales are impressive, enormous, beloved animals. Whaling has been banned since the 1980s, but it still goes on in a […]
The first memory I know for sure is the smell of rain. I remember a screen door with holes in it big enough to let in a hummingbird, and outside I could see blue bellies of clouds over a dirt road. I can only figure it was somewhere in Arizona where I was born. I’ve always […]
Sep 28 – Oct 2, 2015 Ok so Jennifer’s face looks a little older. Does anybody have a problem with that? Do babies? potential mates? Does natural selection? Anybody? No? Then screw it. New Person of LWON (oh joy!) Rose Eveleth got a new puppy. So cute. So energetic. So barky. So depressing. What can […]
East Sand Island, a slim strip of sand, sludge, and beachgrass near the mouth of the Columbia River, is home to an estimated 28,000 cormorants. Make that 26,800 cormorants: Since Memorial Day, crews from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services have shot more than 1,200 adult birds and doused more than 5,000 nests with vegetable oil, suffocating developing cormorant […]
