The other morning when I left for work, it was 12 degrees Fahrenheit outside. How you feel about that statement probably depends on where you live. Well, first, if you live outside the U.S., you might be wondering what that means, so I’ll tell you: it’s -11 Celsius. You’re impressed now, right? If, like my […]
Miscellaneous
February 9 – 13, 2015 Christie shares select experiences on social media and enjoys vicariously experiencing others’ exhilarating moments, but web video will never replace good-old immersive, unmediated life. Parents considering whether to immunize their children face the Prisoner’s Dilemma, says Erik, and decision theory can help explain the appalling presence of measles in a […]
The room is plain and cloaked in shadow, save the single pool of light draped over a hardened criminal. Facing the her is a meaty lug of a detective with a ketchup-stained tie and hairy knuckles. “This doesn’t have to go bad for you, Jenny,” the larger man growls. “You work with us and I can […]
I’d been pondering the consequences of modern self-chronicling when Facebook sent me its rendering of my life in 2014. If Facebook’s Year End Review is any indication, my life boils down to this: adorable dogs, skiing, trail running and mountain biking. Lots of mountain biking.
January 26 – 30 In guest writer Lesley Evans Ogden’s essay meditation, an Ontario girl builds a bond with the West Coast rainforest through her trail running. We have come to understand that Craig does nothing in half measures. When he wants to understand the Younger Dryas, naturally he drags a sled onto frozen Lake […]
Friday morning, if all goes well, NASA is launching a satellite with the name SMAP. As I write late Thursday night, it’s perched atop a Delta II rocket an hour up the California coast from Santa Barbara. It was supposed to launch this morning, but high-altitude winds got in the way. Like so many things […]
This time last year, most of North America was buried in an unusual cold period. The jet stream had hemorrhaged in early January and the Polar Vortex that usually sits atop the hemisphere like a halo came pouring down. Known as the 2014 North American Cold Wave, temperatures plummeted, particularly in the Northeast and Upper […]
January 19 – 23 Cassandra explains why the flu shot is ineffective this year, what H and N stand for, how the virus outevolved the statisticians, and why to get the shot anyway. A magisterially thorough explanation, and one feels better for it already. Cameron has always liked maps, all kind of maps, maps that […]
