I have to admit, that very first episode of Survivor, oh so many years ago, held a certain wow factor for me. I was amazed they were allowed to do such a thing, back when it appeared as if they were truly going to leave a group of people to their own devices on a […]
Miscellaneous
My 16-year-old son has started to drive. He holds a learner’s permit, which means he can’t drive without me sitting in the passenger seat. Me, narrating, reminding, commenting, coaching, evaluating, and reinforcing. We haven’t done much highway driving yet, so I haven’t directly addressed the idea of breaking the law — which almost everybody on […]
In the first week of September 1942, 29-year-old Libertas Schultze-Boysen waited desperately for word of her husband Harro, an official in the Reich Aviation Ministry in Berlin. The couple had passionately espoused a cause that few Germans of the age dared even to discuss. With a small group of friends, Libertas and Harro organized a […]
11 – 15 February This week, Erik had a fascinating look at the people who think wind turbines are making them ill. Cameron explained why alligators never have to worry about shrinkage. Abstruse Goose neatly captured the infinite regress that tortures us science writers. I told you how gross bugs do Valentine’s day. And Richard […]
I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s day, but I love the ads. They are so utterly, transparently awful that they cross the line from crassly offensive into entertaining. Business Insider just did a brilliant roundup of the worst offenders of all time. They have a certain evolutionary-psychology simplicity to them — if you present […]
February 4 – 8 This week, Erika’s back! And she’s not happy about “informed consent“. Cameron considers the endangerment of the world’s apex predator, some of which are only as big as a chocolate bar! Cassie throws shade at the dodgy sleep aids of the 70s. Jessa tells us how architects are like psychoactive drug […]
January 28 – February 1 The most urgent question of the week falls to Richard: what’s going to become of all his books? Time for you to pitch in with some advice, dear readers. Christie wonders how Facebook will irony-proof their new search feature. Erik makes a fairly solid case for the idea that “tools […]
What can you say about a fifty-seven-year-old book that has outlived its usefulness? That it was beautiful. And brilliant. And taking up valuable space in my personal library. Our household has six 84-inch bookshelves lining two living room walls, and four more in the bedroom. All of the living room bookshelves and two of the […]
