I suppose somebody could actually think these things. I doubt that person would be in comp lit, though. I suppose reductionism comes in here somewhere but in spite of having it explained 100000 times, I don’t understand it. I don’t know, I’m just so depressed that Abstruse Goose seems to have fallen down. Oh Abstruse Goose, we love you get up.*
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http://abstrusegoose.com/544
*That’s from a poem by Frank O’Hara.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” — Some wise person who wasn’t Einstein.
“I don’t think we need to necessarily institute a lot of new ways of doing things,” [Rolling Stone managing editor, Will] Dana, said. “We just have to do what we’ve always done and just make sure we don’t make this mistake again.”
I’ve never liked that (fake) Einstein quote, because it conflates stupidity with insanity. But I couldn’t help thinking of it when I read the Dana quote in the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report on what went wrong on the now-discredited Rolling Stone story, “A Rape on Campus.” The story recounted a harrowing tale of a University of Virginia student’s alleged gang rape at a campus fraternity house.
I’m not going to rehash all the problems with the Rolling Stone story (you can read all about it in the report). Let’s just say that something went very wrong, and the magazine’s tone deaf response to the report gives journalism another black eye. By insisting that,”Ultimately, we were too deferential to our rape victim; we honored too many of her requests in our reporting,” Rolling Stone editors essential threw the alleged victim, “Jackie,” under the bus.
The problem wasn’t that the magazine gave too much weight to Jackie’s story, it’s that they had settled on the story they wanted to tell before they’d ever gathered the facts. As Jay Rosen notes in his blog, “[This narrative] didn’t start with Sabrina Rubin Erdely. She was sent on a search for where to set it.” Continue reading
Since Jonathan Franzen’s essay “Carbon Capture” went live on the New Yorker’s website last week, environmentalists and the journalists who write about them haven’t been able to stop bickering about it. Whether Franzen was wrong-headed or visionary, dumb or prophetic, he clearly touched a nerve when he asked, “Has climate change made it harder for people to care about conservation?” Here, Michelle and guest poster Judith Lewis Mernit, who typically agree about everything from Shakespeare to the unifying power of Benedict Cumberbatch, dive into the fray—on opposite sides. Pray their friendship endures.
Michelle: So Judith, what do we agree on here?
Judith: I think we agree that the topic of climate is overwhelming, oppressive, depressing, and that it makes us feel powerless. All those numbers! All that science! The scale of industrial energy production, the methane rising from Arctic permafrost that’s no longer so perma—it just makes you feel like all is lost, and, well, like Alvy Singer in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, whom Franzen invokes, “The universe is expanding. Why should I do my homework?”
Maybe we aren’t powerless—and I would argue that we’re not—but we believe we are, which is what matters. Continue reading
March 30 – April 3, 2015
Cameron manages to build a story about the dove trapped in her house around a Karen Carpenter song, and that IS the first time in the history of humankind that anyone’s done that.
Helen pursues her small obsession with museums, this one a bone museum at which she misses the opportunity of a lifetime and doesn’t buy the book on preparing a museum display of a whale skeleton, starting with the whole whale.
Erik has a story about an ancient Chinese high-ranking minister who took decades to depose the king of Wu, then settled in with the king’s ex-mistress and wrote the first textook on aquaculture.
“Hi, Jane, here are your weekly stats,” says guest Jane Hu‘s Fitbit. She walked 71,000 steps! she slept better! her dog got more exercise! Then she got the message with the red frowny face and from there, it’s all downhill.
Helen redux: on finding out that penguins don’t really need sweaters, she and her crew take on the civic-minded, even heroic, job of knitting sweaters for those in real need: peeps. She has pictures.
For Easter, we thought we’d bring back this adorable post from 2014. My friends and I didn’t enter this year–we thought someone else deserved a chance to shine. Also, if anyone wants to buy a lightly used Peeps diorama, we might consider selling. It would make great yarn shop decor.
On Monday, I asked: Do Penguins Need Sweaters? Answer: Not really.
But my friends Joanna, Kate, and I thought penguin sweaters were perfect for the Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest. Our entry:
Sweaters for Peepguins
After the bunny peeps read on Peepbook that peepguins in the Southern Hemisphere needed sweaters, they met up at their local yarn store to pitch in.
In the weeks after I bought a Fitbit, I noticed I was acting bizarre. I started carrying bags with my left arm so my right arm – the one with the Fitbit – could swing freely to ensure the Fitbit’s accelerometer would count my every step. In the evening, I would pace around my apartment until I got the gentle buzz signaling I’d reached 10,000 steps. And on days I didn’t get to 10,000, I found myself trying to justify my activity. A 30-minute bike ride doesn’t count for anything on a Fitbit, but it’s probably more or less equivalent to 1000 steps, right?
If you believe the tech industry, wearables like the Fitbit are the future. Data on your current behavior can help you better understand your habits and how to change them to meet your goals. The Fitbit, for instance, shows you raw data – steps taken, minutes active, distance travelled – so it’s easy to see progress. The device’s buzz signal is a brilliant application of psychological principles; it uses variable reinforcement, the same principle that makes playing a slot machine exciting. Because you never know exactly when you’ll get the coveted buzz, so you’re enticed to keep going. For even more motivation, you can join Fitbit’s network to “compete” with friends’ numbers. Continue reading
Gather round, my children and allow me to regale you with the wonderful tale of the adventures of Fan Li and Xi Shi – military strategist, femme fatale, and all-around badasses.
Fan Li was born in a town called Yuan Sanhu sometime in the late 6th Century BCE in a kingdom called Yue, near the modern city of Wuxi (a few hours drive from Shanghai). Born to a poor family, he befriended a man who recognized his talent and wisdom and brought him to the capital to become an advisor to the king, Goujian. King Goujian was clever as near as we can tell a good king but he was a little too ambitious for his own good.
Despite Fan Li’s warnings, not long later he attacked a nearby kingdom called Wu. Wu proceeded to slap Yue’s army like a window slaps an errant bird and take its king and counselors as hostages. Records are thin during this period but it’s safe to assume that Goujian and his subjects were not treated well. Some tales tell of harsh torture at the hands of Wu jailors. After three long years in captivity, Fan Li and his king were eventually released to go home and lick their wounds. But that’s not what what they did. Team Yue started hatching a plan to get their revenge – something more clever and subtle than a simple assault on the Wu army. No, they had a plan that required a more feminine touch.
So Fan Li found Shi Yiguang, otherwise known as Xi Shi – the daughter of a tea trader. And a woman who would later be called one of the four great beauties of Chinese history.
I knew what I expected from the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City: amusement. I go to a lot of museums, and in my experience, privately-run museums based on one person’s obsession are always quirky and often pretty fun. This museum was founded by a guy and his wife who have a business next door cleaning skulls. (Apparently there are enough people who need skulls cleaned to support this business.)
But here’s the thing: It was a surprisingly interesting and educational visit. The skeletons are well organized and set up for maximum learning. The contents communicate stories about anatomy and evolution–don’t worry, there was a human in the ape corner, right next to our cousins the bonobo and the gorilla.
Osteology is the study of bones. Bones are an organ like any other. They make blood cells and provide a reservoir of calcium, which you need to make your cells work. They coordinate with the muscles and the tendons to move you around and keep you moving at dance parties. Continue reading
