January 2012
Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye
The river is famous to the fish. The loud voice is famous to silence, which knew it would inherit the earth before anybody said so. The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse. The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek. The idea you carry close to your bosom is famous to your bosom. The boot is famous to the earth, more famous than the dress shoe, which is...
“Two weeks ago, farmer Vernon Phipps, 53, who runs 1,000-acre Westhill Farm, near...”
– Number of sheep thefts doubles in six months as meat prices soar
December 2011
“The thing that’s missing, from our research, and in design research in general,...”
– Design. Research. By Ben Kraal.
“The results of one, single research paper do not tell you everything you need to...”
– Maggie Koerth-Baker
Cross-cultural music appreciation
shitmystudentswrite:
An African hymn which might sound all happy and joyous to individuals living in Canada, is really a miserable depressed story they are telling through their rituals.
“Introverts are collectors of thoughts, and solitude is where the collection is...”
– Laurie Helgoe
“Based on these observations and interviews with the zookeepers, Osvath thinks...”
– Chimpanzee collects ammo for “premeditated” tourist-stoning
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other.”
– Mother Teresa
“Quarks come only in pairs: If you try to separate two of them, the energy you...”
– Neil deGrass
November 2011
“Mahna Mahna” →
How a ditty from a soft-core Italian movie became the Muppets’ catchiest tune.
Alan Moore – meet the man behind the protest mask →
“It turns protests into performances. The mask is very operatic; it creates a sense of romance and drama. I mean, protesting, protest marches, they can be very demanding, very gruelling. They can be quite dismal. They’re things that have to be done, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re tremendously enjoyable – whereas actually, they should be.”
“Don’t break your handbones
trying to break mystery.
Pick it up, eat it,...”
– Ursula LeGuin, Always Coming Home
Horrorscope
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you traveled 300 million years back in time, you might freak out in abject fear as you encountered dragonflies as big as eagles and cockroaches the size of dogs. But since you’re quite safe from those monsters here in the present, there’s no need to worry yourself sick about them. Similarly, if you managed to locate a time machine and return to an earlier...
“Twenty years from now is 2031. That year is not Utopia or Oblivion, it’s not...”
– Bruce Sterling
Excellent news.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Progress isn’t made by early risers,” wrote author Robert Heinlein. “It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” That’s exactly the kind of progress you are in an excellent position to stir up in the coming weeks. You don’t have to match the stress levels of the Type A people who might seem to have an...
“Academic mumblespeak is a silent enemy that is destroying scholarly publishing...”
– Ian Bogost
