January 2009
Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a... →
Great (critical) humour piece from researchers at Dalhousie University, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The journal received over 60 letters in response, and the authors’ response to those letters is clever too.
Burden of Proof: Spurned Scientists Vindicated →
“No one doubted Marie Curie’s scientific chops. It was just her bad luck to be a woman, and a forceful one, at a time when science was a decidedly male fraternity … But male scientists have suffered through the ages, too, usually from neglect or by a trashing of their theories from colleagues, theories that were later vindicated and accepted as true.”
Life Terrifies Me
Holy ecstasy-swans on great glad Waters Seize me, but in vain. I hear the gaggling of sensible ganders, Nothing can remain, There is nothing to last. I hear my future faltering sobs When I’m still smiling, And when dark ravens are cawing in my soul A chirpy starling Will cheerily chime in. My longings frighten me. Fulfilment follows And I’ll feel defiled. I dread...
“You are on a speakerphone with at least 14 teachers and librarians and suchlike...”
– Neil Gaiman, on being awarded the Newbery Medal
The End of Solitude →
“Loneliness is not the absence of company, it is grief over that absence. The lost sheep is lonely; the shepherd is not lonely. But the Internet is as powerful a machine for the production of loneliness as television is for the manufacture of boredom.”
Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds (book review) →
“Pubic hair is another delight to behold, appearing first in 1971 and thriving until 1997. Gauzy coronas of pubic hair, technicolor dreampubes of every shade. You forget how assertive a healthy growth of hair can look. It comes as a pleasant shock in the midst of a creamy-smooth expanse. Pubic hair diminishes as the nineties draw to a close. Neat triangles turn to Band Aid-sized strips,...
anthroLOLogy →
WTF?!
(via)
The Romance of Objects →
Sherry Turkle asks about the roles of objects in the creative lives of scientists.
This is exactly how I arrived at the intersection between sociology, anthropology, science studies, art and design.
What do women want? →
“[W]hile men with high sex drives report an even more polarized pattern of attraction than most males (to women for heterosexuals and to men for homosexuals), in women the opposite is generally true: the higher the drive, the greater the attraction to both sexes, though this may not be so for lesbians… Diamond argues that for her participants, and quite possibly for women on the...
Casu marzu →
“Casu marzu is considered toxic when the maggots in the cheese have died. Because of this, only cheese in which the maggots are still alive is eaten. When the cheese has fermented enough, it is cut into thin strips and spread on moistened Sardinian flatbread (pane carasau), to be served with a strong red wine. Casu marzu is believed to be an aphrodisiac by local Sardinians. Because the...
Brave, Stupid and Curious: Dangerous Psychology... →
via mind hacks
Unhappily ever after: The adaptation of... →
“[T]he novel which began in humiliation finishes in tragedy.”
My kind of story. Apparently the movie is not as bleak as the book, which only makes me want to read it more.
“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.”
– Abraham Lincoln
One Woman’s Confession: I HATE SUBURBIA (Sep,... →
“Yes. I’ve been a long-term resident of the suburbs,” the attractive woman next to me replied in answer to my question. Her brown eyes seethed with excitement. “And I think the word ‘term’ is very appropriate. It’s been almost a jail sentence! … I object to the sameness of it all. I’m appalled by the lack of difference with which I live … It isn’t just monotony,...
America the Giftshop →
Phillip Toledano creates an “installation project that reflects the current foreign policy through the fun-house mirror of American commerce.”
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Brandon: I thought you recognized me from my work, but you're not my demographic so I'm not offended.
Zack: Well who's your demographic?
Brandon: Do you like pussy?
Zack: Yeah!
Brandon: Then not you!
“I don’t give a fuck about economics or the so-called economy. The concepts...”
– Anonymous
(via)
'Visions link' to coffee intake →
“People who drank more than seven cups of instant coffee a day were three times more likely to hallucinate than those who took just one, a study found.”
No shit.
“I’m of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who...”
– Barbara Kingsolver
“Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to...”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Have We Ever Been “Post”? The Critiques of... →
“2009 is an important year for sociology and social theory. It is 50 years after the publication of C. Wright Mills’ ‘The Sociological Imagination’ (1959), 40 years since Michel Foucault’s ‘The Archaeology of Knowledge’ (1969), and 30 years since Jean-Francois Lyotard’s ‘The Postmodern Condition’ (1979). Although coming from distinctive positions, and with different aims, these books share...
Israel acts because the world won't defend it →
If only it were that simple.
PWNED
“If absinthe were a band, it would be Interpol, third-hand piffle masquerading as transgressive pop culture. If absinthe were sneakers, it would be a pair of laceless Chuck Taylors designed by John Varvatos for Converse. If it were facial hair, it would be the soul patch. If absinthe were a finish on kitchen and bath fixtures, it would be brushed nickel.”
src [via]
“A Romantic, says Nietzsche, is someone who always wants to be elsewhere. If...”
– Mark Edmundson (via)