Ineffable —
My goal for the week-after-next’s Big History seminar is to bring up two things: phlogiston, and Marxism. Because so what if we’re ostensibly apolitical scientists who would never dream of constructing knowledge*, we’re at Berkeley! We’ve got to talk about Marxism! If there’s time I’ll shoehorn in some Foucault, too - we’ll see if any […]
I’m in one of those seminars whose focus has little, if anything, to do with the course title: Advanced Stratigraphy and Tectonics. It’s actually about chance events that change everything, sometimes by going smashy-smashy (which I like), and finding other good excuses to put paleontologists and geophysicists in the same room, and what happens if […]
Eighty-seven years ago, the War to End All Wars was ended. After WWII, the phrase “war to end all wars” became a hilarious catchphrase. Today, we can ignore all that history claptrap and simply fight for peace; there are very few veterans of the Great War left to remind us of the irony.
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Brakes that stop, and horns that honk.
Bunny slippers that really look like bunnies.
The Singapore Sling. Or maybe not.
Chicory.
Buildings painted in vibrant colors.
Windows.
Fog.
Redwoods.
The idea of pneumatic tubes.
Polar fleece.
Black pepper.
Crudely drawn flowers.
Interesting metal cabinetry at industrial salvage shops.
Being able to touch all of one’s teeth with one’s tongue.
Well. The furnace pilot light’s out, and I’m in no […]
I had a couple thoughts stuck up in my jaw during my root canal the other month; Rana’s just dislodged one. Ahem: Going to the doctor/dentist requires that we place an immense amount of trust in someone who is, in most circumstances and for most purposes, a total stranger. Over the bulk of human history, […]
Today we can all pretend to be Jewish:
As I explained last year, Arrival Day is a holiday of the American Jewish people rather than the Jewish religion - a celebration of the Jewish community and its contributions to the United States. As such, non-Jews as well as Jews are welcome to join in the celebration. […]
Peter’s been watching the Tour de France on delayed internet broadcast. I’m still looking for the thing that makes it so exciting, but that’s okay. What I’m really curious about stems from all the commentators’ talk of doping scandals, in cycling and in, um, whatever other sports have been having doping scandals lately - the […]
There’s some things most people can do very easily, that I struggle with. I’ve given everything a good honest go, actually several good goes, but it just never works out. Not only am I not very good at these things, I’ve accumulated a ball of anxiousness from my failure to learn that makes me avoid […]
Over at Frogs and Ravens and Liliputian Lilith, people are fighting to reclaim the word “intellectual”, or perhaps some other word, for non-professional/quasi-professional participants in traditional academic endeavors. I think it’s a mistake not to situate that discussion within a broader cultural habit of devaluing upaid work. I also think there’s a funny elitist tinge […]
Okay, so Kieran Healy made fun of the Macy’s building, prompting Amy Lamboley and Professor Bainbridge to leap to Pasadena’s defense. They both recommend the Huntington, foolishly ignoring the desert garden while extolling the virtues of roses and herbs.
You can’t defend a city against a charge of distasteful urban experience by playing up a tiny […]