 | Hi! I've started a new blog, more adapted to my interests and tastes. Please join me at Threads of Thought: Weaving a Web of Knowledge where I will post my reflections on current events, spirituality, art and everything in between. Go in peace!
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| Hi! I've started a new blog, more adapted to my interests and tastes. Please join me at Threads of Thought: Weaving a Web of Knowledge where I will post my reflections on current events, spirituality, art and everything in between. Go in peace!
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 | Dear readers, thank you for your patronage. I'm guessing most of you are like me in some way, and if we found ourselves on a beach, we would scour the shores for beautiful lost seashells, all the while discussing the interesting news of the day. That was the spirit of this site. Away from this spaceless, timeless area though, I find my attention wandering to other media, such as books, where writing can be more profound and complex than that which is found on the web. As such, my enthusiasm for this site has diminished and it will be temporarily shelved as it were. Rather than be sad though, let's remember what Buddha said: there's no way to happiness -- happiness is the way! May your journey through life be a peaceful one, and thank you for joining me along the way!
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 | Is there such a thing as a new idea? What about a new chemical element? A team of Russian and American scientists recently added the superheavy Uut and Uup into the periodic table.
Outsized scientific discoveries seem to dominate the news these days. The New York Times posts a report on the evolutionary origins of a giant flower with an odor to match, and informs us that those nightmares of large spiders aren't fiction, but were fact. Is that really reassuring? |
 | What happens when a healthy man eats three meals a day at McDonald's for 30 days? Fast food's nutrition value aside, the shocking results are chronicled in "Super Size Me", a new film documentary.
Prompted by increased industrialization, urbanization, economic development and food market globalization, the world population is literally ballooning, leaving in its wake human death and disability due to largely preventable chronic, non-communicable diseases. The World Health Organization is responding with a Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health and calling on all individuals to inform themselves about this "malnutrition of excess" and reform their behavior accordingly. Or as the Greeks might advise: practice the virtue of sophrosyne. |
 | Do you learn more when you have fun? What if you need to learn to have fun? This last question is at the heart of the drive to educate more people about classical music. But Bernard Holland says you can't learn how to like music -- you just do or you don't. So, how about taking the music to the people? Crossover singing has been done; though, without much success. Even digitizing sheet music meets resistance from music librarians. Well, you can't say they're not trying.
In other music news, now besides iTunes, there is a way to download bilingual music online. |
 | What makes a good athlete? Statistics! At the intersection of athletism and academia lies good sports. As Bill Belickick, the coach of the New England Patriots, can testify, applying the conclusions of an academic paper to a football game can really pay off. On the field, researchers further assert that athletes subconsciously play like statistians by applying past knowledge to new situations. It'll be a battle of the brains tomorrow!
The numbers are in for the fans as well -- while roughly half of all Americans watch the Super Bowl, between one in ten and one in six are tuning in primarily for the most creative advertisements of the year, and the event is a retail bonanza on the sidelines as well. This causes some to question the increasing commercialization of mass culture and to renew their advocation for increased media literacy among the American population. It would appear freedom of speech versus freedom of thought makes for an interesting contest as well. |
 | There's no escaping it in the news -- whatever your views, Islam and the West, Iraq and America, are provoking reflection and debate. To start it all off, Joshua Micah Marshall has an excellent essay in this spirit questioning whether the current White House has strengthened or weakened America's empire.
In less abstract terms, the Washington Post wonders about the state of the Iraqi National Archives -- certainly how we manage documented information about the past affects our future. To illustrate this, ABCNews has a list of prominent people around the world who were rewarded lucrative oil contracts in return for support of the Baathist regime. John Kearney, meanwhile, reminds us that "Allah" and "God" are one and the same (much the way "Charlie" and "Charles" might designate the same person). This doesn't diminish our differences however, as Maureen Dowd illustrates when she investigates the danger of assuming another person thinks like you. Religious quibbles are also finding their way into the domain of education. In France, a movement to ban Muslim head scarves from schools has generated controversy. Guy Coq says it goes to the heart of French identity. In America, the teaching of evolution in biology classes continues to disturb some Christian parents enough that the State of Georgia is considering eliminating the word from school curricula. This person wonders, are we throwing out the word and the scarf or the concepts they represent as well? |
 | Language can really shake up the world nowadays. Even those at the pinnacle of economic and political power recognize that writers have great influence over others through their competence and effectiveness in expression.
The New York Times Book Review, long a vital player in the marketing of books, has decided to institute dramatic changes in the focus and variety of its book coverage. In so doing, it seems to be following the advice of sharp-tongued critic Dale Peck, known among his friends and detractors alike to take a hatchet to contemporary fiction. The end of fiction? Hardly. One of its successful proponents, author of The Hours Michael Cunningham, explains his craft, and gives us hope. |
 | Cooking, like any other human activity, can quickly develop into art through the passion and the effort of its practicioners. Sara Dickerman here explains the newest and diverging trends in haute cuisine -- some chefs take the culture of novelty to the extreme while others stoop lower and lower to discover the secrets of tradition.
If "molecular gastronomy" finds its arch-rival in the Slow Food movement, then surely sausage man Paul Bertolli belongs in the latter. So too would Rémi Krug, whose passion and commitment to tradition continues to produce the revered treasures known as Krug champagnes. Whether novel or traditional, the devotion of these foodies give us pause and delight, especially if we're on the receiving end of their efforts! A comic rendering of why we play with food, and what happens when we don't! |
 | A heated dispute has erupted between China and North and South Korea concerning the ethnic identity of the ancient Goguryeo civilization (which ended more or less in 668 AD). Korean scholars accuse the Chinese of setting the stage for a land claim if the North Korean border should become unstable. Although using historical borders as a justification to alter modern ones is not new, the distance in time involved here would take it to a new level!
Also, the non-violent scuffle over national territory in East Asia extends into postage stamps. |
 | As the history of theater shows us, there has always been an appetite for deceptive entertainment; but where once filmmakers used special effects to convince audiences of the realism of their make-believe, now they're meant to just seem cool. Dan Brown investigates the trends in movie magic that reflect changes in the attitudes of audiences towards truth and illusion. And perhaps no other domain of the arts is as rife with questions of authenticity than the world of paintings and their simulacra; Ariella Budick examines the art of forgery.
And now it's no longer a secret, gibberish can be passed off as literature for centuries! |
 | Knowing others often helps in knowing ourselves -- but does this wisdom extend across species? The BBC has an interesting story about a parrot with a sophisticated control of human language and a sense of humor to boot. Like us, birds suffer epidemics as well. And the New York Times' thorough account of the remarkable adaptability of polar bears offers this eye-catching observation: "extreme circumstances demand extraordinary aptitudes".
Does this apply to genetically engineering fish that glow in the dark though? |
 | Did you know know that the mountains on Mars are beautiful at sunset? Recent proposals to prepare for a future human visit to our brother planet have been much eclipsed by the spellbinding postcards sent back by our robotic representatives there. Makes me wonder, is there really water there, like the evidence suggests? And if we did go, what would we do there? And why oh why is Mars red? |
 | As a recent opinion article in the New York Times notes, it is not always comfortable to have too many choices. The author cites scientific studies to support his thesis, and though apparently not intending to, his position echoes vaguely with ideas proposed by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, who is considered a fore-runner of existentialism.
Here is an exposé of the life and work of Mr. Kierkegaard. |
 | Surpassing the likes of Marco Polo, Louis Armstrong, and Christopher Columbus, Charles Veley has officially just become the most traveled man in the world. This world has changed of course, making travel a lot easier, though not necessarily less stressful. Recent events also make a few of us more wary of air travel than not. Well, when all else fails, there is always walking!
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 | Most of us are aware of the history of bigotry in our own nations, yet internationally, prejudice has a past as well. The New York Times offers an unconventional piece examining the past relationship between Western Europe and the USA while the Economist provides a historical overview of European unity. |
 | Two articles published last week proposed, either explicitly or implicitly, societal experimentation in how gender is taught or perceived. Terrence Moore offers a plea for the development of responsible young men, while the New York Times informs us of a steamy new lesbian TV series airing on American cable. Both articles are rather narrow in scope, and admittedly are unrelated to each other. Yet this much is true -- interesting social developments are afoot in America!
Meanwhile, a humorous look at what happens when a divorced dad starts dating again. |
 | Perfumes and odors stir up memories like no other sensation. Yet sounds, and more specifically music, affect our minds and spirits in surprising ways as well. Why do certain musical intervals sound universally more pleasing than others? How does music alleviate or increase physical pain? Alexandra Witze offers a scientific roundup while a cellist describes some of a musician's unintended effects.
Oh, and just what are the effects of silence? They're so beneficial, some are paying for it. |
 | Is there evolution in art, or is each artist uniquely talented to create objects representative of his or her skill and temperament? The recent discovery of exquisitely detailed figurines, carved some 30,000 to 33,000 years ago and laid in the Jura Mountains, poses this question and more. Nowadays, artists continue to use nature both as a means to artistic creation and as a source of inspiration for testing new techniques. |
 | In this time of frigid weather in New York, Alexandra Horowitz is fascinated with lost gloves. Through these melancholic objects, she studies "active loss," which naturally leads one to wonder about the difference between natural facts and social facts. However, perhaps the glove-hunter is more anthropologically interesting! |
 | What we experience, what we say and what we publish are not always the same -- or are they? Recent revelations by a former senior White House official follow in the same vein as another. And then there is always the case of political pulp fiction. |
 | A professor of mathematics and physics asks, "what is time?" And can you imagine going to sleep and waking up 113 years later? Science fiction writers have. Meanwhile, some of us ponder the night sky to get a glimpse of the distant past, while other earthlings live according to the martian clock. |
 | Debate is heating up in political circles over the American presidential election in 2004, and one of the main ideas being batted around is national security. Since the incumbant already gets a lot of media time, here are a few links from the dissenters. One site with a wealth of resources is the Center for American Progress. The New York Times Magazine recently published a comprehensive article on the Democratic presidential candidates, and the New Republic continues its online "primary." For day-by-day accounts of this latter contest, visit ABCNews' The Note. Otherwise the Washington Post has a detailed comparison of the candidates. |
 | A humorous and enlightening look at the uhs, ums and their non-English likenesses that populate most forms of spoken speech, as well as a pick of the English buzzwords of 2003 from A to Z. Particularly interesting are: "ham" (email mistakenly thought of as spam by your filter), "knee-mail" (a tongue-in-cheek term for modern prayer), "odortype" (a uniquely individual odor-signature), and "zorbing" (a game from New Zealand which Jackie Chan used as an escape from headhunters in 1986! Go figure). |
 | Two different stories, approximately 150 years apart, about doctors and diagnosis -- one struggles to understand herself, as another battles in a time without science. Both look at questions with no easily discernable answers, and attempt to untangle a knot of truth that has a few medical twists. |
 | Author Michael Crichton, of Jurassic Park fame, continuously produces thoughtful speeches on the subject of science and public policy. In this article here, he touches upon SETI and faith, science and consensus, heresay and scepticism. In previous remarks, he attacked the religiosity of environmentalism. For him, it all boils down to the nature of science. |
 | Apparently we haven't been seeing the real version of the story which has become ubiquitous family entertainment in America. The early nineteenth century novella by E.T.A. Hoffmann was dark and perverse, like many familiar fairy tales.
The New Republic reports. |
 | Why are some musical instruments tonally superior to others? Researchers at Columbia University propose that long winters and cool summers produce wood that has slow, even growth -- ideal properties for producing quality sounding boards, used in such famously wonderful violins as those fashioned by Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy. |
 | A look at a most satisfying end to Peter Jackson's adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, at the New York Times and the New Yorker. The latter also includes a wonderful analysis through the movie's score.
There is literally too much to say about this film, so it won't be covered here. I did leave with an odd thought; the movie reinforces one of our most simplistic prejudices: beauty=good and ugly=evil. Many critics felt that it was awash in racism; I disagree. I found little of the notion that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. I am much more inclined to hyperbolic praise, à la this Tolkien fan. More discussion here. Movie trailers here. |
 | A brief and sensitive look at the life of Chiang Kai-shek.
The rivalry between the Nationalists and the Communists during the 20th Century was both a war for the rule of Chinese territory and a conflict of ideas. Mao won the former, but in retrospect, it appears that Chiang's vision has triumphed. The vigorous dance from here to there forms a colorful history. |
 | One day at dusk, Zhuang Zi dreamed he had turned into a butterfly. Flapping his wings, he felt like a butterfly and was tremendously delighted. At that moment, he forgot entirely that he was Zhuang Zi. After a while, he came to realize that the gleeful butterfly was actually himself. So was it Zhuang Zi who had changed into a butterfly in the dream or the other way around?
Zhuang Zi can be the butterfly and the butterfly can be him. A guide to Zhuang Zi. A comic rendering. |
January 2004 February 2004 March 2004
