We Are Still Arguing About Jonathan Franzen

By: | April 6, 2015

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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 →

The Last Word

By: | April 4, 2015

IMG_3711March 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.

Redux: Do Peepguins Need Sweaters?

By: | April 3, 2015

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.

peepguin in an argyle sweater

Continue reading →

Guest Post: Learning to Appreciate the Untracked Life

By: | April 2, 2015

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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 →

The Amazing Lives of Fan Li and Xi Shi

By: | April 1, 2015

Screenshot 2015-03-31 23.49.14Gather 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.

Continue reading →

A Visit to the Museum of Osteology

By: | March 31, 2015

inside the museum

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 →

This Post Longs to Be Close to 500 Birds

By: | March 30, 2015

4821595992_91c744d021_zThe other day I was just starting to work when I heard a strange cooing in the other room. It sounded like a baby. But I swore I’d just dropped the actual baby off at a friend’s house.

When I went to investigate, the baby wasn’t there, so I figured I was having a mild, pleasant postpartum hallucination. I went back to work. Continue reading →

The Last Word

By: | March 28, 2015

March 23 – 27, 2015

“How often do you get to document natural selection happening in a free-ranging population on such a short time scale? How many scientific studies look for that and don’t find it?” Guest poster Judith Lewis Mernit tells us about some very interesting bobcats.

In medicine, the word “decompensate” does not mean what you think it means. Ann explains why it’s a creepily good science metaphor.

Climate change: we just keep surpassing our worst case scenarios. But while it’s easy to assume we’re playing out a tragedy, Michelle has a better idea. What if we started treating our fate as though we inhabit the narrative logic of a comedy?

The right movie leaves us walking back into the world with a pit in our stomachs. That’s why we keep going back to chase that high, says guest poster Emma Marris.

What can those sacrificial dilemmas tell you about morality in real life? The exact opposite of what you thought they did. So maybe don’t use them to draw broad conclusions about the neural correlates of moral reasoning. https://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2015/03/27/the-trolley-and-the-psychopath/