- Time Magazine:
The Enduring Hope of Jane Goodall
(She says "I've always loved being by myself". Now at 87, with over 60 years research on chimps.
Reads poem "It Couldn't Be Done" by Edgar Albert Guest:
"Just start in to sing as you tackle the
thing that 'cannot be done', and you'll do it."
She looks up, eyes flashing. "Don't you love that?")
(By Ciara Nugent, Time, October 11, 2021, pp. 36-41)
15 Questions: Jasper Johns
(Jasper Johns, possibly America's most famous living artist and still plying his trade at 91,
launches two retrospectives on Sept. 29; one at Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC
and other at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I do still read poetry, old and new. I read
The Poetry Project's newsletter when time allows. I am lucky for being able to devote
myself to work that remains interesting to me.)
(By Belinda Luscombe, Time, October 11, 2021, p. 112)
Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
(They turn compassion into boots on the ground through their Archewell Foundation.
They give voice to the voiceless through media production. They run toward the struggle.)
(By José Andrés, Time, September 27, 2021, pp. 103-104)
Why Is Everything More Expensive Right Now? Let This Stuffed Giraffe Explain
(Jani, a 4-foot plush giraffe, used to cost $87. Now she's $116; Before the pandemic,
Jani could have gotten from factory to my door in about 81 days; now it takes 106 days.)
(By Alana Semuels, Time, September 12, 2021, pp. 46-51)
Prince Philip Was Queen Elizabeth's 'Strength and Stay'. Marriage Was Also Incredibly Complex
(Married to Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years, since Nov. 20, 1947.
Rumored affairs of Philip during five-month stag do in 1956.)
(By Olivia B. Waxman, Time, April 9, 2021)
FILM: Antoine Fuqua Remembers the Storytelling Genius of Shinobu Hashimoto
(Saw Seven Samurai as a kid in Pittsburgh that was so beautiful and poetic and powerful
and heartbreaking. It was all about justice, it was all about sacrifice, and it made me want to
be one of those guys. When MGM called me about remaking The
Magnificent Seven based
on Seven Samurai, I couldn't say no, and
remade it in 2016, starring Denzel Washington.)
(By Antoine Fuqua, Time, August 6, 2018, p. 16)
MENTAL HEALTH: Teen Depression and Anxiety: Why the Kids Are Not Alright
(In 2005, 30% of girls & 20% of boys— totaling 6.3 million teens— have had anxiety disorder.)
(By Susanna Schrobsdorff, Time, Nov. 7, 2016, pp. 42-51)
The Lessons from New York's Flooded Subways
(New York City's subways shut down: 660 miles and 468 stations)
(By Jeffrey Kluger, Time, Oct. 30, 2012)
SPACE: Hors d'Oeuvre for the Milky Way
(120,000-light year width and 300 billion stars will not eat more as it used to)
(By Jeffrey Kluger, Time, Oct. 26, 2012)
RELIGION: Beyond the Wardrobe
(95 million Narnia books by
C.S. Lewis have been sold since 1945; His
Mere Christianity
with homey metaphors on his Christian belief is superbly organized and easy to follow)
(By David Van Biema, Time, Oct. 30, 2005)
The 160,000-Year-Old Man
(Tim White of UC Berkeley unearthed the long-sought fossil remains of what
could be the very first true Homo sapiens, dated 160,000 years ago in Ethiopia.)
(By Michael D. Lemonick & Andrea Dorfman, Time, June 16, 2003, 56-58)
- Other News Sources:
* The Impossible Art?: Peculiar Perils of Literary Translation
(In balancing authenticity with readability, translators tackle a seemingly impossible art—
and rarely receive enough credit; Mark Polizzotti: "When you read a translation it doesn't
mean it's a secondary experience. It doesn't mean you're not reading the author. It means
you are reading the product of two authors: the original author and the translator, who
has to read the text, interpret it, and regenerate it in terms that make linguistic sense.")
(By Paul Hond, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2021-2022, pp. 24-29)
* TRIVIA: Hidden Histories of Columbia
(In 1920, Amelia Earhart perched on the dome's roof of Columbia's Low Library;
In 1921,
Albert Einstein gave his first public lecture in the U.S. on theory of relativity.
The speech,
delivered in German, took place at Horace Mann Auditorium at Columbia Teachers College;
In 1920, Paul Robeson met Eslanda Goode at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, they eloped
& she encouraged him in acting, and in 1936 he starred in the film version of Show Boat,
in which he sang "Ol' Man River", listed by AFI as the 24th Best Song in Film History.
On May 3, 1968, the Grateful Dead played a surprise show outside Ferris Booth Hall.)
(By Gary Shapiro, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2021-2022, pp. 34-39)
The Amazing Gender-Bending Behavior of Hummingbirds
(Columbia scientists discover why female white-necked jacobins often masquerade as males;
Male birds sport bolder, more eye-catching plumage; Females' feathers, in comparison, look
washed-out and drab; Cornell study found one in every six birds that appear to be adult male
Jacobins is actually a female in disguise; females with male-like plumage enjoy better access
to food, as other birds, knowing that males are more aggressive, will cede more space to them.)
(By David J. Craig, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2021-2022, p. 44)
What Do Memories Look Like?
(Columbia neuroscientists led by Attila Losonczy, have figured out how to visually map memory
formation, which could have implications for the treatment of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's;
New memories are consolidated in the hippocampus gradually, over a period of 24r hours or
more, and that periods of physical rest are essential for the brain to complete the job.)
(By David J. Craig, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2021-2022, p. 45)
A Better Way to Fight Workplace Racial Bias
(Diversity training programs may be inadequate, say Columbia sociologists David Stark
& Sheen S. Levine; They found that participants were 25% less likely to imitate the
puzzle-solving methods of their Black-named peers, compared to their white-named
Participants also rated their Black-named peers as less competent afterward,
ones, even though they performed equally well.)
(By David J. Craig, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2021-2022, p. 47)
Book Review: Colm Tóibín's "The Magician"
(By today's standards, Thomas Mann hardly qualifies as a confessional writer. The great
German novelist, who won Literature Nobel Prize in 1929, never wrote a soul-baring
memoir or made himself the main character in a book the way many writers do today.
In Death in Venice he wrote intimately about the homosexual desires concealed
behind his public image as a married father of six children;)
(By Adam Kirsch, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2021-2022, p. 60)
MOVIES NEWS:
Oscars: 2022 Ceremony Will Have a Host
(The most recent Oscars that had a host took place in 2018. Tom Holland, the star
of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the biggest blockbuster of the pandemic,
expressed interest in hosting the Oscar; the Academy did reach out to him.)
(By Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, Jan. 11, 2022)
Pope
slips out of Vatican to visit record shop, gets CD
(Pope Francis grew up listening to the opera on the radio,
is a fan of Argentine tango
and thinks Mozart "lifts you to God."
Francis had slipped inside Stereosound shop and
stayed for about 12 minutes, chatting with
the owners, who gave him a CD of classical music)
(By Associated Press, ABC News, Jan. 11, 2022)
Wayne Thiebaud,
painter of cakes and San Francisco cityscapes, dies at 101
("Cakes", a 1963 painting by Wayne Thiebaud, at National Gallery of Art, Washington DC)
(The Guardian, UK, Dec. 26, 2021)
Alan Scott,
researcher who pioneered medical uses of Botox, dies at 89
(Botox was officially approved by Food & Drug Administration for cosmetic purposes in 2002
and— to Dr. Scott's enduring amazement— was used by an estimated 11 million people to
temporarily smooth frown lines, crow’s feet and other facial furrows that are often the sign
of advancing age. Botox works by blocking release of acetylcholine, a compound that makes
muscles contract. Relaxed state lasts weeks or months at which point another injection is needed.)
(By Emily Langer, Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2021)
Wayne Thiebaud:
1962 to 2017; Milton Avery review— Americana with a cherry on top
(Californian master Wayne Thiebaud, poet of the milkshake, ice-cream cone and cherried sundae,
of the still life with pie and damn fine cup of coffee. Thiebaud, born in 1920, has been
making these radiant paintings for almost seven decades.)
(By Milton Avery, The Guardian, UK, June 4, 2017)
*
See the beautiful, ecologically priceless trees Italy is protecting forever
(Dotted across Italy, 22,000 ancient trees have gained federal protection, making them cornerstones
of cultural history. 750-year-old Pontone beech tree with 7 barks fused together. 600-year-old
Loricate Pines of Pollino. 1,000 years old Plane Tree of Curinga has 60 feet trunk circumference.
2,500-year-old Olive Tree of Villastrada. 800-year-old Cypress Tree of St. Francis of Assisi.)
(By Jonathan Moens, National Geographic, Sept. 8, 2021)
A person or a thing? Inside the fight for animal personhood
(Happy, a 50-year-old Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo, is at the center of a legal battle
over animal rights. Happy drinks up to 60 gallons of water every day, she enjoys digging
in the sand, she gets frequent pedicures from zoo staff. But is Happy happy? Steven Wise
of Nonhuman Rights Project, wants Happy to be moved to an accredited elephant sanctuary
where she'll be with others of her kind in a larger, more natural setting than her present
acre-size enclosure where she lives alone.)
(By Rachel Fobar, National Geographic, August 4, 2021)
Scientists spot a 'space hurricane' for the first time
(Scientists suspected that vortexes could form high in Earth's atmosphere, but this is first time one
has been seen twirling the northern lights like a baton. Lasting for 8 hours, it was more than 620 miles
across & stretched from its base 60 miles above sea level to 500 miles high, reaching into space.)
(By Robin George Andrews, National Geographic, March 23, 2021)
800,000
Americans have died of COVID. Now the U.S. braces for an omicron-fueled spike
(With surges fueled by more transmissible variants of coronavirus, the U.S. hit tragic new record
Tuesday, shortly after surpassing 50 million COVID-19 cases— by far most in the world.)
(By Bill Chappell, NPR, Dec. 14, 2021)
Stephen Curry
Tribute: Ray Allen and Reggie Miller were at MSG to honor the "Chef"
[Ray Allen (2,973 three-pointers), had the mark since 2011, when he took the throne
from Miller (2,560) to form the top three long-distance scorers along with Curry,
who took record away from Allen in the first quarter against the New York Knicks.]
(By Dan Fridman Stalnicovitz, Marca.com, Dec. 15, 2021)
Warriors'
Stephen Curry Passes Ray Allen as NBA's All-Time 3-Point Leader
(Golden State Warriors guard hit his 2,974th career 3-pointer in the first quarter of Tuesday's game
against New York Knicks, passing Ray Allen for the most in league history. Curry entered the game
one three behind Allen, who needed 1,300 regular-season games to get to his mark compared to Curry's 789.)
(By Tyler Conway, Bleacher Report, Dec. 15, 2021)
Rita Moreno Reveals the Biggest Difference in Steven Spielberg's New Version of West Side Story
+ How He Convinced Her to Join the Cast
[Steven Spielberg chose Rita Moreno's character Valentina to sing "Somewhere" in his West Side Story
adaptation: "I can't imagine another person more apt to underscore the need for all of us to keep hoping for,
dreaming of & working toward a better, more just world," he says. Rita won Oscar as Anita in 1961 film.
A day after Spielberg's new film opens on Dec. 10, 2021, Rita Moreno
(born Dec. 11, 1931) turns 90.]
(By Nicole Pajer, Parade, Dec. 5, 2021, pp. 6-10)
12 Christmas
Classics Should Be on Every Holiday Must-Watch Movie List
[Christmas in Connecticut (1945); It's a Wonderful Life (1946); Miracle on 34th Street (1947);
The Bishop's Wife (1947); A Christmas Carol (1951); White Christmas (1954); A Christmas Story (1983);
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989); Home Alone (1990); The Santa Clause (1994);
Elf (2003); Love Actually (2003); Die Hard (1988)]
(By Mara Reinsteien, Parade, Nov. 21, 2021, pp. 6-10)
Paul McCartney:
20 Fun Facts You Might Not Know
(Alluded to in the lyrics to "Let It Be," Mary wasn't as widely thought— ever meant to be
the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene. Rather, it was McCartney's own mother, Mary, who
died of cancer when he was 14. He got the idea for the song after having a dream about her.)
(By Jim Farber, Parade, Oct. 24, 2021, pp. 8-12)
80 Years of Famous Faces
(We selected from more than 4,000 Parade covers to showcase some of the most memorable entertainers
in the magazine's history— Beatles 1964;
Elizabeth Taylor 1956;
Lassie 1954;
ElvisPresley 1956.)
(Parade, Oct. 17, 2021, pp. 8-10)
The
Dick Van Dyke Show Turns 60!
(Now 95, the song-and-dance man— who received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor
in 2021— lives in Los Angeles with his wife of nine years, makeup artist Arlene Silver,
and has four children. Why he still loves dancing: "I do a little dancing every day. Any kind
of movement like that will help keep joints and bones moving. And my wife keeps me young!
She has a lot of energy. She's a singer and a dancer, so we do musicals around here all day.")
(By Mara Reinsteien, Parade, Oct. 3, 2021, pp. 8-10)
How to Free Yourself from the 7 Obsessions
(Watch your thoughts, habits, stories, excuses, relapses, dis-eases, vicious cycles;
We meditate to loosen what Buddha called the seven anusayas, which are obsessions
or underlying habitual tendencies. If we really want to break deep-rooted habits,
every one of us needs to become aware of the obsessions of sensual passion,
resistance, views, uncertainty, conceit, ignorance, and the passion of becoming.)
(By Valerie Mason-John, Lion's Roar, Nov. 9, 2021)
Dr Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive behavioural therapy, dies aged 100
(Beck's work revolutionised the diagnosis and treatment of depression and other
psychological disorders and continues to have a resounding influence.)
(The Guardian, UK, Nov. 2, 2021)
Aaron T. Beck developed Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT, died at 100
(Recognized as the father of cognitive therapy, passed away on November 1, 2021)
(Beck Institute, Nov. 1, 2021)
Foothill College president sacked after battle with faculty
(Thuy Nguyen, president of Foothill College for the past five years, has been fired
by her board after faculty revolted against her. She was paid $242,816 in 2020, and
$354,153 with benefits. List of faculty's grievances against Nguyen is 74 pages long.)
(By Braden Cartwright, Daily Post, Oct. 27, 2021, A1, A22)
Board ousts Foothill College president mid-year amid conflict with faculty
(President Thuy Nguyen placed on paid administrative leave, community college
district board votes unanimously not to renew her contract.)
(By Zoe Morgan, Mountain View Voice, Oct. 26, 2021)
Oh God, Make Me Brave for Life
(Whimsical spirit & positive wisdom
of artist & storyteller Ashley Bryan '50GS.)
(At 98, Bryan still bubbles & brims with enthusiasm and delight and believes unshakably that the most
important moment of his life is the one he's living now.
In his nineties alone, he has published seven books.)
(By Paul Hond, Columbia Magazine, Fall 2021, pp. 16-23)
What This Bird Can Teach Us About Memory
(The tufted titmouse, a songbird native to the eastern US, has long amazed ornithologists
with its ability to remember thousands of locations where it has stashed away seeds for future consumption;
Neuroscientist Dmitriy Aronov has discovered the secret
to the bird's
extraordinary powers of recall, finding
that it has a specialized brain region for making
mental maps of its physical surroundings.)
(Columbia Magazine, Fall 2021, p. 44)
ALUMNI: This
Watch Entrepreneur Turns Time into Money
(Benjamin Clymer is founder & executive chairman of
Hodinkee;
Clymer's favorites: OMEGA Speedmaster MK40;
Rolex Daytona;
A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1;
Patek Philippe Nautilus, Tiffany-signed).
(By Ian Scheffler, Columbia Magazine, Fall 2021, pp. 52-53)
BOOK REVIEW:
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch: a Novel by Rivka Galchen
(True story of a witch hunt from the 1610s—
Katharina Kepler accused of witchcraft,
defended by her son Johannes Kepler, astronomer & mathematician)
(By Adam Kirsch, Columbia Magazine, Fall 2021, p. 60)
* ART:
First Cupid, now a wine glass? More revelations emerge from restored Vermeer painting in Dresden
(Vermeer's Girl
reading a Letter at an Open Window (1659) showing base
of the wine glass and a Cupid painting hanging on the back wall.)
(By Martin Bailey, The Art Newspaper, September 9, 2021)
MUSIC:
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies aged 80
(Dapper and elegant drummer who was the rock-steady heartbeat of the Rolling Stones)
(By Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, UK, August 24, 2021)
Beloved Silicon Valley institution Buck's
of Woodside goes up for auction— as an NFT
(What is the digital replica of the quirky restaurant &
tech meetup mecca worth? The first bidder says $250,000)
(By Sara Hayden, Palo Alto Weekly, August 20, 2021, pp. 26-27)
MUSIC:
Tom T. Hall, 'The Storyteller' of country music, dies at 85
(He joined Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver in bringing
a class of storytelling to country music unlike those before them.)
(By Matthew Leimkuehler, Nashville Tennessean, August 20, 2021)
* Milwaukee
Brewers' Corbin Burnes becomes third pitcher in major-league history to strike out 10 in a row
(Burnes became only the third pitcher in major-league history—
yet the second this season— to strike out 10 batters in a row,
keeping the Milwaukee Brewers in command after a seven-run first inning
that propelled them to a 10-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Aaron Nola on 6-25-2021, & Tom Seaver on 4-27-1970 struck out 10 in a row.)
(By Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 11, 2021)
OBITUARY:
Stanford psychology professor Albert Bandura has died at 95
(World-renowned social cognitive psychologist whose Bobo Doll experiments
and theory of social learning transformed the field of psychology, died at 95)
(By Holly Alyssa MacCormick, Stanford News, July 30, 2021)
'A lesson
in loss, humility and absurdity': how rhythmic gymnastics took over my childhood
(When I was six, a chance encounter with rhythmic gymnastics— all ribbons,
sequins and smiles— opened up a sublime, sometimes cruel new world.
By 12, I had quit. What had it all meant?)
(By Rebecca Liu, The Guardian, UK, July 27, 2021)
Good Golly Miss Molly: MDMA Goes Mainstream
(MDMA, also known as Ecstasy or Molly, was first developed in 1912 by German chemist
Anton Kollisch.
Dr. Stanislav Grof
said, "Psychedelics are to the human consciousness
what the microscope is to biology and the telescope is to astronomy.")
(By Jane Vick, Metro, July 21-27, 2021)
* STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY:
Accurate protein structure prediction AI made openly available
[Minkyung Baek at University of Washington & coworkers report results from their neural network,
dubbed RoseTTAFold; it has been available to researchers for over a month as a tool to predict
the three-dimensional folded structure of proteins from their sequences (Science 2021, DOI: 10.1126/science.abj8754)]
(By Laura Howes, C&EN;, July 15, 2021)
Classical music:
Pauline who?
(Berlioz called her one of the greatest artists of her age. So why has pianist,
singer and composer Pauline Viardot become a mere musical footnote, asks Erica Jeal)
(By Erica Jeal, The Guardian, UK, Feb. 23, 2006)
* On
anniversary of father's death, Marlins' Pablo López sets an MLB strikeout record
(López needed just 35 pitches to get 9 strikeouts. Five of strikeouts were on 3 pitches.
Previous consecutive strikeouts to start a game: 8, done 3 times: Jim Deshaies on 9-23-1986;
Jacob deGrom on 9-15-2014; and German Marquez on 9-26-2018. Record for consecutive strikeouts
at any point in a game is 10, done twice: Aaron Nola on 6-25-2021, and Tom Seaver on 4-27-1970)
(By Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, July 11, 2021)
López fans first 9, sets MLB record in win
(Right-hander makes history on anniversary of his father's passing)
(By Christina De Nicola, mlb.com, July 11, 2021)
DeSclafani blanks Nats with Tauchman's help
(For the second time this year, Tauchman made a leaping catch at the left-field wall
to rob a home run, pulling back a game-tying shot from Nationals star Juan Soto
in the 7th inning to help preserve a shutout for right-hander Anthony DeSclafani
in a 1-0 win for the Giants on Friday night at Washington Nationals Park.)
(By Maria Guardado, MLB.com, June 11, 2021)
'This Should Be the Biggest Scandal in Sports'
(The inside story of how rampant pitch-doctoring in MLB is pumping pitchers up and
deflating offenses. League-wide batting average plummet to a historically inept .236.)
(By Stephanie Apstein & Alex Prewitt, Sports Illustrated, June 4, 2021)
*
'The God Equation' Review: One String Theory to Rule Them All
(Book dazzles in its account of the unfinished quest for a grand unified theory.)
(By Priyamvada Natarajan, Wall Street Journal, 4-9-2021)
Sharks' Patrick Marleau Passes Gordie Howe for Most Games Played in NHL History
(Against the Vegas Golden Knights was the 1,768th game of his career,
which passed the legendary Gordie Howe's mark of 1,767.)
(By Scott Polacek, Bleacher Report, 4-19-2021)
G. Gordon Liddy,
unrepentant Watergate burglar who became talk show host, dies at 90
(Liddy wore the Watergate crime like a badge of courage, saying he only regretted
that the mission to break into DNC's headquarters had been a failure. He took
villainous TV roles that seemed to trade on his soiled reputation.)
(By Steve Marble, Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2021)
France on hunt for centuries-old oaks to rebuild spire of Notre Dame
(Restoring 96-metre spire, destroyed by fire in 2019,
will require up to 1,000 trees between 150 and 200 years old)
(By Kim Willsher, The Guardtan, UK, Feb. 16, 2021)
* Pizza Chef Juggling Dough to Customers' Delight
(A pizza chef shows incredible dough tricks to this restaurant customers,
spinning it as well as throwing it over his shoulders and under his legs.)
(By Jessica Rach, The Daily Mail, UK, Feb. 13, 2021)
* Baseball cards are booming during the pandemic,
with long lines, short supplies and million-dollar sales
(New cards are immediately worth 3 to 10 times the retail price in the secondary market,
if they are sold unopened, which preserves the value and holds the promise of a future
Hall of Famer or a limited edition autographed card.)
(By Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, Feb. 12, 2021)
* Soul Pursuit
(Love coach & author
Lisa Nicks-Balthasar on importance of self-love, & how to find your soul mate)
(By Maria Grusauskas, Metro, Feb. 10, 2021, pp. 14-17)
Hank Aaron,
baseball great who became force for civil rights, dies at 86
(Aaron broke Ruth's record of 714 home runs in 1974 before retiring two years later with 755,
which remained one of the most hallowed numbers in all of sports for more than 30 years.)
(By Dave Sheinin and Matt Schudel, Washington Post, Jan. 22 2021)
Baseball great
Henry "Hank" Aaron, 86, passes into history
(755 career homers; all-time RBI leader (2,297); racked up most extra-base hits (1,477);
finished in top 3 for at-bats (2nd— 12,364), runs (2nd— 2,174 in tie with Babe Ruth),
games (3rd— 3,298) and hits (3rd— 3,771; averaged only 63 strikeouts per season)
(By Terence Moore, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 22 2021)
Want to Keep Your Brain Sharp?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta Has Your Prescription
(8 tips to prevent memory loss: Take a Hike; Think of one thing; Drink before eating;
Try something new; Be a learner; Find purpose; Make a Phone Call; Eat smart.
Book)
(By Megan O'Neill Melle, Parade, Jan. 10, 2021, p. 4)
'I'm Just Happy to Be Around!'
Neil Diamond on His New Album and Living With Parkinson's
(He has racked up no fewer than 13 Top 10 Billboard singles, from rousing "Sweet Caroline"
to the solemn "Holly Holy"
& No. 1 sing-along "Song Sung Blue".
Classic Diamonds album)
(By Jim Farber, Parade, Jan. 10, 2021, pp. 8-12)
Longtime
Celtics player, coach, and broadcaster Tom Heinsohn dies at 86
(Heinsohn was a six-time NBA All-Star as a player with the Boston Celtics (1956-1965),
winning 8 NBA championships during that span. He coached the team from 1969-1978.
He is one of just four people to be inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame as both
a player and a coach. Since 1981, Heinsohn & Mike Gorman have made up one
of the longest-tenured broadcast duos in sports.)
(By Chad Finn, Boston Globe, Nov. 10, 2020)
The Highest-Paid YouTube Stars of 2019: The Kids Are Killing It
(8-year-old Ryan Kaji, 2019 top YouTube earner with $26 million. Ryan ToysReview debuted in 2015
and now has grown into a children's channel called Ryan's World with 23 million subscribers.)
(By Madeline Berg, Forbes, Dec. 18, 2019)
Six Verbs That Make You Sound Weak (No Matter Your Job Title)
(It's the smallest words & phrases that shape how you're perceived at the office.
Trim these verbs from your vocabulary—
1. "Think", 2. "Need", 3. "Want",
4. "Guess", 5. "Hope", 6. "Suppose".)
(By Judith Humphrey, Fast Company, Oct. 14, 2020)
Archeologists Think They Know What Destroyed The Mayan Empire
(Fall of Mayan Empire may be one of biggest mysteries to emerge from the Yucatan peninsula.
Rampant deforestation and drought brought famine; there were two collapses over time.)
(By Meagan Nantwich, Drivepedia, Sept. 19, 2019)
* Harold
Scheraga, protein chemistry pioneer, dies at 98
(Harold A. Scheraga, the Todd Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, who had a profound impact shaping
the understanding of protein structure, died Aug. 1 in Ithaca. He was 98. Scheraga's career stretched
across seven decades and resulted in more than 1,300 publications.
Scheraga trained & mentored
hundreds of graduate students & postdoctorals, maintaining close ties with many of his former students.)
(By David Nutt, Cornell News, Aug. 6, 2020)
* Harold
Scheraga 1921-2020
(Harold Scheraga, the George W. & Grace L. Todd Professor Emeritus in the chemistry department
at Cornell University passed away August 1, 2020. A biophysicist, he was regarded as a pioneer in
protein biophysics and had been especially influential in the study of protein solvation
and the
hydrophobic effect as it relates to protein folding. He was predeceased in January by his wife
of 76.5 years, Miriam Kurnow.)
(Ithaca Journal, Aug. 3, 2020)
* Lee Teng-hui, Ph.D. '68, former Taiwan president, dies at 97
[Lee Teng-hui, the first popularly elected president of Taiwan, who helped guide the island toward
prosperity &democracy;, died July 30 in Taipei.
Earned Cornell doctoral degree in agricultural
economics at age 45 in 1968.
In 1984, was nominated by President Chiang Ching-kuo
(Chiang Kai-shek's eldest son)
as his vice president. When Chiang died in 1988,
Lee succeeded him as president.
In 1995 he was elected outright & served until 2000.
Returned to Cornell &
delivered lecture "Always in my Heart" (6-9-1995). With his wife,
they stopped by their old apartment on State Street for photos and went to Beebe Lake.]
(By Blaine Friedlander, Cornell News, July 31, 2020)
Silicon Alleys: Golden Girl
(Locals remember Olivia de Havilland, Hollywood Golden Age class act. Olivia and Joan Fontaine
lived in the old Saratoga house until the mid-1930s. In 1959, their mother sold it to local architect
Warren Heid. A quaint two-story residence with a large backyard, the house retains most of original
architectural design, workmanship and materials, but is now empty, abandoned and boarded up.)
(By Gary Singh, Metro, Aug. 5, 2020, p. 10)
Ask a Freak
(John Walters tracks down his rise and fall
in Hollywood while offering advice on everthing under
the sun in his new book
Mr. Know-It-All.
His most famous comedy film is Pink Flamingo in 1972.)
(By Steve Palopoli, Metro, Aug. 5, 2020, pp. 11-15)
37
Places You're Most Likely to Catch Coronavirus
(From pumping gas to prayer, experts have ranked every activity
by your risk of coronavirus exposure. Worst: going to a bar.)
(By Leah Groth, EatThis.com, 7-14-2020)
Amorous
giant tortoise from San Diego is saving his species from extinction
(Just call him Casanova: An ex-San Diego Zoo tortoise for 40 years, left in 1977 to a Galapagos
Islands breeding center has does his job well, fathering from 800-1000 tortoises.)
(By Diane Bell, San Diego Union Tribune, 1-13-2020)
This
playboy tortoise had so much sex he saved his entire species. Now he's going home
(A womanizing tortoise whose rampant sex life may have single-handedly saved his entire species
from extinction has retired from his playboy lifestyle; There were just two males and 12 females
of his species alive on Espanola island, and now there are over 2000, he fathering 800 of them.)
(By Rob Picheta, CNN, 1-13-2020)
The Minister's Tree House (Gone)
(Horace Burgess built in Crossville, Tennessee (1993), a tree house soaring 100 feet into the sky,
covering around 10,000 square feet (Guinness World Records). Closed by the state on 8-30-2012
for fire code violations. On the night of 10-22-2019, Minster's Tree House went up in flames.)
(RoadsideAmerica.com, 10-29-2019)
Arnold Schwarzenegger
on His Return as the Terminator, Keeping Fit in His 70s
(James Cameron offered him the chance to star as a cyborg assassin in The Terminator in 1984.
Preparing for Terminator: Dark Fate, the former bodybuilding champ's current regimen involves
bicycling to a Gold's Gym near his L.A. home, where he does 45 minutes of daily strength training.)
(By Nicole Pajer, Parade, 10-27-2019, pp. 8-10, 12)
Google claims breakthrough in blazingly fast computing
(Google said it has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing, as it has developed
an experimental processor Sycamore that took just minutes to complete a calculation that
would take the world's best supercomputer 10,000 years. IBM said that its IBM-developed
supercomputer, called Summit, could actually do the calculation in 2.5 days.)
(By Rachel Lerman & Matt O'Brien, Washington Post, 10-23-2019)
Louvre
celebrates 500th anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci's death with new exhibit
(The exhibit through Feb. 24, 2020, brings together some 160 works. They include
Da Vinci masterpieces, dozens of studies and scientific sketches)
(By Claire Parker, Associated Press, USA Today 10-22-2019)
California tribe regains island it calls center of universe
(Indian Island off the coast of Northern California was the site of a 1860 massacre;
It's also the spiritual and physical center of the universe for the small Wiyot Tribe.)
(By Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press, 10-22-2019)
David Boreanaz Talks SEAL Team, Basketball and How His Dog Jump-Started His Career
(At Ithaca College, he graduated with a cinema & photography degree. "I wrote a thesis comparing
and contrasting Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal against Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves.
In 1997, he landed the role of Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar.)
(By Nicole Pajer, Parade, 10-20-2019, pp. 8-10, 12)
Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn Make An Unexpected Announcement
(Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have been together for 34 years, but never married;
Kurt said something that Goldie will never forget. "To you, I owe my wonderful life,"
he said. "Simply put Goldie, I cherish you. All of the stars in the sky or the boulevard
don't hold a candle to that. There's no one else I'd rather be next to than Goldie Hawn.")
(By Zara Humphrey, Pens & Patron, 8-2-2019)
Doris Day, actress who honed wholesome image, dies at 97
(With her lilting contralto, fresh-faced beauty and glowing smile, Day was a top box-office draw
and recording artist known for comedies such as Pillow Talk and That Touch of Mink, as well as
songs like "Que Sera, Sera" from the Alfred Hitchcock film
The Man Who Knew Too Much)
(By Julian Rubin, Associated Press, 5-13-2019); Stanford Theatre Festival
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly on Reuniting for Holmes & Watson
("There's something special about alleviating people's suffering with laughter.")
(By Mara Reinstein, Parade, 12-23-2018, pp. 4, 9)
New
report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation's scale & sweep
(Russia used every major social media platform to deliver words, images and videos
tailored to voters' interests to help elect President Trump; Used email accounts
from Yahoo, Microsoft's Hotmail service and Google's Gmail; Posted more than 1,000
YouTube videos for their disinformation campaign, also Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.)
(By Craig Timberg & Tony Romm, Washington Post, 12-17-2018)
Eight
simple tricks to keep hackers from ruining Christmas shopping
(Make sure your phone, computer, WiFi router & other connected gadgets are running
the latest updates available. 1. Don't click on links in emails; 2. Use PayPal, Apple Pay,
Samsung Pay or Android Pay whenever possible; 3. When a site asks you to set a password,
don't reuse an old one; 4. Only interact with Amazon merchants through the Amazon website;
5. Don't put too much faith in Amazon ratings; 6. Turn on alerts for all credit card
transactions; 7. Don't shop on WiFi at the mall, airport, coffee shop or hotel;
8. Look for the lock logo in your Web browser— but don't rely on it.)
(By Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post, 12-13-2018)
Review: Too much Spider-Man? Not in the Spider-Verse
("Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is a film that's fantastically fresh, both visually
and narratively, trippy and post-modern at the same time and packed with intriguing
storytelling tools, humor, empathy and action, while also true to its roots.)
(By Mark Kennedy, Associated Press, 12-10-2018)
Shameik Moore slings webs as 1st biracial Spider-Man in film
(Moore plays Miles Morales, a biracial Brooklyn teen who gains an array of superpowers
after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Producers of "Spider-Verse" said they went the
animation route because computer graphic illustrators could mimic comic book movements better.)
(By Jonathan Landrum, Jr., Associated Press, 12-10-2018)
NASA
is about to grab a piece of an asteroid. That's even harder than it sounds
(After a two-year chase, NASA probe reached its target, an Empire State Building-sized asteroid
called Bennu. This diamond-shaped rock is 75 million miles from Earth. OSIRIS-REx probe is
12 miles from Bennu's surface. Will scoop up some rock and bring it home)
(By Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post, 12-3-2018)
Chargers'
Philip Rivers sets NFL record for consecutive completions in a game over Cardinals
(The Chargers quarterback played his way into the record books Sunday, completion
by pinpoint completion. He connected on his first 25 passes in a 45-10 rout of Arizona
at StubHub Center, the most by a quarterback in a single game in NFL history.)
(By Sam Farmer, LA Times, 11-25-2018)
Nike
Flushed $14 Billion Down The Drain From A Costly Mistake They Made With Steph Curry
(Nike didn't match Under Armour's $4 million offer to Curry who wanted his favorite verse into
the shoe's design. Nike refused. Under Armour said yes to Philippians 4:13—
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
The script, "I can do all things"
is found on the inside of the tongue of
Curry's shoes.
Curry doubled their worth from
$14 billion to $28 billion in a few years.)
(Basketball News, Bleacher Breaker, 10-22-2018)
People
buried at Stonehenge 5,000 years ago came from far away, study finds
(The ground beneath the 25-ton rocks at Stonehenge was a burial place 5000 years ago)
(By Ben Guarino, Washington Poat, 8-2-2018)
Nobel
Prize-winning Stanford physicist Burton Richter dies at 87
(SLAC Director Chi-Chang Kao: "Burt was unique being both a particle physicist & an accelerator
physicist. This rare combination gave him the vision & also the daring to build the SPEAR Storage
Ring to look for new elementary particles, which led to him winning the Nobel Prize in physics for
discovery of the J/psi particle. Burt was an inspiration for us all to be bold in what we aim for.")
(By Andrew Myers & Glennda Chui, Stanford News, 7-19-2018)
Henry
Morgenthau III, producer who helped shape public television, dies at 101
[His years as a producer at WGBH in Boston (1955-1977), coincided with birth of public television.
He was a son of President FDR's treasury secretary, grandson of U.S. ambassador Ottoman Empire
under President Wilson, older brother of former Manhattan district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau,
& cousin of Pulitzer Prize author Barbara W. Tuchman. His shows won Peabody & Emmy awards.]
(By Tara Bahrampour, Washington Poat, 7-14-2018)
Busboy who held dying Robert F. Kennedy shares senator's last words
(Juan Romero, who was 17 at the time of the 1968 Los Angeles slaying, recalled RFK's last words,
"Is everybody OK?" and he replied "Yes" before cushioning the senator's head with his hands.)
(By Elizabeth Zwirz, Fox News, 6-1-2018)
Hot Summer Reads
(Jane Fonda: The book that transported her— "I was 13 and read
Green Mansions [by W.H. Hudson],
which was later made into a movie with Tony Perkins. It was the first time I became the book;
I entered another world and it was beyond reading.")
(By Melinda Sue Gordon, Parade Magazine, 5-20-2018 p. 16)
Obituaries:
Influential Burning Man festival co-founder dead at 70
(Larry Harvey, whose whimsical decision to erect a giant wooden figure and then burn it to the ground
led to the popular, long-running counterculture celebration known as
"Burning Man" has died at 70.)
(By John Rogers & Janie Har, Washington Post, 4-28-2018)
You Are Here:
Scientists Unveil Precise Map Of More Than A Billion Stars
(A European Space Agency mission called Gaia just released a long-awaited treasure trove of data:
precise measurements of 1.7 billion stars, with new view of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.)
(By Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR, 4-25-2018)
Influential
Guru Asaram Bapu Given Life Sentence For Raping Teenage Girl
(Indian court has found Asaram Bapu, a spiritual leader who has founded hundreds of ashrams
in India, guilty of raping a 16-year-old teenage girl and sentenced him to life in prison.
His website claims that at the time of his arrest, he had at least 40 million followers.)
(By Bill Chappell, NPR, 4-25-2018)
Renouncing it all: All members of 2 families to take diksha in Gujarat today
(Two Jain families— one from Surat and another from Mumbai— will embrace ascetic life.
"When both our children made up their minds, they inspired us to seek enlightenment.")
(By Bharat Yagnik, Times of India, 4-25-2018)
The World Wants Blueberries All the Time. Chile's Excited
(Chilean grower Hortifrut produced 220 million pounds of blueberies in the current harvest.
1.7 million tons of blueberries were produced last year; U.S. is biggest producer of blueberries,
followed by Canada and Chile. China paid $10.04/kg while price in U.S. was $6.40/kg)
(By Eduardo Thomson, Bloomberg News, 4-18-2018)
Even
if you clear your history, Google has a record of all of your search activity—
here's how to delete it
(DuckDuckGo, which is essentially a Google that doesn't track you online. Open Chrome. Click More.
Click History. Click Clear Browsing Data. Select Beginning of Time to Clear Everything.)
(By Alix Langone, Business Insider, 4-17-2018)
PAKISTAN: Strong parallels exist between eastern Sufi & western Enlightenment thought
(Sufism teaches us to ascend out of our shallow coccons, to overpower our inflated egos.
Sufism promotes love, sacrifice, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence.
(By Sanjay Mthrani, Daily Times, Lahore, 4-15-2018)
BOOK: Enlightenment Now
(Bill Gates has anointed Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now as his favorite book of all time.
Despite daily diet of misery in the news, evidence shows that the world is a massively better place.)
(By Rebecca Tinsley, Independent Catholic News, ICN, 4-15-2018)
R.I.P. Art Bell 1945-2018
(We are profoundly saddened with the news that creator & original host of Coast to Coast AM,
Art Bell, has passed away at age of 72 at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. Current host George Noory:
"Art was a legend— a radio icon who went against the grain and developed an amazing show...
His impact on my life is beyond words. He will be missed, but I know he is now on another journey.")
(Coast to Coast AM.com, 4-14-2018)
Rest in Peace to Art Bell, the Man who made the paranormal normal
(Whitley Strieber, who took over Dreamland from Bell in 1999, posted this message:
At 10:30 on morning of Friday, April 13, Art Bell died. He passed away peacefully in his sleep.)
(By Drew Millard, Outline.com, 4-14-2018)
Art Bell Dead:
Radio Host Dies, Cause of Death Unclear
(Radio show host, Art Bell died on April 13 at 72 years old in his home in Pahrump Nevada.)
(By Jessica McBride, Heavy.com, 4-14-2018)
Art Bell,
whose 'Coast to Coast AM' radio show reveled in the paranormal, dies at 72
(Bell's fans may pause to mull the significance of his having passed on Friday the 13th, of all days.)
(By Elizabeth Zwirz, Fox News, 4-14-2018)
* Steph Curry explains why he writes Philippians 4:13 on his sneakers
(For Curry, Philippians 4:13 is a verse that pushes him to achieve greatness everyday.)
(By Ananth Pandian, USA Today, 3-12-2018)
Why must
'faith' and 'Enlightenment' be seen as contradictions of each other?
(Harvard's steven Pinker's book Enlightenment Now:
The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism,
and Progress claims that the enlightenment ideals of reason, science and humanism have led to
considerable human progress and that the future of civilization hinges upon continuing this tradition.)
(By Martin E.Marty, The Gazette, Colorado, 2-13-2018)
Creativity is part of being
[Edward O. Wilson's The Origins of Creativity (2017): "The more closely we examine
the properties of metaphors and archetypes, the more it becomes obvious that science
and the humanities can be blended. In the borderland of new disciplines created, it should
also be possible to reinvigorate philosophy and begin a new, more enduring Enlightenment."]
(By Ed Fisher, The Morning Sun, 2-8-2018)
Make
the best of our habits
(If we can go beyond the attachment to the phenomena and let our heart
take the proactive role and be the master, we will become enlightened.)
(By Fiji Times, 2-4-2018)
INSPIRED LIFE:
These men thought they adopted a mini piglet.
She became Esther the Wonder Pig, a 650-pound darling of the Internet.
(650-pound Esther the Wonder Pig received $440,000 in crowdfunding to buy farm for her to roam.
Jenkins said one reason people are drawn to Esther is simply that she makes them smile.)
(By Allison Klein, Washington Post, 12-17-2017, A2)
Brave New Worlds: The Planet Hunters beyond our solar system
(Columbia astronomers are going beyond our solar system to understand exoplanets, find exomoons,
and explore surreal estate. Proxima Centauri b is an exoplanet 4.2 light years away,)
(By Bill Retherford, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2017)
Letter Head: Scrabble prodigy Mack Meller is Columbia freshman
(Meller won Scrabble tournament at age 10, and is ranked 5th on the continent.)
(By Paul Hond, Columbia Magazine, Winter 2017)
SCIENCE: The Most Powerful Magnets in the Universe Are Collapsed Stars
(Magnetars have magnetic fields 1,000 times stronger than neutron stars whose
strong magnetic fields are about 2 trillion times more powerful than Earth's.)
(By Sopjie Weiner, Popular Mechanics, 11-4-2017)
How Russian hackers pried into Clinton campaign emails
(Hackers worked their way around the Clinton campaign's top-of-the-line digital security to steal
chairman John Podesta's emails in March 2016; Hackers turned to the personal Gmail addresses.)
(By Raphael Satter, Jeff Donn, & Chad Day, Taiwan News, 11-4-2017)
Scientists discover mysterious 'void' in Great Pyramid of Giza
(Researchers find evidence of 30-meter-long space hidden within pyramid's walls above
the Queen's chamber using muon detectors;
published in Nature, Nov. 2, 2017)
(By Cassandra Santiago & Sarah El Sirgany, CNN, 11-3-2017)
MUSIC:
Fats Domino dies at 89; gave rock music a New Orleans flavor
(He stood 5-feet-5 and weighed more than 200 pounds, with a wide, boyish smile and a haircut as flat
as an album cover. Domino sold more than 110 million records, with hits including "Blueberry Hill"
and "Ain't That a Shame". One of his show-stopping stunts was playing the piano while standing,
throwing his body against it with the beat of the music and bumping the grand piano across the stage.)
(By Stacey Plaisance & Janet McConnaughey, SF Chronicle, 10-25-2017)
What your intentions are all about
("Sankalp" is an orientation of the mind or heart; intention, determination, decision, wish,
resolve, and will power. Sankalp is a promise to oneself, embedded in the subconscious mind,
repeated frequently so that it becomes a reality. Sankalp could be to realise materialistic wishes,
and Mahasankalp is meant for achieving Self-knowledge and enlightenment.)
(By Homayun Taba, Times of India, 10-5-2017)
FILM:
How real-life drug smuggling & CIA spy operations inspired Tom Cruise film American Made
(Barry Seal was a bored airline pilot out of Baton Rouge who was delighted to be recruited by the CIA
in the late 1970s to fly clandestine surveillance missions over Central American hot spots.)
(By Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News, 9-27-2017)
This Reality Is All There Is— Nothing More
(We have been made to believe that techniques like yoga, prayers, meditation or mindfulness will
bring us peace of mind. What a con! There is no peace of mind! No wonder we are all neurotic!)
(By Andrea Quintero, Huffington Post, 9-26-2017)
Blazing
saddles dim memory in new dark age of censorship, witch-hunts
(Mel Brooks: in this censorious age, he never could have made 1974 film Blazing Saddles today.)
(By Matt Ridley, The Australian Times, 9-26-2017)
Attain Golf Enlightenment: Meet the Real Guru of Golf
(Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's YouTube videos, 5-minute answers to deep questions, have eclipsed
100 million views. He plays golf & quotes Swami Vivekananda "Kicking a football will take you
closer to the Divine than any amount of prayer.")
(By Max Adler, Golf Digest, 9-26-2017)
The man whose biblical doomsday claim has some nervously eyeing Sept. 23
(Sept. 23 is 33 days since the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, and David Meade forecasts disaster.)
(By Kristine Phillips, Washington Post, 9-20-2017)
Why It's Unlikely the World Will End on September 23
(No matter how you interpret the latest cosmic signs, history tells us people don't have best track
record at predicting apocalypse. David Meade of Wisconsin, says rogue planet Nibiru will
collide
with Earth on September 23; NASA says Nibiru doesn't exist; Anthony Aveni on Mayan calendar)
(By Michael Greshko, National Geographics, 9-19-2017)
Scientists:
Future of oldest tree species on Earth in peril
(Driven by climate change, a cousin of the tree, limber pine, is leapfrogging up mountainsides, taking
root in warmer, more favorable temperatures & leaving little room for the late-coming bristlecone.)
(By Scott Smith, Chicago Tribune, 9-13-2017)
Who was Eiko Ishioka and what are the designs that made her famous?
(Japanese designer Eiko Ishioka was famous for her outlandish &
surreal designs giving her global
renown. She died in 2012. Google honored her with a commemorative Doodle on its homepage.)
(By George Fuller, The Telegraph, UK, 7-12-2017)
The European musicians at the heart of Enlightenment Edinburgh
(Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci was an 18th century superstar, a rags-to-riches singing sensation,
a seducer, a fugitive, an honorary Scot. Born poor in Siena, he was castrated as a child and went on
to become vocal teacher to Mozart in Vienna. In 1766 he married the 15-year-old Dorothea Maunsell,
one of his students, and because he was a castrato the marriage was technically illegal. Tenducci
escaped imprisonment by fleeing to Edinburgh and making his home in Scotland.)
(By Kate Molleson, The Herald, Scotland, 7-11-2017)
Scientists get religious leaders high on magic mushroom compound
(Researchers at Johns Hopkins University brought together rabbis, Catholic, Orthodox & Presbyterian
priests, and a Zen Buddhist to see if doses of psilocybin might enhance their religious fervor.)
(By Chris Matyszczyk, cnet news, 7-9-2017)
This Is The Key To Mastering Small Talk, According To Harvard Researchers
(People who asked more questions, particularly follow-up questions, were considered more likable.)
(By Brittany Wong, Huffington Post, 6-20-2017)
Vintage Typewriters Gain Fans Amid 'Digital Burnout'
(In the age of smartphones, social media and cyber hacking fears, the vintage typewriter
that once gathered dust in attics and basements is making a comeback; Public "type-ins" popular.)
(By Russell Contreras, Associated Press, US News, 6-14-2017)
OP-ED: "Wonder Woman" is a beautiful reminder of what feminism has to offer women—and men
[The power of Wonder Woman, and one of the things that gives Patty Jenkins's adaptation of the
character such a lift, is Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) doesn't have any idea what women and men are—
or aren't— supposed to do. Allan Heinberg's script has levity, goodness, and sense of discovery.]
(By Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post, 6-5-2017)
Google Doodle celebrates legacy of rainbow flag creator
(Gilbert Baker created the iconic flag representing freedom & pride
for the gay community to help replace a symbol of oppression in 1978.)
(By Steven Musil, CNET, 6-2-2017)
Sunday With: Mark Hamill
(Mark Hamill was 25 when he landed the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars which celebrates
its 40th anniversary May 25. He's married to Marilou almost 39 years. Carrie's death was so hard.
When we were filming The Force Awakens, Prince William & Prince Harry came to the set. I said
to them, "My mother was Queen Amidala. My father is Lord Vader. My sister is Princess Leia.
Don't you think that makes me royalty?" William immediately said, "Absolutely." Harry said,
"I'd have to think about it a little more." Carrie was happy they were split [on the vote].)
(By Kathleen McCleary, Parade, 5-14-2017)
* Science:
(A 600-year-old life comes to an end (For some 600 years, the great white oak looked
over the people of Basking Ridge, N.J.; The tree still stands close to 100 feet tall, and its
branches extend more than 130 feet side to side. One limb tipped the scales at 8,000 pounds.)
(By Amy Ellis Nutt, Washington Post, 4-25-2017)
* ART:
On the edge of madness: the terrors and genius of Alberto Giacometti
(He drank with Sartre, mocked Picasso and took silent walks with Beckett—
but his work was going nowhere until a vision on Boulevard Montparnasse left him
trembling. Ahead of a major Tate show, we explore the obsessions of Giacometti.)
(By Lara Feigel, The Guardian, UK, 4-21-2017)
* Scientists
identify parts of brain involved in dreaming
(Francesca Siclari: "Maybe the dreaming brain and the waking brain are much more similar than
one imagined because they partially recruit the same areas for the same type of experiences.")
(By Nicola Davis, The Guardian, UK, 4-10-2017) Nature Neuroscience
Faberge
egg reunited with its missing 'surprise' in Texas
(A Faberge egg and the jeweled elephant designed to fit inside it are being reunited for the first time
in almost a century thanks to a loan from Queen Elizabeth II to Houston Museum of Natural Science.
The elephant, which walks & moves its head when wound, was purchased in 1935 by King George V,
apparently with no knowledge that it was Faberge.)
(By Jamie Stengle, Associated Press, 4-7-2017)
Sleep: You're Doing It Wrong
(Whatever you do, don't try to sleep. "You don't try to be hungry," W. Chris Winter points out
in The Sleep Solution,
"When you take the expectation of sleep away, it tends to come in a hurry.")
(By Paula Spencer Scott, Parade, 3-19-2017)
Inside the Enchanted World of Beauty and the Beast
(Disney brought the 1700s French fairy tale as a sweeping animated movie musical in 1991.
Now Emma Watson & Dan Stevens star in a brand-new Disney version with live actors, real settings,
& eye-popping computer animation. 10 glass chandeliers modeled on chandeliers from Versailles.)
(By Lambeth Hochwald, Parade, 3-12-2017)
The Truth About Reality
(Our reality is not fixed. And if our reality is changeable, it's also not permanent.
Our deepest desire is to feel loved & to share love. Most powerful manifestation of self-love
is self-acceptance. Make Love your number one habit and watch how your life transforms.)
(By Andrea Quintero, Huffington Post, 3-3-2017)
I Am the God
(God is not found outside of us, instead this god is found within each of us. In this new reality if
we pray— we are simply praying to the god within us. We are, individually, the sole creators of
our reality. In essence we are indeed omnipotent, we are holy, we are mighty, we are our own god.)
(By Andrea Quintero, Huffington Post, 3-3-2017)
Edmonia Lewis: Google Doodle salutes pioneering sculptor to kick off Black History Month
(To kick off its celebration of Black History Month, Google turns today to a
19th century artist who burned so bright that her twin gifts of blazing talent and
steely determination could not be denied even in the face of her era's discrimination.)
(By Michael Cavna, Washington Post, 2-1-2017)
HISTORY:
Edmonia Lewis: Why Google celebrates her today
(She was the first female African American sculptor to achieve
international acclaim at a time when slavery was legal.)
(Aljazeera, 2-1-2017)
Google's
Latest Doodle Heralds the Year of the Rooster
(The doodle, which features firecrackers, fried dumplings and traditional Chinese decorations,
marks the turning of Chinese zodiac from monkey to rooster. 2017 is the year of the fire rooster,
which according to lore is "trustworthy, with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility.")
(By Joseph Hincks, Time, 1-27-2017)
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Google celebrates the rooster for Lunar New Year
("Year of the Rooster" is January 28, 2017, festivities begin the day prior and last until February 2.)
(By Brian Fagioli, BetaNews, 1-25-2017)
Beauty
(If Like attracts Like, if Like acknowledges Like— like for example if you recognize beauty—
aren't you also Beauty? We can't know what something feels like, or looks like, without first
having an idea of the concept we are recognizing— mesmerizing sunset; sound of vast ocean.)
(By Andrea Quintero, Huffington Post, 1-16-2017)
* NEWS: 1,000 year old tree falls in Aptos
(The Advocate Tree at Forest of Nisene Marks State Park held its ground for 1000 years,
but recent storms proved too much as it toppled on Sunday, January 16; Kevin Newhouse with
the Aptos History Museum, took the loss personally, touched its bark and cried his eyes out.)
(By Barry Brown, KION News, 1-16-2017)
* Once
They Were Giants in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, Aptos, California
(The old-growth redwood trees in the park had lived more than 1,000 years, and were
logged between 1883 and 1923; Fewer than 5% of old growth coast redwood trees existing
in 1850 survive today; The Advocate Tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and is
one of the few remaining ancient redwood trees in the park. Old Growth Trail is also one
of the shortest hikes with the tree's location about 0.5 miles from the State Park entrance.)
(By Ric Garrido, Loyalty Traveler, 9-15-2013)
The Coast Road
by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh review: A bilingual feast
(Her translators echo the wit and playfulness of the Irish-language poet's originals)
(By Nuala NàDhomhnaill, Irish Times, 1-14-2017)
See What a NASA Spacecraft Saw When it Landed on Saturn's Moon
[Under the thick orangish clouds that surround Saturn's moon Titan, flowing rivers and
lakes of hydrocarbons (likely liquid methane and ethane) make Titan the only object
in space other than Earth that is known to have stable bodies of surface liquid.]
(By Jay Bennett, Esquire.com, 1-12-2017)
The Queen of Smarts
(Saluting our whip-smart Ask Marilyn columnist, who has been with Parade for 30 years.
She was listed 5 times in Guinness Book of World Records as having highest recordable IQ
for both children and adults. Born in St. Louis, in 1946, she's the wife of Robert Jarvik
(one of the Jarvik artiicial heart developers). Her column exercises the reader's & her brain.
(By Lambeth Hochwald, Parade, 12-25-2016)
SCIENCE: Researchers claim time travel is possible
(Prof. Howard Wiseman of Griffith University's Center for Quantum Dynamics &
Univ. of California's
Dr. Dirk-Andre Deckert claim that
parallel universes would allow for time travellers to visit Earth.)
(By George Harrison, NY Post, 11-27-2016)
Incredible!
Milky Way Shines Through a Midnight-Blue Sky (Photo)
(Astrophotographer Barbara Matthews took this image the first week of August from Donner Summit,
a mountaintop on the northern Sierra Nevada range, now a popular ski and lake resort.)
(By Nina Sen, Space.com, 11-26-2016)
The Unlikely Poet
(2016 Grace Church School graduate, is freshman at Dartmouth; Miss Miller, his technology teacher
saw his coding was shorter and different; Buddy Wakefield's video inspired him to write poetry.)
(By Holden Harris, Huffington Post, 10-28-2016)
The Amazing Stan Lee!
(The real star of the Marvel Comics universe— 93 years young— continues to shine. The brightest star
in the whole Marvel universe— is actually Stan Lee, whose ink and imagination built an empire.
(By Leonard Maltin, Parade, 10-23-2016)
Egypt's
Great Pyramid Might Have a Few More Secrets
(Researchers using non-invasive scanning called muon radiography to map the entire pyramid have
found two previously undiscovered "cavities" inside the ancient 4500-years structure itself.)
(By Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 10-18-2016)
MIT
Breaks a World Record For Nuclear Fusion
(Scientists at MIT's Alcator C-Mod experimental fusion reactor have broken world record for fusion
pressure. They generated two atmospheres of plasma pressure, brought the plasma to a temperature of
35 million degrees Celsius, close to the threshold of 50 million needed for commercial fusion power.)
(By Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 10-18-2016)
Space
is full of gigantic holes that are bigger than we expected
(Since 1981, astronomers found a vacant expanse called the Boötes void, holes of cold, dark,
lonely nothing, a rough sphere about 280 million light years in diameter with few dozen galaxies
inside; By contrast, Virgo Supercluster, that includes the Milky Way, contains over 2000 galaxies.)
(By Joshua Sokol, New Scientist, 10-18-2016)
* Feeling Awe May Be the Secret to Health and Happiness
(Dacher Keltner: "Awe is feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale,
that transcends our current understanding of things." Gazing at the Milky Way, seeing Niagara Falls,
Sistine Chapel, Grand Canyon, Stonehenge, Utah's Canyonland National Park will bring sense of awe.
(By Paula Spencer Scott, Parade, 10-9-2016)
Reflections on Emerging Poets for Fall
(Analicia Sotelo's "Ariadne's Guide to Finding a Man"— "First, you must feel that no one could love
you ever. / Let the feeling become a veil of black paper. / Let the paper become papier-mâché."
(By Abriana Jetté, Stay Thirsty Magazine, 10-9-2016)
Poetry
and literature festival in Istanbul
(Poets and writers from 20 countries will be hosted in events in various venues during the Istanbul
Poetry and Literature Festival between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2; Eric Sadin & Jason Goodwin will come.)
(Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey, 9-27-2016)
New Metropolitan Museum Logo Draws Harsh Reviews
(In a blistering assessment on Vulture.com, Pulitzer Prize-winning music & architecture critic
Justin Davidson described the logo as "two short words printed in scarlet letters, stacked & squashed
together. The whole ensemble looks like a red double-decker bus that has stopped short, shoving
passengers into each other's backs." Wolff Olins' new logo replaced classic "M" of Luca Pacioli.)
(By Brenda Cronin, Wall Street Journal, 2-18-2016)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's New Logo Is a Typographic Bus Crash
(New logo will replace existing M, a masterwork of resonant graphics that the Met first used in 1971.
From a distance, old logo couldn't be simpler, just a capital letter emblazoned in a solid-colored
circle. Move in closer, though, and the M sits at the center of a delicately drawn circle-in-a-square,
cut by diagonals and fringed with six smaller circles. The original is from a woodcut by Luca Pacioli,
a collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci's. Logo quivers with references to history of art & architecture.)
(By Justin Davidson, Vulture.com, 2-17-2016)
41 of the trickiest questions Google will ask you in a job interview
(Google has a reputation for asking difficult brainteaser questions that challenge
how you act under pressure. They require you to think quantitatively and broadly,
and test the way you tackle problems on the spot.)
(By Maya Kosoff, Business Insider, 1-20-2016)
"When Grace at the Bliss Café Calls"
(a pain that radiates outward / from palm to fingers that cannot find / the shape of your mechanical pencil, /
a Mont Blanc in the burgundy they / don't make anymore, a gift given / long ago, engraved, and obviously /
too good for you since now you've lost / it,.. phone rings, the read-out saying Bliss /
and it's Grace,
your server at the / vegetarian café by the creek 200 miles /
away where you ate three days ago, /
saying she needs your address so she / can mail your pencil back to you.)
(By Jane Vandenburgh, The New Yorker, 1-8-2016, pp. 56-57)
David Bowie Left Us Eerie Clues About His Death
(Bowie's new secretive album Blackstar was released 2 days earlier on his 69th Birthday January 8th.
The video for the single "Lazarus" was released a day before on January 7th. The very first lyrics
heard are on the song are: "Look up here, I'm in heaven, I've got scars that can't be seen".)
(By Raul, feelnumb.com, 1-11-2016)
The Force Is with Them
(Star Wars fans have fueled a franchise that has earned $28 billion over nearly four decades.
"Princess Leia is the driving force and the glue behind the entire revolution that is Star Wars.")
(By Kathleen McCleary, Parade, 12-13-2015)
See
if you can answer this insanely difficult question Goldman Sachs has asked in job interviews
(When interviewing on Wall Street, job seekers often come up against questions
that could send even the calmest candidate into a tailspin. "If you were shrunk
to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?")
(By Rachel Gillett, Business Insider, 7-25-2015)
Loch Ness monster:
Google Doodle plumbs the depths of our fevered fascination
(On this day in 1934, Col. Robert Wilson released his
hoax photo of a would-be
Loch Ness monster.)
(By Michael Cavna, Washington Post, 4-21-2015)
Supermassive Black Hole Merger Could Finally Solve The 'Final Parsec Problem'
(Binary black holes, are a system composed of two black holes locked in close orbit around each other.
Presence of a binary system is evidence of a galactic merger. PSO J334.2028+01.4075
discovery.)
(By Avaneesh Pandey, International Business Times, 4-21-2015)
This gigantic void is biggest structure we've ever discovered in the universe
(3 billion light years away from Earth, there is a "cold spot", a gigantic void that has surprisingly few
galaxies present. At 1.8 billion light years across, it's the largest structure we've ever discovered.)
(By Joseph Stromberg, Vox.com, 4-21-2015)
Rare Oarfish, Stuff Of Sea Monster Legends, Washes Up In New Zealand, Then Vanishes
(Giant oarfish— also known as the "king of herrings"— can grow up to 36 feet long.)
(By Hilary Hanson, Huffington Post, 4-21-2015)
'Scientific wonderland' expected as spacecraft approaches Pluto
(Launched in 1977, NASA's New Horizons half-ton spacecraft in less than 100 days will have
a 6000 miles flyby of Pluto 3 billion miles away with its moons Charon, Kerbos, Hydra, Styx, Nix.)
(By Pete Spotts, Christian Science Monitor, 4-18-2015)
The Most Spectacular Photo (and GIF!) of Saturn Ever Taken
(NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view as it approached Saturn in early 2011.
Cassini's flyby on Aug. 21, 2014 captured Saturn's largest moon Titan & sunglint.)
(By Nicole Ngugen, PopSugar.com, 4-17-2015)
Your
brain's aging and a new report urges ways to stay sharp
(Be physically active. Keep socially and intellectually active. Get enough sleep.)
(By Lauran Neergaard, Washington Post, 4-14-2015)
How Did The Moon Form? Scientists Finally Solve Pesky Problem With Giant Impact Hypothesis
(Moon formed from debris created when a Mars-sized object crashed into Earth 4.5 billion years ago.)
(By Jacqueline Howard, Huffington Post, 4-9-2015)
Does Dark Matter Cause Chaos on Earth Every 30 Million Years?
(Earth passes through mid-plane of Milky Way disc once every 30 million years and
encounter dense clumps of dark matter that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.)
(By Michael Rampino, Gizmoco.com, 4-9-2015)
Clearest view of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan that we've ever seen
(New image-processing technique is bringing Saturn's largest moon, Titan, into clearer view.)
(By Shannon Hall, Space.com, 4-8-2015)
What happens when 2 proton beams collide at nearly the speed of light
(Large Hadron Collider hurled protons around a 17-mile loop explode into hot clouds of exotic
subatomic particles. When beams collide, their combined energy can melt 1,100 pounds of copper.)
(By Kelly Dickerson, Business Insider, 4-8-2015)
NASA Says We're on Verge of Finding Alien Life
(NASA's chief scientist Ellen Stofan predicts that scientists will find signs of alien life by 2025.)
(By Monika Auger, Wall Street Journal, 4-8-2015)
From a medieval text, a weapon against a modern superbug emerges
(1,000-year-old text titled "Bald's Leechbook" shelved in the library
of University of Nottingham's Institute for Medieval Research.)
(By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, 3-31-2015)
* Here's
why the Apple Watch always shows the time as 10:09 in advertisements
(Rolex loves 10:10:31, TAG Heuer prefers 10:10:37, and Bell & Ross always opts for uniformity
with 10:10:10. Timex, one of the few watchmakers who deviate from the 10:10 norm, displays
the time 10:09:36. Displaying at 10:09:00, allow Apple to consider itself "ahead of the times"
with the Apple Watch. At 10:09, the hands would be much closer to symmetrical perfection.)
(By Steven Tweedle, Business Insider, 3-10-2015)
* Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and This Is Why It Matters
(Interview with Dr. Larry Dossey about his new book One Mind— Our mind is not confined to
our brain or body, as we've been taught, but it extends infinitely outside them. Our minds have
no boundaries or limits, so they merge with all other minds to form what I call the One Mind.)
(By Dr. Frank Lipman, Epoch Times, March 5-11, 2015, B8)
Google Doodle celebrates Lunar New Year 2015
(The animation shows a ram head-butting a tree until a bee flies out—
causing firecrackers to go off and a series of fireworks to spell out "Google")
(By Ashitha Nagesh, The Express, UK, 2-19-2015)
Five things you didn't know about Jesus
(Jesus came from little town, didn't know everything, was tough, needed "me time", didn't want to die.)
(By The Rev. James Martin, CNN News, 2-19-2015)
* Aldo Ciccolini obituary
(Pianist famed for his nimble fingerwork and devotion to less familiar music, particularly from France)
(The Guardian, UK, 2-16-2015)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Google Doodle of good yarn
(Honored on her 148th birthday with Google Doodle made of wool about Little House on the Prairie.)
(By David Clark Scott, Christian Science Monitor, 2-7-2015)
* Aldo Ciccolini, pianist— dies at 89
(Virtuoso pianist who brought dazzling Mediterranean tints to Satie, Mozart and Mussorgsky)
(Daily Telegraph, UK, 2-3-2015)
* Aldo Ciccolini, An Italian Pianist With A French Soul, Dies At Age 89
(Virtuoso pianist who brought dazzling Mediterranean tints to Satie, Mozart and Mussorgsky)
(By Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR, 2-2-2015)
Sweet revenge: 'Ship Your Enemies Glitter' sells for $85,000
(22-year old Australian Matthew Carpenter's site ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com received 2000 orders
@ $9.99 AUD or @ $8.11 USD in the first few hours, that he couldn't fulfill orders fast enough;
Sold his one-day business for $85,000 after 345 bids on
Flippa. New owner will fill 10,000 orders.)
(By Todd Wasserman, Mashable.com, 1-22-2015)
Rupi Kaur: The Poet Every Woman Needs to Read
(Rupi Kaur's first book, Milk and Honey with her own sketches, read like the everyday, collective
experiences of today's woman; the kindest words my father said to me / women like you drown oceans)
(By Erin Spencer, Huffington Post, 1-22-2015)
David Sorkin designated the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Judaic Studies
(1996 study: Moses Mendelssohn & The Religious Enlightenment;
Book Review)
(Yale News, 1-22-2015)
Faith Matters: Guarding the tongue
(To Enlightenment mind, right of individuals to unfettered speech & thought was unimpeachable.)
(By Kerry Walters, The Daily Item, 1-22-2015)
Movie Review: Teacher's pet
(A chilly and cerebral Kindergarten Teacher directed by Nadav Lapid
on Tel Aviv teacher Nira obsessed with 5-year old Yoav's poetry talents.)
(By Hannah Brown, The Jerusalem Post, 1-22-2015) (Film Trailer)
Mars
Curiosity Rover's Ancient Cat Statue 'Discovery' Sets Alien Hunters Abuzz
(Ancient cat statue reportedly discovered by Curiosity rover on a particular segment on Mars' surface.)
(Inquisitor.com, 1-20-2015)
Boy who claimed he had been to heaven retracts story, best-selling book is pulled
(6-year-old Alex Malarkey's The Boy
Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels,
and Life Beyond This World, published in 2011 was withdrawn, because his father made him
lie on going to heaven.)
(By Hillel Italie, StarTribune, 1-16-2015) (Amazon Reviews)
Tyndale
House responds to what it deems 'inaccurate statements' concerning Boy-Back-From-Heaven scandal
(Publisher knew Malarkey book was a fraud for two years, but still published to make money.)
(By Phil Johnson, discern.org, 1-16-2015) (June 3, 2014 Letter)
Bigfoot Strolls Through A Russian Forest— At Least That's The Claim [VIDEO]
(Yeti sighting in remote region of southwestern Adygea Republic in foothills of Caucasus Mountains.)
(By Lee Speigel, Huffington Post, 1-15-2015)
One of the Milky Way's arms might encircle the entire galaxy
(Arm known as Scutum-Centaurus emanates from one end of the Milky Way bar,
passes between us and Galactic Center, and extends to the other side of the galaxy.)
(By Matt Williams, Phys.Org News, 1-14-2015)
Green Comet Lovejoy Keeps Wowing Amateur Astronomers (Video, Photos)
(On Jan. 10, 2015, amateur astronomer Steve Siedentop took a series of 100 images
of Comet C/2014 Q2, also known as Comet Lovejoy, as it passed over Grayson, Georgia.)
(By Calla Cofield, Space.com, 1-13-2015)
Why
I still believe (on the 18th birthday of Creative Good)
(I believe in my founding vision of Creative Good. The better that companies treat customers—
as fellow human beings who deserve a good customer experience, as we would want for ourselves—
the better those companies will perform, over the long run.)
(By Mark Hurst, Creative Good, 1-7-2015)
Adam Plunkett on Faithful and Virtuous Night
(Glück is 71, and this is her 12th book of poems. None of
her other books are this ambitious;
It's her most primitive work. The first thing she does as the knight is to
"[enter] the kingdom
of death," the night of annihilation braved by the knight of her dreams.)
(By Adam Plunkett, Los Angeles Review of Books, 1-1-2015)
Researchers
Name a Deep Sea Spiky Shelled Snail A. strummeri after the late, great Joe Strummer
of The Clash (Golf-ball-sized snails rock out near hydrothermal vents 11,500 feet below the ocean.)
(By Lori Dorn, Laughing Squid, 12-15-2014) Santa Cruz Sentinel, 12-23-2014
* Interview with Dr Hew Len
(Dr. Hew Len worked at the Hawaii State hospital in the high security ward for the criminally insane
from 1983 to 1987, where he cured and entire ward of criminally mentally ill patients using the simple
ancient Hawaiian healing method of Ho'oponopono. How can we impact our lives using this method?)
(By Saul Maraney, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2008)
* How Dr. Hew Len healed a ward of mentally ill criminals with Ho'oponopono
(Ho'oponopono, the Hawaiian system that heals oneself— and the world, too.)
(By Rosario Montenegro, HubPages.com, March 27, 2011)
* Christmas Ho'oponopono
(Dr. Hew Len perceived in the inmates was really just an aspect of himself that was coming to his
awareness to be healed. In healing that aspect of himself by prayer, he healed the entire insane ward.)
(By Jillian Jones, WorkMoneyBliss.com Blog, 12-21-2013)
UFO Enthusiast
Says Comet 67P An Alien Spacecraft In Disguise; Claims NASA Received Radio Signals 20 Years Ago
(Email to UFO Sightings Daily that Comet 67P was an alien ship in disguise)
(By Afza Fathima, International Business Times, 12-8-2014)
An Absence Finished: Claudia Emerson's LATE WIFE: POEMS
(Late Wife presents the arc of a failed marriage through letters from the wife to the husband)
(By Gary Anderson, What's Not Wrong? Blog, 12-5-2014)
* SCIENCE: What Happened Before The Big Bang Started The Universe?
(First idea: it all began as a kind of quantum fluctuation that inflated to our present universe.
Second idea: our universe began within a black hole of an older universe 13.8 billion years ago.)
(By Brian Koberlein, BusinessInsider.com, 12-3-2014)
This Is the Largest Stone Block Ever Carved By Human Hands
(Discovered in a stone quarry in Baalbek, Lebanon, by German archaeologists, the perfectly hewn
chunk of stone measures 64 feet by 19.6 feet and is 18 feet tall. It's estimated to weigh 1,650 tons.)
(By Jamie Condliffe, Gizmodo.com, 12-3-2014)
These 3 Images Changed Our Understanding Of The Universe Forever
[1. Hubble Deep Field (1995) collected light from 3,000 objects in this tiny patch of dark sky;
2. Hubble Ultra Deep Field shows objects in universe as they appeared less than one billion years after Big Bang;
3. Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) contains 5,500 more galaxies than the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.];
(By Jessica Orwig, BusinessInsider.com, 12-3-2014)
Famous Hubble star explosion is expanding, new animation reveals
(Homunculus Nebula getting bigger and bigger between 1995 & 2008: Picture of the Day 12-2-2014)
(By Elizabeth Howell, Phys.org, 12-3-2014)
At Va. Shore eatery, woman bites clam, finds $3K pearl
(Virginia Beach woman found a rare 4.5-carat pearl in a clam purchased at Great Machipongo Clam
Shack in Nassawadox. The man who grew the clam has never seen a pearl in an aquaculture clam.)
(By Carol Vaughn, DelmarVaNow.com, 12-2-2014)
Monterey Bay
researchers capture rare deep-sea anglerfish on video for first time
(Black seadevil (Melanocetus), named for its baleful ugliness. With vicious gape,
females eat fish of a
larger size. To lure her prey, she jerks luminescent orb
dangling from "fishing rod" on her forehead.)
(By Samantha Clark, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 11-20-2014)
Dark matter
could be seen in GPS time glitches
(Kinks or cracks in the quantum fields that permeate the universe could be the culprit
dark matter that makes up 80% of the universe's matter according to
Andrei Derevianko.)
(By Hal Hodson, New Scientist, 11-17-2014)
* Baby elephant survives 14 attacking lions
(Young 1-year-old elephant in Zambia strays from its mother and seems in great peril,
but holds its own and reunites with its herd; 'We've named the little fella Hercules'.)
(By Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com, 11-11-2014)
Hubble Images Show Universe's Secrets
(This telescope, which uses a series of high-resolution cameras to observe
the visible universe, has captured the hearts of the public with its stunning images.)
(By Jessica Orwig, BusinessInsider.com, 11-1-2014)
BASEBALL:
Madison Bumgarner effort was one for the ages
(Cardinals Johnny Keane rode 28-year-old Bob Gibson in 1964 just as strenuously as Giants skipper
Bruce Bochy rode 25-year-old Madison Bumgarner through the 2014 postseason. Afterward, Keane
was asked why he stayed with Gibson. Keane said: "I had a commitment to his heart.")
(By Dan McGrath, Chicago Sun Times, 10-31-2014)
MLB:
Where Madison Bumgarner's stellar World Series ranks all-time
(Mathewson 1905, Lew Burdette 1957, Stan Coveleski 1920, Bob Gibson, 1967, Bumgarner 2014)
(By Cliff Corcoran, Sports Illustrated, 10-30-2014)
BASEBALL:
Bumgarner a Throwback to Pre-Pitch Count Era
(World Series 0.43 ERA for 2014 & 0.25 ERA lifetime compared to Christy Mathewson 1905,
Lew Burdett 1957, Sandy Koufax 1965, Bob Gibson 1967, Micky Lolich 1968, Jack Morris 1991, Randy Johnson 2001);
(By Ronald Blum, ABC News, 10-30-2014)
MLB: The Greatest World Series Pitching Performance Ever?
(Bumgarner threw 21 innings, 17 strike outs, 1 walk, 0.43 ERA is lowest since Dodger's
Sandy Koufax's 0.38 ERA in 1965 World Series with 24 innings and 29 strike outs.)
(By Daniel Barbarisi, Wall Street Journal, 10-30-2014)
BASEBALL:
Giants beat Royals in Game 7 for third World Series title in five years
(Madison Bumgarner pitched 5 shutout innings in relief, Pablo Sandoval had
3 hits and scored two runs as Giants beat Royals 3-2 to win World Series.)
(By Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 10-30-2014)
Archeologists Make
Incredible Discoveries In Tunnel Sealed 2,000 Years Ago
(340-foot tunnel sealed 2000 years ago at Teotihuacan yielded thousands of relics.)
(By Associated Press, Huffington Post, 10-30-2014)
BOXING: Rumble in the Jungle: the night Ali became King of the World again
(New book on Muhammad Ali's fight in Kinshasa 40 years when George Foreman was defeated.)
(By Kevin Mitchell, The Guardian, UK, 10-29-2014)
BOOKSHELF: Do What I Mean, Not What I Say
(Ancient philosophers deliberately concealed the meaning of their writings to protect society
from dangerous truths. A review of Arthur M. Melzer's
Philosophy Between the Lines.
There is a surface
message intended for the ordinary or inattentive reader and a deeper meaning often diametrically
opposed to the first, that is addressed to the discerning reader.)
(By James Ceaser, Wall Street Journal, 10-24-2014)
Will Smith Reveals The Real Life
'Limitless Pill' That Doubled His IQ In Minutes
(Widespread amongst young professionals, Neuro3x
reacts to a gene called NRXN3 in the male brain.
Users reported having 'lazer beam focus' and were thinking sharper, improving their memory and
turbo charging their energy levels. Pills also helped men effortlessly attract & seduce beautiful women.)
(By James Rickman, Discover Magazine, 10-15-2014)
Cardinals Hero Matt Adams Saves The Day And Gets The Girl
(Fiancee Carina Struble kisses Matt Adams in locker room before he got doused with booze.)
(By Michael Klopman, Huffington Post, 10-8-2014)
Giants' Hunter Pence
makes sensational leaping catch to rob Nats of extra bases
(Hunter Pence made a leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob Jayson Werth of an extra-base hit
during Game 4 of the NLDS as SF Giants beat Washington Nationals 3-2 & win the NLDS 3-1.)
(By Ted Berg, USA Today, 10-7-2014)
Beardless Jesus Discovered On Early Christian Artifact Unearthed In Spain
(4th century green glass paten shows beardless Jesus with apostles Peter and Paul)
(By Carol Kuruvilla, Huffington Post, 10-7-2014)
SPACE: Total lunar eclipse on Wednesday will have an unusal twist
(On October 8th see a "selenelion"—total eclipse of moon & rising sun simultaneously,
Boston: sunrise 6:49 am, moonset 6:54 am; New York: sunrise 6:59 am, moonset 7:04 am)
(By Joe Rao, cbsnews.com, 10-6-2014)
BASEBALL: Steven Souza Jr. makes miraculous catch for final out of Jordan Zimmermann no-hitter
(Washington rookie left fielder Steven Souza Jr. chased Christian Yelich's flyball to left-center field
gap and caught it to preserve Jordan Zimmermann's 1-0 win & first no-hitter in Nationals history.)
Video;
(By Scott Allen, Washington Post, 9-28-2014)
At CounterPunch Studios, actors' digital doubles come to life
(CounterPunch has built a growing business by creating realistic-looking digital faces of actors,
including some who are deceased: for video games, Bollywood movies, theme parks & TV shows.)
(By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times, 9-24-2014)
Poem of the week:
A Work of Fiction by Louise Glück
(Glück's prose-poem combines meditation with anecdote as she remembers the moment of loss after finishing a novel;
"In the dark, the cigarette glowed, like a fire lit by a survivor. But who would
see this light, this small dot among the infinite stars? I stood a while in the
dark, the cigarette glowing and growing small, each breath patiently destroying me. How small it was, how brief. Brief, brief, but inside me now,
which the stars could never be.")
(By Carol Rumens, The Guardian, UK, 8-25-2014)
We'd like to welcome you to 'enlightenment'
(Avatar claims its self-improvement course can fix life's struggles; critics say mumbo jumbo
comes at a cost; nine-day session @$3050, or a two-day ReSurfacing workshop @$402.50.)
(By Russell Blackstock, New Zealand Herald, 8-17-2014)
APPRECIATION: Lauren Bacall's hallmark: a unique mystique
(The voice. If you heard it once, you never forgot. So distinctive was its smoky,
sexual growl, you could pick it out of a lineup. She had an elegant, high-end style
that made her a photographer's favorite. She was just 19 and Humphrey Bogart 44
when they began filming "To Have and Have Not" and married shortly afterwards.)
(By Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times, 8-13-2014)
Movie review | 'The Giver'
(In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy
is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.)
(By Roger Moore, Courier-Journal, 8-12-2014)
OP-ED: Americans' optimism is dying
(Gloom goes beyond wealth, gender, race, region, age and ideology
This fractious nation is united by one thing: lost faith in the United States.)
(By Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 8-12-2014)
Robin Williams: Actor, comic unable to cope with real-life demons
(Williams rose to fame as a comedian, but blossomed as a dramatic actor. Obama: "He was one of a
kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien, but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit.")
(By Frank C. Girardot, Daily News, 8-11-2014)
SoCal anglers score rare opah trifecta
(Anglers out of San Diego manage to land three of the brightly colored
'moonfish' on one day.)
(By Pete Thomas, GrindTV, 8-4-2014)
Marilyn Monroe— 38 never-before-seen photographs
(Los Angeles-based Limited Runs selling prnts of 38 previously unpublished images of Marilyn)
(By Sarah Eberspacher, The Week, 7-23-2014) (Marilyn & Horse: Cheek to Cheek)
Alien Planet Sets New Record For Having Longest-Known Year On A Transiting World
(Alien planet Kepler-421b takes 704 Earth days to complete one orbit in Lyra constellation.)
(By Mike Wall, Huffington Post, 7-23-2014)
Ukraine
says Malaysian plane shot down; nearly 300 feared dead, among them 80 children
(Malaysian airliner shot down over eastern Ukraine by militants, killing all 300 people aboard.)
(Reuters, The Indian Express, 7-17-2014)
Hubble sees a galaxy with a glowing heart
(NGC 1433 spiral Seyfert galaxy with bright luminous center is 32 million light-years from Earth.)
(By D. Calzetti, Phys.Org News, 7-14-2014)
Hubble telescope spots bizarre 'string of pearls' formation in space
(100,000-light-year-long string of star clusters wrapping around the cores of two merging galaxies.)
(By Mike Wall, Christian Science Monitor, 7-14-2014)
How Meg Ryan
Learned to 'Fake It' for When Harry Met Sally
(Director Rob Reiner shows Meg how to do it at Katz's Deli in New York City.)
(By Lesley Messer, ABC News, 7-13-2014)
Meg Ryan was coached for When Harry Met Sally orgasm scene by a man
(The scene has become one of the most celebrated in Hollywood history.)
(By Daniel Bates, The Telegraph, UK, 7-11-2014)
Warren Buffett Is Betting $1 Billion on This Man
(United States Gypsum Corporation or USG is one of the largest manufacturers of drywall and other various construction materials; Berkshire Hathaway owns 30% of USG versus 6% of IBM.)
(By Patrick Morris, Motley Fool, 7-12-2014)
BASEBALL: Top Plays of the Day
(Barnes;
Craig;
Gomez;
Gose;
Holt;
Revere;
Young;
Zimmerman)
(Must See Catches, MLB, 6-24-2014)
In Nero's Rome, the Disgraced Took to the Bathtub
(Nero was 12 when his mother, Agrippina, hired the Stoic philosopher Seneca to be his tutor.)
(By Manuela Hoelterhoff, Bloomberg News, 6-17-2014)
A DARK ROOM: The Best-Selling Game that No One Can Explain
(Created by Michael Townsend in May 2013, "A Dark Room" was designed to run in Web browsers.
Amir Rajan e-mailed Townsend, for permission to adapt game for iPhones & iPads, now a best-seller.)
(By Michael Thomsen, The New Yorker, 6-12-2014)
Goodbye, Maya Angelou: Teacher, Warrior, Spiritual Leader
(She was one of those wise souls gifted to us to help us all find our way a little bit more easily.
She was a mentor, a surrogate mother, an older sister, and a grandmother to many of us
who battled our way into womanhood with her by our side.)
(By Nur-e Rahman Nichols, Forbes, 6-10-2014)
SCIENCE: Hubble captures the most comprehensive image of the universe yet
(Hubble Space Telescope has taken a long-exposure picture of space in the ultraviolet, revealing newly
formed stars and galaxies; also detected earliest galaxies, formed as early as 13 billion years ago.)
(By Dario Borghino, gizmag.com, 6-9-2014)
Poet Maya Angelou remembered for wisdom, clarity
(Bill Clinton: "She was calling our attention to the things she'd been paying attention to. And she did it
with a clarity and power that will wash over people as long as there is a written and spoken language.")
(By Emery P. Dalesio, WRAL.com, 6-7-2014)
Charles M. Blow offers a tribute to Maya Angelou
(She gave the people I knew— and the person I was— value, and she did so
with a phenomenal power of presence, her words lingering and her voice swelling.)
(By teacherken, Daily Kos, 5-28-2014)
How a text-based RPG got to No. 1 on iOS App Store
(Amir Rajan's Web-based game "A Dark Room" amasses a large audience of 325,000)
(By Hanah Cho, Dallas Morning News, 5-24-2014)
Mary Anning: British palaeontologist celebrated in Google doodle
(Google celebrates 215th birthday of British palaeontologist Mary Anning with a special doodle,
which shows Anning uncovering a dinosaur's fossilised remains. She's called greatest fossilist.)
(By Sophie Curtis, The Telegraph, UK, 5-21-2014)
MLB: Why the Giants are (not) the best in the National League
(If you're looking for absolutes, the 2014 Giants are not the team for you.)
(By Grant Brisbee, SB*Nation, 5-21-2014)
Bear pulls cub to safety from busy highway
(Momma bear rescuing its cub from heavy traffic in British Columbia)
(By David Strege, GrindTV, 5-20-2014)
Helpware: This Password Program Rightfully Nags You
(Dashlane, a free program for Windows, Macs, iPads and iPhones and Android devices
is easy to use, and has powerful encryption to flummox hackers. Price is right, too.)
(By Harold Glicken, Vnews.com, 5-18-2014)
* The triumph of melancholy: 500 years of Dürer's most enigmatic print
(As mathematicians meet in New York to celebrate 500th anniversary of Dürer's print
Melencolia,
Karl Galle asks whether it is a depiction of despairing genius or of scholarly optimism.)
(By Karl Galle, The Guardian, UK, 5-16-2014)
World's oldest sperm discovered. And it's gigantic.
(17-million year old muscle shrimp known as an ostracod found in Australian cave; though
1 millimeter long, its sperm when uncoiled can reach up to ten times its body length.)
(By Terence McCoy, Washington Post, 5-14-2014)
Top-shelf bookcases: Get your pretty books all in a row
(Try a modular, expandable system such as Atlas Industries' AS4. A 32-inch-wide single column
of shelving starts at $2,700 for white oak; Sapien vertical bookcase priced at $198-$298.)
(By Lindsey M. Roberts, Washington Post, 5-14-2014)
Kids Don't Read Books Because Parents Don't Read Books
(People read all day long. Google, Twitter, and Facebook deliver words. People can't peel their eyes
from smartphone: essentially a text distribution mechanism; we prefer magazines & blogs to books.)
(By Jordan Shapiro, Forbes, 5-13-2014)
* Dorothy Hodgkin: The only British woman to win a Nobel science prize gets a doodle
(Her pioneering work helped unravel the structures of proteins, including insulin,
which she studied for more than 30 years; 1964 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry)
(By Guardian Staff, The Guardian, UK, 5-12-2014)
Yahoo is going to track your web use whether you like it or not
(Yahoo won't be honoring "Do Not Track" requests from users anymore.)
(By Chris Smith, BGR, 5-2-2014)
Kentucky Derby | Art Sherman visits Swaps' grave
(Derby favorite California Chrome trainer, Sherman visited Swaps' gravesite at Churchill Downs)
(By Jonathan Lintner, The Courier Journal, 5-1-2014)
Researchers think water helped ancient Egyptians build the pyramids
[Daniel Bonn, Physical Review Letters 112, 175502 (2014) showed as water was added, both the force
needed to pull the sled and the friction coefficient were found to decrease below that of the dry sand."]
(By Emily Price, engadget.com, 5-1-2014)
BASEBALL:
Detroit Tigers' Brad Ausmus has never seen a hitter like Victor Martinez
(Victor Martinez struck out twice in his first 85 plate appearances this season. He's hitting
.286 with 3 doubles & 4 homers in 21 games; Torii Hunter & Ian Kinsler both have 8 strikeouts.
Nick Castellanos had 17 hits and 13 RBIs in his first 18 games this season.)
(By George Sipple, FreePress.com, 4-29-2014)
Ask Alma's Owl: The Spy Who Loved Baseball
[Morris "Moe" Berg (LAW '30), who was known as "the brainiest guy in baseball". He had
a career batting average of .243 and spied for Office of Strategic Services (CIA forerunner)
during WW II in Yugoslavia & Switzerland on Germany's efforts to build an atomic bomb.]
(By Georgette Jasen, Columbia News, 4-23-2014)
EDUCATION: The Dark Chain of Events to Your Kid's Ivy League
(Failure to get into college of their dreams may have less to do with a lack of merit than
admissions procedures adopted by anti-Semitic college administrators almost a century ago.)
(By Stephen Mihm, Bloomberg View, 4-21-2014)
The secret to khushi
(Happiness expert Dr. Aymee Coget suggests, "Focus on controlling your emotional state by choosing
happiness and adopting positive psychology principles, build your resilience, follow your heart and
meditate into the greatest states of bliss." Sophie Keller: Happiness needs to be a "being state".)
(By Teja Lele Desai, Mumbai Mirror, Apr 18, 2014)
The Greatest Graduation Speech Ever Given Is This Bullet-Point List Of 12 Economic Concepts
(Thomas Sargent spoke to 2007 Berkely graduates: "Economics is organized common sense.")
(By Rob Wile, Business Insider, 4-17-2014) Speech
'Jaw-Dropping', 'Apocalypse' Blood Moon Still Making Waves
(Lunar eclipse treated as sign from heaven, or butt of jokes; Acts 2:19-20— "And I will show wonders
in Heaven above and signs in the Earth beneath, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon
into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord." April 15, 2014 is Passover.)
(By Mark Biltz, WND Faith, 4-17-2014)
Pilot Captures Crazy-Surreal Photo Series By Just Sticking His Camera Out The Cockpit
(Alex MacLean sticks his camera out the cockpit of a small Cessna 182, snapping what's below.
More)
(By Suzy Strutner, Huffington Post, 4-11-2014)
Hubble Madness' Picks a Winning Image, and Deep Space Never Looked So Good
(Winning photo is "Mystic Mountain"—
area in Carina Nebula is a pillar of gas, dust, and stars
that measures more than three light-years tall, 7500 light-years from earth.
Other photos)
(By Justin Bachman, Business Week, 4-11-2014)
What Hiring Managers Really Want To Know When They Ask 'What's Your Biggest Weakness?'
(Question is designed to test your mettle and your character. It reveals any weaknesses that may derail
a candidate, it also provides insights into if you are of a mindset of continual improvement.)
(By Jacquelyn Smith, Business Insider, 4-9-2014)
Hank Aaron to enjoy anniversary of No. 715 with friends
(Aaron was more relieved than jubilant after he broke Babe Ruth's home run record April 8, 1974.)
(By Charles Odum, San Francisco Chronicle, 4-7-2014)
3-D printing market projected to grow to $16.2 billion in 2018
(3-D printer sales, materials and associated services, reached $2.5 billion worldwide last year.)
(By Samantha Schaefer, Los Angeles Times, 3-31-2014)
SCIENCE:
NASA's Spitzer telescope completes 360-degree panorama of the Milky Way
(The telescope took over 2 million infrared snapshots of our galaxy over the course of a decade.)
(By Valentina Palladino, The Verge, 3-26-2014)
SCIENCE: Discovery could point to a new planet in our solar system
(Planetoid orbiting the sun that has never been seen before, dubbed VP113, it lies
beyond Neptune and even further past the icy ring known as the Kuiper Belt.)
(By Valentina Palladino, The Verge, 3-26-2014)
How America celebrates Pi Day
(Princeton Public Library awards $314.15 to 7-13-year olds memorizing most digits of π on Pi Day)
(By Elizabeth Landau, CNN Tech, 3-14-2014)
Meet Jonathan, St Helena's 182-year-old giant tortoise
(At 182, Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, may be the oldest living land creature.)
(By Sally Kettle, BBC News, 3-12-2014)
Gold coins not stolen from U.S. Mint
(Buried gold coins worth $10 million were not tied to a 1901 U.S. Mint theft in San Francisco.)
(By Samantha Schaefer, Los Angeles Times, 3-5-2014)
Alternatives to the Big Bang Theory Explained (Infographic)
(Steady-State Universe now debunked, Eternal Inflation Multiverse, Cyclic Oscillating Universe with
alternating Big Bang & Big Crunch, Flat Hologram, Digital Simulation running in a vast computer)
(By Karl Tate, Space.com, 2-21-2014)
Shirley Temple Black: 10 things to know about Curly Top
(From 1969 to 1970, she was a U.S. delegate in the United Nations General Assembly.)
(By Christy Khoshaba, Los Angeles Times, 2-12-2014)
Shirley Temple Black excelled in 2nd career in diplomacy
(She was a symbol of spontaneous goodness, the No. 1 box office star from 1935-1938.)
(By Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle, 2-12-2014)
Shirley Temple dies at 85
(She was a symbol of spontaneous goodness, the No. 1 box office star from 1935-1938.)
(By Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 2-11-2014)
Shirley Temple Black, iconic child star, dies at 85
(Most popular child movie star of all time, lifting filmgoing nation's spirits during Depression.)
(By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 2-11-2014)
Shroud Of Turin Formed By An Earthquake? Face Of Jesus Image Caused By Neutron Emissions
(Neutron emissions could have caused chemical reactions in cloth forming the image of a face.)
(Huffington Post, 2-11-2014)
Turin Shroud may have been created by earthquake from time of Jesus
(An earthquake in Jerusalem in AD 33 may have caused an atomic reaction
which created the Turin Shroud and skewed radiocarbon dating results.)
(By Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph, UK, 2-11-2014)
SPACE: Could Black Holes Give Birth to 'Planck Stars'?
(Rovelli & Vidotto looked at Big Crunch and found Planck Stars producing a detectable signal,
of quantum gravitational origin, around the 10-14cm wavelength.)
(By Ian O'Neill, Discovery News, 2-11-2014)
Brain Science: Secrets of the Brain
(New technologies sheds light on biology's greatest unsolved mystery: how brain really works.)
(By Carl Zimmer, National Geographic, February 2014)
Wall Street Journal: Tom Perkins Was Right
(Perkins has been flayed since his letter, now WSJ editorial board said that Perkins was right.)
(By Joe Weisenthal, Business Insider, 1-30-2014)
Eric Lawson, who portrayed Marlboro man, dies at 72
(Portrayed rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during late 1970s, died Jan. 10 of respiratory failure.)
(By Associated Press, Washington Post, 1-27-2014)
Former Marlboro Man, 72, becomes 5th actor from iconic cigarette ads to die of lung disease
(Eric Lawson portrayed iconic cigarette-puffing cowboy from 1978 to 1981.)
(By Sophie Jane Evans & Helen Pow, Daily Mail, UK, 1-27-2014)
Tom Perkins:
Billionaire venture capitalist ridiculed after writing letter
comparing the treatment of rich Americans to the Holocaust
(Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass, saw a series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany
in Nov. 1938. 91 Jews were killed & 30,000 were arrested & incarcerated in concentration camps.)
(By Rob Williams, The Independent, UK, 1-26-2014)
LETTERS: Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?
(I would call attention to the parallels of Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent,"
namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich.")
(By Tom Perkins, Wall Street Journal, 1-24-2014)
UConn prof delves into spirituality in daily life
(Professor Bradley Wright using www.soulPulse.org & smart phones
to measure people's spirituality as it unfolds over time in natural settings.)
(By John Christoffersen, San Francisco Chronicle, 1-20-2014)
California farms lead the way in almond production
(California produces 82% of the globe's almonds; 70% of state's almonds sold overseas;
Nut's exports worth 2.5 times California wine sold abroad.)
(By David Pierson, LA Times, 1-12-2014)
* Can
Bighorn Sheep Help Us Prevent Concussion
Bighorn sheep and woodpeckers have brains that are well-protected against impacts.
They bash their heads all day yet experience little apparent brain damage.)
(By Allison Eck, PBS, Nova, 1-6-2014)
* Ronald Reagan
and the occultist: The amazing story of the thinker behind his sunny optimism
(Gipper's warm "morning in America" worldview was directly shaped by his reading of occult thinker
Manly P. Hall; cited "Secret
Destiny of America" at 1957 Eureka College commencement address.)
(By Mitch Horowitz, Salon, 1-5-2014)
Lincoln waitress receives the tip of a lifetime
(Abigail Sailors served Cracker Barrel customer with smiles
and received $1000 check for her college tuition.)
(By Peter Salter, Lincoln Journal Star, 1-5-2014)
*
Is the Universe a Hologram?
(Japanese researchers have taken another step toward proving theory that our universe is a hologram.)
(By Tara MacIssac, Epoch Times, 12-11-2013)
*
Is The Universe A Hologram? Physicists Say It's Possible
(Yoshifumi Hyakutake of Japan's Ibaraki University has provided some of the clearest evidence
yet that our Universe could be just one big projection, proving Juan Maldacena's proposal.)
(Huffington Post, 12-11-2013)
Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram
(10-dimensional theory of gravity makes same predictions as standard quantum physics in fewer dimensions.)
(By Ron Cowen, Nature, 12-10-2013)
Nelson Mandela in his own words
(60 Minutes revisits a collection of revealing writings by the late
civil rights giant and former South African president Nelson Mandela.)
(By Bob Simon, CBS 60 Minutes, 12-8-2013)
Mystery buyer dishes up $1.2M for rare plate at Ottawa auction
(Chinese glazed plate from Yuan or early Ming Dynasty, about 40 centimetres in diameter
and decorated with a three-clawed dragon estimated at $900 sold for $1.2 million.)
(By Robert Bostelaar, Ottawa Citizen, 12-6-2013)
Malcolm Gladwell: The Power of the Underdog
(David had an advantage over Goliath? Malcolm Gladwell talks with
Anderson Cooper about the link between adversity and innovation)
(Interview with Anderson Cooper, CBS 60 Minutes, 11-24-2013)
Germany: Nazi stolen-art trove may be largest found in private hands
(More than 1,500 pieces of priceless art worth $1.3 billion found in apartment belonging
to Cornelius Gurlitt, the 80-year-old son of a well-known Nazi-era art dealer in early 2011.)
(By Henry Chu, LA Times, 11-4-2013)
Shakuntala Devi: Numerical wizard honored in Google Doodle
[In 1977 Shakuntala Devi (11-4-1929 to 4-21-2013) extracted before an audience the 23rd root
of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds, beating the Univac computer that took 62 seconds.)
(By Erik De Castro, Christian Science Monitor, 11-4-2013)
Philippines earthquake: Did Muslim holiday save lives?
(7.2 earthquake Tuesday struck Cebu and Bohol hardest, killing at least 90 people.)
(By Erik De Castro, Christian Science Monitor, 10-15-2013)
Earthquake in Greece: A 6.4 magnitude quake shakes Crete
(Tremors were felt as far as the Greek capital Athens, some 180 miles away.)
(By Angeliki Koutantou and Karolina Tagaris, Christian Science Monitor, 10-12-2013)
Sandy Koufax
congratulates Kershaw and Dodgers on NLDS win
(From Dodgers' old left-handed ace to its current young southpaw, a smiling Koufax
looked Kershaw in the eyes and bestowed his congratulations with a hug.)
(By Beth Harris, Christian Science Monitor, 10-8-2013)
The Red Hawk Who saved my life flies away
(At Kerhonkson sweat lodge, Charlie's goodness & kindness saved his life 25 years ago.)
(By Mr. Horrible, Daily Kos, 10-8-2014)
It's Complicated: Pioneering network scientist Duncan Watts, PhD '97, tackles the fallacy of common sense
(Everything Is Obvious, Once You Know the Answer. Subtitled How Common Sense Fails Us)
(By Beth Saulnier, Cornell Alumni Magazine, Sept/Oct 2013)
FAQ: All About The New Google "Hummingbird" Algorithm
(PageRank is one of over 200 major "ingredients" that go into the Hummingbird recipe.
Hummingbird looks at PageRank, how important links to a page are deemed to be, along with
other factors like whether Google believes a page is of good quality, & words used on it.)
(By Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land, 9-26-2013)
"Mr Poetry'' Graham Nunn is facing fresh allegations of plagiarism
(Brisbane-based Speed Poets founder Graham Nunn linked to
8 more examples of alleged plagiarism)
(By Daryl Passmore, Herald Sun, Australia, 9-17-2013)
KING SOLOMON'S SEAL Recreates Fables and Fairytales From Antiquity
(Jascha Kessler writes of hermetic teacher passing on his wisdom, sharing
his tales and stories in the Carpathian Mountains around 1745-1815)
(Books World, BroadwayWorld.com, 9-16-2013)
SPORTS: No matter how you measure it, Mike Trout's home run went a long way
(8th-inning homer, which bounced off the window of a luxury box high above
the center-field wall in the Oakland Coliseum, was 421 feet. ESPN's Home Run
Tracker pegged Trout's shot at 452 feet)
(By Mike DiGiovanna, LA Times, 9-16-2013)
In Each of Us: Enlightenment
(Despite being a Hindu, I regard Buddhism as the highest pedestal of all
other existing religions and philosophies in the world, because Buddha
was always humble even after his 'Enlightenment'.)
(By Sandhya Regmi, Republica, 9-7-2013)
Poets toil to convey the great truths (Seamus Heaney died this week)
Poets urge us to slow down and see and feel and touch and think, knowing it is nearly impossible to grab strands of truth unless we do. Why do poets keep trying to convey truths? The only thing I can conclude is that they do it because they must really love us.)
(By Michael O'Hare, TribLive, 9-5-2013)
How Old Is That Lion? A Guide to Aging Animals
(Lions can be dated by examining their fur and other attributes such as teeth and hair.)
(By Melody Kramer, National Geographic, 7-30-2013)
Cannes Jewel Theft: $53 Million Of Jewelry Taken In Armed Robbery At Carlton Hotel
(Single gunman makes off with $136 million in jewels around noon on July 28. Carlton hotel is one of the major locations in To Catch A Thief, the classic 1955 Hitchcock film about a retired jewel thief.)
(By Alana Horowitz, Huffington Post, 7-28-2013)
Armed robbers steal 40 million Euros of jewels from Cannes hotel
(Exhibition of diamonds owned by Lev Leviev, a Russian-born Israeli billionaire diamond dealer)
(By Harriet Alexander, The Telegraph, UK, 7-28-2013)
'The Wolverine' Review: Hugh Jackman slashes off more than he can chew
(Wolverine takes his place in Japan as a Ronin, a loner, a samurai without a leader or purpose.)
(By Roger Moore, Zap2it, 7-26-2013)
A Chat With Hugh Jackman, of Musicals and 'Berserker' Rages
(Wolverine made his comic-book debut in a 1974 issue of The Incredible Hulk & star of his
own comic book since 1988. He's not the most powerful of mutants. He can't fly. He can't jump.
He doesn't have things coming out of his eyes. His power and strength is rooted in his angst and dysfunction.)
(By Barry Koltnow, Orange County Register, 7-26-2013)
Selfie-Loathing:
Instagram is even more depressing than Facebook. Here's why.
(Instagram is exclusively image-driven, and images will crack your mirror.)
(By Jessica Winter, Slate, 7-23-2013)
Cyber drills like Quantum Dawn 2 vital to security in financial sector
(Mock exercises can help banks identify weaknesses in their incident response capabilities)
(By Jaikumar Vijayan, Computer World, 7-19-2013)
The Man Who Predicted Google Glass Forecasts The Near Future
(In David Brin's 1990 novel,
Earth, characters wore "True-Vu goggles"; Brin wrote on
wearable technology in his 1998 book The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us
to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?; Gutenberg's printing press & Kodak cameras also encountered opposition.)
(By Elise Hu, npr.org, 7-11-2013)
Woolly mammoth goes on view in Japan
(A 39,000-year-old female Woolly mammoth, which was found frozen in Siberia, with remarkably
preserved soft tissue, orange fur, and signs of human butchering is now on view in Yokohama.)
(By Elizabeth Barber, Christian Science Monitor, 7-10-2013)
Yahoo Shuts Down Long Forgotten, Once Popular AltaVista
(Yahoo Inc. sent AltaVista.com to the Internet graveyard to rest alongside order-almost-anything
venture Kozmo.com & butler from
Ask Jeeves. AltaVista's decline began in early 2000s when it tried
to be a portal like Yahoo instead of sticking solely with search that it was eclipsed by Google, Inc.)
(By Barbara Ortutay, Huffington Post, 7-8-2013)
The Amazing Race
(When terrorism struck the Boston Marathon, physician Kathryn Ackerman '94
was among the first responders who leapt into action— and saved lives.)
(By Beth Saulnier, Cornell Alumni Magazine, July/August 2013)
Beyond the Sea
(Cornell's Blaschka Invertebrate collection of glass marine creatures inspires
David Brown '83, a filmmaker's quest to chronicle their real-life habitats.)
(By Beth Saulnier, Cornell Alumni Magazine, July/August 2013)
Forward into the Past
[Cornell joins edX and will begin to produce massive open online courses (MOOCs), that can reach
thousands of students around the world & allow them to view lectures, carry out projects, & interact
with the professor & each other in a social learning environment. They are "open" and they're free.]
(By Jim Roberts, Cornell Alumni Magazine, July/August 2013)
Death Valley temp may tie June record
(California's Death Valley National Park recorded a high temperature of 129 degrees,
which would tie the all-time June record high for the United States)
(Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, 7-2-2013)
For investors, two sides to ailing gold market
(Gold prices have fallen nearly 20% this year, to $1234 on 6/28 from high of $1910 in 2011)
(By Hannah Cushman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6-30-2013)
Some nonbelievers still find solace in prayer
(Americans who don't believe in God— not all call themselves "atheists"— 12% say they pray.)
(By Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post, 6-24-2013)
Britain's defense ministry releases its final UFO files
(209 files & 52,000 pages released included reports on strange lights & alien abductions.)
(By Doug Stanglin, USA Today, 6-21-2013)
UFO Britain: 'X Files' show possible UFO in Britain (Video)
(25 files of 4400 pages detail reports of alien abductions, sightings, offers to develop
weapons to shoot UFOs out of the sky; 600 British sightings had been reported in 2009.)
(By Effie Orfanides, Examiner.com, 6-21-2013)
UFO files: Britain's X Files unit defeated... by Chinese lanterns
(Around 2/3 of 643 UFO reports from 2009 could relatively easily be put down to Chinese lanterns.)
(By Jasper Copping, Telegraph, UK, 6-21-2013)
Cryptography and the Money We Use
[Most common encryption, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), created by
Phil Zimmermann in 1991;
OTR (Off-the-Record Messaging) used in most Web commerce
(SSL);
Cryptocurrency:
Bitcoin,
PPCoin,
Zerocoin;
17 million cases of identity theft each year associated with uses of digital dollar.]
(By Jeffrey Tucker, Laissez Faire Club, 6-18-2013)
* Physics Nobel laureate Kenneth Wilson dies
(Wilson's 1982 Nobel Prize-winning research stemmed from work on phase transitions by
Michael Fisher & Benjamin Widom at Cornell & Leo Kadanoff at University of Illinois.)
(By George Lowery, Cornell Chronicle, 6-18-2013)
Obama
and Xi Jinping pictures censored by Chinese authorities: Take down viral shots comparing ruling pair to Pooh and Tigger;
(Side-by-side comparisons photos popped up on Chinese social media site Weibo. The posts were quickly removed by Chinese Internet censors.)
(By Victoria Taylor, NY Daily News, 6-15-2013)
The Woman Who Changed Millions of Lives
(Nathaniel Branden's book Judgment Day: My Years With Ayn Rand takes you into the living room
where Rand's "Collective" met to discuss philosophy, and into the bedroom where Branden and Rand carried on a torrid affair.
Ayn Rand's powerful effect on innovative entrepreneurs & business leaders: BB&T;'s
John Allison,
Whole Foods' John Mackey, investor
Doug Casey, Wikipedia's
Jimmy Wales.)
(By Jeffrey Tucker, Laissez Faire Club, 6-15-2013)
But seriously,
Bob Dickerson... English professor retires after 25 years at De Anza
(Essay Writing)
(Professor Michael Mannina on Bob Dickerson: "He could make class more like a community,
having a way of putting students at ease. I have never seen community-building done so fast.")
(By Nadia Banchik, La Voz Weekly, 6-14-2013)
If They Want to Get You, They Will Get You in Time
(NSA has obtained "direct access" to all communications records of every American
by working directly with Verizon, Google, Facebook, and every other major provider.)
(By Jeffrey Tucker, Laissez Faire Club, 6-11-2013)
Why
Duck Duck Go doesn't track its users: Gabriel Weinberg at Gel 2013
(Creator Gabriel Weinberg of
Duck Duck Go, a search engine that doesn't track its users.)
(By Mark Hurst, Creative Good, 6-11-2013)
SCIENCE: Animal invisibility cloak makes cat and fish vanish
(Chinese scientists demonstrate new light-bending technology that could have applications in telecommunications;
"Invisibility cloak" made a pet goldfish & a small cat vanish from plain sight.)
(By Ian Sample, The Guardian, UK, 6-10-2013)
* The Dag Hammarskjöld interview with biographer Roger Lipsey
(Arriving in NY in 1953, he was asked if he liked mountain climbing. Hammarskjöld said:
"This much I know of the sport, that the qualities it requires are just those which I feel we all
need today: perseverance and patience, a firm grip on realities, careful but imaginative planning,
a clear awareness of the dangers but also of the fact that fate is what we make it and that
the safest climber is he who never questions his ability to overcome all difficulties.")
(By David P. Gushee, Read the Spirit, 6-9-2013)
Helicopter Takes to the Skies With the Power of Human Thought
(Minnesota's Professor Bin He had five students controlling four-blade helicopter with their thoughts)
(Video, Science Daily, 6-5-2013)
TECHNOLOGY: The printable life—
3-D production is predicted to mold our tomorrows
(Producible by 3-D printers: sailboats, electric guitars, weapons, prosthetic hands & legs;
Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman's 2013 book Fabricated:
The New World of 3D Printing)
(By Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 6-1-2013)
Some companies looking at retaliating against cyber attackers
(Although hacking back is illegal in the U.S., companies see it as a way to curtail the breaches.)
(By Paresh Dave, Los Angeles Times, 5-31-2013)
Amelia Earhart
Plane Found? Sonar Image Of Possible Wreckage May Suggest Earhart Died On Island (Video);
(Earhart landed on a remote reef, after which her plane washed into the ocean & sank)
(By Meredith Bennett-Smith, Huffington Post, 5-30-2013)
Anatomy of a hack: How crackers ransack passwords like "qeadzcwrsfxv1331"
(For Ars, three crackers have at 16,000+ hashed passcodesÑwith 90 percent success.)
(By Dan Goodin, arstechnica.com, 5-27-2013)
* Cover Story: Literature Humanities Turns 75
(75 years on Columbia's syllabus: Homer, Iliad; Aeschylus, Oresteia; Sophocles, Oedipus the King;
Dante, Inferno were studied by undergraduates every year for three-quarters of a century)
(By Alexis Tonti, Columbia College Today, Spring 2013)
Hang 10 for gnarly waves on Titan's hydrocarbon seas
(As seasons change in Saturn's moon Titan's northern hemisphere, we might see (for the first time)
waves of up to a foot high ripple across the moon's seas of liquid methane and ethane.)
(By Susan Kelley, Cornell Chronicle, 5-22-2013)
POLL: Teens Migrating to Twitter
(Teens complain about too many adults on Facebook and 26% are using Twitter)
(By Jennifer C. Kerr, The Big Story: AP, 5-21-2013)
Florida, nation await $590.5 Million Powerball winner
(Publix supermarket in Tampa suburb sold winning ticket: 10, 13, 14, 22, 52, with Powerball # 11)
(By John Bacon, USA Today, 5-20-2013)
Older
job-seekers fall behind as Peninsula tech market heats up
(Older students have a hard time competing for tech jobs with Stanford grads)
(By Rachel Swan, San Francisco Examiner, 5-20-2013, p. 7)
Why
the stock market rally may continue
(As long as the Fed or any other central bank is printing money, then stocks rally.)
(By Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity Viewpoints, 5-19-2013)
$1 million in jewelry stolen near Cannes film fest
(Thieves ripped a safe from the wall of Novotel hotel near the Cannes Film Festival.)
(By Jamey Keaton, Journal Gazette, 5-17-2013)
Google Minus
(Like Wunsch, I don't think Google is "evil", but their power
is tremendous, and growing, and that makes me nervous.)
(By C. Grayson, blog.storycards.net, 5-17-2013)
The Great Google Goat Rodeo
[Google is becoming malicious as it effectively transforms the World Wide Web itself into one of
its products by controlling (through a natural monopoly) traversal and discovery (Google Search).]
(By Mark Wunsch, blog.markwunsch.com, 5-17-2013)
* Dr. Joyce Brothers '47 dies at age 85
(Joyce Diane Bauer, entered Cornell at 16 and graduated from the College of Home Economics.
Cornell University Library maintains the publicly available Joyce D. Brothers Papers, which includes
463 films, 796 videotapes and 184 audio recordings along with other published materials and papers.)
(By Joe Wilensky, Cornell Chronicle, 5-14-2013)
World War II's Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together
(German Major Josef Gangl joined American Captain Jack Lee to capture Nazi Austrian castle)
(By Andrew Roberts, The Daily Beast, 5-12-2013)
'Sea monster'
mystery spawned after bizarre-looking carcass washes ashore in New Zealand
(After speculation, expert suggests animal corpse is that of a killer whale)
(By Pete Thomas, Grindtv.com, 5-7-2013)
* MIND & MATTER: How the Brain Really Works
(New techniques let researchers look at activity of the whole brain at once)
(By Alison Gopnik, Wall Street Journal, 5-3-2013)
MARKETS: Buffett Investors Arrive in Good Spirits
(37,000 came to Omaha, Nebraska for annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway & CEO Warren Buffett)
(By Anupreeta Das, Wall Street Journal, 5-3-2013)
8 Things Really Successful People Do
(Make materialism irrelevant; Enhance knowledge; Manage relationships; Emotional self-awareness;
Gain clarity about spirituality; Adhere to code of ethics; Time efficiency; Commit to a physical ideal)
(By Kevin Daum, Inc. Magazine, 5-3-2013)
Hummus Is Conquering America
(Tobacco farmers open fields to chickpeas; Bumper crop; Sabra sold $315 million of hummus last year);
(By David Kesmodel & Owen Fletcher, Wall Street Journal, 4-30-2013)
6 Unique Ways to Be Successful and Happy
[Build real relationships. Groom yourself (try different things). Do nothing (be quiet). Work for a
great company (find pros & mentors). Do one thing at a time. Be good to yourself (just being you).]
(By Steve Tobak, Inc. Magazine, 4-30-2013)
4 Surprisingly Effective Things to Say
(Powerful words for boss to build trust & lead: I'm sorry. I was wrong. I need help. I don't know.)
(By Maria Tabaka, Inc. Magazine, 4-29-2013)
FAITH: Rick Warren Makes
Ministry Announcement Following Son's Suicide
(Matthew was just one of about 11.4 million American adults that suffered from severe mental illness)
(By Billy Hallowell, The Blaze, 4-18-2013)
13 Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder: Are You Bipolar?
(Most common symptom associated with bipolar disorder is sudden mood swings. People who are
bipolar will experience heightened euphoria & happiness followed by drastic depression & guilt.)
(By Angela Ayles, Activebeat.com, 4-18-2013)
10 Eye-Opening Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read
(Dilbert Principle; Complete yes minister; Poorly made in China; Don't bring it to work; 21 dirty tricks
at work; Crazy bosses; Peter Principle; 4-Hour workweek; No asshole rule; Lie with statistics)
(By Geoffrey James, Inc. Magazine, 4-16-2013)
Logevall wins Pulitzer Prize for 'Embers of War'
(Historian Fredrik Logevall, Cornell Professor's 2012 book
Embers of War: The Fall
of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam begins in 1919 and ends in 1959)
(By George Lowery, Cornell Chronicle, 4-16-2013)
Rick Warren
Responds To 'Haters' After Son Matthew Warren's Suicide
(Warren, whose book The Purpose Driven Life
has sold more than 30 million copies, is one of most
prominent Christian ministers. His 27-year-old son killed himself after years of mental illness.)
(By Jaweed Kaleem, Huffington Post, 4-9-2013)
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's body to be exhumed over murder claims
(Neruda's driver claims poet was murdered by Pinochet regime)
(By Jonathan Franklin, The Guardian, UK, 4-7-2013)
Prominent film critic Roger Ebert dead at 70
(Ebert was the most famous film reviewer of his time & first to win Pulitzer for film criticism)
(By Caryn Rousseau, Florida Times Union, 4-4-2013)
Why Pope Francis is different, and why a Jesuit pope is rare
(Ignatius of Loyola, founder of Jesuits championed "contemplatives in action")
(By William J. Rewak, S.J., Santa Clara Magazine, 4-3-2013)
Nick D'Aloisio: 'It was a massive gamble but a good one'
(Yahoo! paid £20 million to 17-year-old for his Summly smartphone app that summarized news stories);
(By Sarah Rainey, The Telegraph, UK, 3-26-2013)
* How I became a password cracker
(Cracking passwords is officially a "script kiddie" activity now.)
(By Nate Anderson, arstechinca, 3-24-2013)
Student's research could shake up Wall Street
(Aleksandar Zvorinji '13 creates algorithm outperforming financial analysts in predicting stock market.);
(By Kathy Hovis, Cornell Chronicle, 3-11-2013)
"Art souterrain:
An underground path to enlightenment"
(Barcelona artist Pedro Torres's claustrophobic video "Bifurcation" moves through endless corridors
bathed in yellow light) (By John Pohl, Montreal Gazette, 3-8-2013)
Teju Cole on the "Empathy Gap" and Tweeting Drone Strikes
(Seven short stories, each one a famous novel's opening line rudely interrupted by drones.)
(By Sarah Zhang, Mother Jones, 3-6-2013)
"Jhaqueil Reagan,
Indianapolis Teen Who Walked 10 Miles For Interview, Starts Foundation For Unemployed"
(18-year old walking 10 miles for job interview offered job by restaurant owner)
(By Pamela Engel, Huffington Post, 3-4-2013)
'Six Pretty Good Books' will become a Cornell MOOC
(Taught by Michael Macy, to explore the social sciences through books by prominent authors
including Steven Pinker, Nicholas Christakis, Robert Frank, Duncan Watts & Dan Ariely. After reading the book,
students debate among instructors & authors, who come to the classroom through videoconferencing.)
(By Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle, 2-28-2013)
"Torture and Taboo: On Elaine Scarry"
(How the work of a literary critic became the proxy for our preoccupation with the horrors of torture.)
(By Samuel Moyn, The Nation, Feb. 25, 2013)
"7 gross-sounding foods that might help you live longer"
(Noxious gas that gives rotten eggs their foul odor could help counter cell-damaging free-radicals)
(By Chris Gayomali, The Week, 2-19-2013)
"Silicon alley No.2 for wealth concentration"
(1-Bridgeport, Connecticut, 2-Silicon Valley, 3-Washington D.C., 4-San Francisco, 4-New York City)
(By Lauren Hepler, Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2-12-2013)
"Wise Beyond Their Years: What Babies Really Know"
(Infant brain is just 25% adult's volume, but they have more synapses that are lost if not used)
(By Sumathi Reddy, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11, 2013)
Google Fends Off BrightRoll in $7.6 Billion Video Market
(BrightRoll works with 90% of top 50 U.S. advertisers,
has doubled revenue annually for past five years.)
(By Olga Kharif, Bloomberg News, 1-30-2013)
* Enlightenment, one step at a time
(Walking is not only good exercise, but also illumines your mind.)
(By David Hansen, coastlinepilot.com, 1-30-2013)
The Happiness Machine: How Google became such a great place to work.
(Best to hire after 4 interviews; Best managers had more productive workers)
(By Farhad Manjoo, Slate, 1-21-2013)
Galactic surprise: New find overturns theories how our galaxy evolved
(Susan Kassin found Milky Way evolved from chaotic jumble of stars to an orderly disk galaxy)
(By Thomas Sumner, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1-5-2013)
"Book Review:
The Enlightened Cyclist by Bike Snob NYC"
(Commuter angst, dangerous drivers, and other obstacles on the path to two-wheeled transcendence)
(By Brent Cohrs, chicagonow.com, 12-10-2012)
LIFESTYLE: 12 Days of Christmas Now Cost $107,000
(One of each item costs $24,431; All 364 items costs $107,000, up 6.1% from last year)
(By Jim P. Dunigan, Wall Street Journal, 11-27-2012)
'The 12 Days Of Christmas' Items Will Cost You About $107,000
(2012 Costs: Partridge $15;
Turtledove $63; French Hen $55; Calling Bird $130; Gold Ring $150; Geese $35;
Swan $1000;
Maid Milking $7.25; Lady Dancing $700; Lord Leaping $477; Piper $233; Drummer $231)
(By Alexis Kleinman, Huffington Post, 11-26-2012)
BOOKS: The Hole in America's Soul
("Gangster Rap is racist pornography in blackface.")
(By Benjamin P. Bowser, Cornell Alumni Magazine, November/December 2012)
Elephant mimics Korean with help of his trunk
(Asian elephant Koshik astounds scientists with his Korean language skills)
(By Rebecca Morelle, BBC News, UK, Nov. 1, 2012)
*
From the Bible to the lab: Stanford scholar decodes the near-death experience
(Laura Wittman traces the evolution of near-death experiences in modern culture)
(By Camille Brown, Stanford Report, Oct. 30, 2012)
Can Nanotechnology Create Utopia?
(In 100 years, the replicator from nanotechnology, will create enormous abundance.)
(By Michio Kaku, bigthink.com, Oct. 24, 2012)
We are driven by self-interest, it's necessary to survive
(Need wise self-interest that is generous & co-operative to others.)
(By Dalai Lama, plus.google.com, Oct. 24, 2012)
Explanation: How Brain Training Can Make You Significantly Smarter
(Stanford neuroscientists designed
Lumosity to improve mental sharpness)
(howlifeworks.com, Oct. 23, 2012)
Where Is Amelia Earhart? Three Theories but No Smoking Gun
(Rollin C. Reineck wrote book Amelia Earhart Survived)
(By John Roach & Ker Than, National Geographic News, July 24, 2012)
Living With Voices
(New way to deal with disturbing voices offers hope for those with other forms of psychosis)
(By T.M. Luhrmann, The American Scholar, Summer 2012)
BOOK: Gentle in Manner, Strong in Deed (Jean Edward Smith's Eisenhower in War and Peace)
(Future British prime minister Harold Macmillan called Eisenhower "a jewel of broadmindedness
and wisdom." As Columbia's President, Eisenhower put university back on a solid financial footing.)
(By Christopher Caldwell, Columbia Magazine, Summer 2012)
Go Inside The World's Largest Treehouse, Which Was Inspired By God
(Horace Burgess built the tree house in Crossville, Tennessee, around an 85-foot oak tree.
The 8,000 to 10,000-square-foot treehouse includes 80 rooms & is supported by six trees.)
(By Callie Bost, Business Insider, June 20, 2012)
*
LinkedIn vs. password cracking
(Cracked 50% of passwords using RockYou list, Cain+Able, John-the-Ripper & large dictionaries)
(By Robert Graham, Errata Security, June 6, 2012)
Denzel Washington's 3 Tips For Successg
(1. Preparation Is The Key; 2. The Biggest Fear You Should Have Is The Fear Of Not Trying;
3. Become The Best At What You Do— "If I am a cup maker, I'm interested in making
the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.")
(By AD, makemesuccesful.com, May 15, 2012)
BOOKS: Seeing and Believing— Experiences with evangelical congregations
(Review of T.M. Luhrmann's "When God Talks Back"
based on her two years
in Chicago's evangelical church & two years in a Palo Alto's congregation)
(By Joan Acocella, New Yorker, April 2, 2012)
Murnau's 1926 Faust: Cinequest Finale
(Faust is sometimes quaint and sometimes haunting, with its royal wedding attended by a brace
of full-size pantomime elephants, with its flight above the Alps, past pagodas & strange waterfalls,
over which storks as big as pterodactyls fly. Murnau's last film before leaving Germany.)
(By Richard von Busack, Metro, March 7, 2012)
James Karman: Robinson Jeffers Gets His Due
("Robinson Jeffers is the most important poet of the 20th century, but nobody's buying that yet.")
(By Cynthia Haven, The Book Haven, Dec. 8, 2011)
David Karp, the Nonconformist Who Built Tumblr
(Leica M9 camera; Pilot Precise V7 pen; app'ts caustic to creativity; 18% blogs are fashion)
(By Liz Welch, Inc. Magazine, June 2011)
* Video: Beauty as a Call to Justice: Elaine Scarry
(John Rawls view of justice— symmetry & fairness; Beauty as state of bliss;
Scarry's On Beauty and Being Just presses us toward a greater concern for justice.)
(By Elaine Scarry, Harvard Thinks Big2 Video, March 4, 2011)
What caused the flash crash?— One big, bad trade
(SEC & CFTC issued a joint report on the "flash crash" of May 6th, where American share and
futures indices went into a seemingly inexplicable tailspin, falling 10% in a matter of minutes.)
(By Economist Online, October 1, 2010)
Robinson Jeffers: Literary Legacy— An Uncommon Voice
(Jeffers' generation lived through an exceptional moment in human history and passed away
like "the leaves that dies away" spoken by Glaukos on meeting Diomedes in Homer's Iliad.)
(By James Karman, California History, Vol. 87, No. 2, April 2010, 6-11)
* Video: Elaine Scarry: Beauty and Social Justice
(Fair playing field, injury with jury linked to justice; Elaine Scarry: Beauty as opiated adjaceny;
Iris Murdoch: beauty as unselfing; Simone Weil: beauty as decentering; Beauty brings art & poetry;
Wildflower is natural, garden is artifactual; Justice is artifactual, needing human intervention.;
Shiro Kuramata's
"Miss Blanche";
"Glass Chair";
"How High the Moon" armchair)
(By Elaine Scarry, Cambridge University Video, May 21, 2010)
How an Eccentric Right-Wing Pizza Billionaire's Attempt to Build Catholic Law School Ended in Disaster
(Tom Monaghan, Domino's Pizza founder, took advice from God and Antonin Scalia
on the creation of of a Catholic Law school in Florida. It hasn't gone very well.)
(By Mariah Blake, Washington Monthly, Sept. 8, 2009)
*
Preacher Roe, Brooklyn Dodger ace, dies at 93
(In 1951, Roe had one of the greatest seasons ever for a pitcher going 22-3 with a 3.03 ERA;
He retired in 1954 with a 127-84 career record and 3.43 ERA; admitted he threw a spitter.)
(By Bill Madden, Daily News, Nov. 10, 2008)
In the Beginning, Such a Happy Couplet
(Eileen Simpson & husband John Berryman's intense friendships with poets Delmore Schwartz,
R.P. Blackmur, Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell, Allen Tate, and Theodore Roethke.)
(By Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post, Oct. 16, 2006)
Is the Capacity for Spirituality Determined by Brain Chemistry?
(Geneticist's book The God Gene disputed by scientists, embraced by religious leaders)
(By Bill Broadway, Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2004, B09)
*
Mark Pesce: Meditation on Words (Words have this quality—
it's almost like magic in that they can help you see things that are otherwise invisible.)
(Mark Pesce sent this email on Oct. 29, 2004 at 5:55 am & only one site reposted his insights)
(By Mark Pesce, The Corroboree, Nov. 4, 2004)
Things grow better with Coke
(Indian farmers spray cotton & chilli fields with Coca-Cola instead of pesticides)
(By John Vidal, The Guardian, UK, Nov. 1, 2004)
Morphine Apparently in Your Head
(Meinhart Zenk found human cells grown in a dish synthesized morphine;
George Stefano showed animal neural tissue can synthesize morphine.)
(By Kristen Philipkoski, Wired, Sept. 23, 2004)
Stem Cells May Open Some Eyes
(Robert Lanza found retinal cells derived from embryonic stem cells
could actually give vision to those who are already blind.)
(By Kristen Philipkoski, Wired, Sept. 24, 2004)
Secrets of a Salty Survivor: A microbe that grows in the Dead Sea
is teaching scientists about the art of DNA repair
(Microbe Halobacterium would protect astronauts to Mars from space radiation)
(By Kristen Philipkoski, NASA Science News, Sept. 10, 2004)
The Earth Shook, The Sky Burned
(Before dawn on April 19, 1906, city of San Francisco woke to a series of explosions
and a tremendous rumbling. In less than a minute, the earthquake set in motion the
worst natural disaster the nation has ever experienced. By noon, all of Newspaper Row
was destroyed, including the city's tallest structure, the 22-story Call Building.)
(By Rachel Galvin, Humanities, November/December 2003, pp. 10-13, 50-54)
Dvořák in America
(Composing Symphony #9: New World Symphony (1893),
Antonín Dvořák
was inspired by Native American chants and Negro spirituals melodies.)
(By Scott Ethier, Humanities, November/December 2003, pp. 26-29)
Hitler's Forgotten Library
(101st Airborne Division shipped 3000 books in Hitler's Library near Berchtesgaden
to Munich in 1945 and transferred in January 1952 to the U.S. Library of Congress)
(By Timothy W. Ryback, The Atlantic, May 1, 2003)
*
Total Recall
[Why I'll never again forget a face, a name, or where I put the car keys; Carl Messina,
an ebullient evangelist for "art and science of mnemonics" taught us the FIG system
(File, Image, Glue)— Body list: toes, knee, thigh, hips, lungs, shoulder, collar, face,
top of head, ceilng. Images: squash eggs between your toes, apply hot bacon to your
knees, slather mustard to your thighs, dip your buttocks in tub of milk, inhale a banana
into your lungs, smear peanut butter on your shoulders, stuff lettuce int your collars,
plop tomato sauce on your face, place Cheerios on your head, paint ceiling with black
shoe polish; You'll never forget this list when you go grocery shopping!]
(By Jim Thorton, Modern Maturity, Sept/Oct. 2001, pp. 56-62, 88)
The Great American Pastime Tree
(What do baseball players and foresters have in common? A deep appreciation of the white ash.
Hillerich & Bradsby burned its famous Louisville Slugger trademark into 7 million wood bats in 1971
and sold 200,000 aluminum ones. The production numbers for 1999 were 1.5 million aluminum bats
and only a million turned from ash. Mark McGwire's bats are 34.5 inches long & a light 33 ounces.)
(By Les Line, National Wildlife, April 1, 2000)
*
Does beauty really equal truth?
(Philosopher Elaine Scarry defends beauty from political correct critics & wins over one cynical writer.);
(By David Bowman, Salon, Nov. 9, 1999)
Men, Women, & Computers
(Men earning computer-science degrees outnumber women 3 to 1 and the gap is growing.
Computer games usually involve lots of shooting and dying. Boy stuff.)
(By Barbara Kantrowitz, Newsweek, May 16, 1994)
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