The Deception of the Thrush http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/ es Copyright 2009 Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:15:01 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.25 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Ben Stein as a new ally on the war against obsessive cellphonism In the nytimes today: Connected, Yes, but Hermetically Sealed

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/139464.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/139464.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:15:01 -0600 good recycling link Jeepers, Creepers, How'd Ya Get Rid of Those Sneakers?

From grist.org, advice on recycling athletic shoes and more. Nice.

Recently I'm having trouble allowing comments on my posts...I'll try to fix that soon.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/133474.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/133474.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:27:04 -0600 get rid of your excess Stuff, and be skeptical of neuroimaging claims Every once in a while, you see an article that completely jibes with your worldview. As cultural pundits seem to point out on a daily basis, it may be getting easier for us to seek out this kind of self-confirming information, due to the increasing diversity and accessibility of our media. Usually, it's argued that this is an unfortunate trend -- our attitudes can become calcified, unchallenged. I tend to buy that argument (though I'm not sure how much data exist to back it up.) Nevertheless, I still find myself suckered into the behavior of seeking out those articles that reinforce my existing opinions. All of which is a long way of trying to establish some link between the two articles I wanted to post today:

First: How to Live with Just 100 Things.
 I saw this in Time magazine last night. Hooray for the American populace (or at least a select minority) for finally choosing to renounce consumerism.

Second: What we can do and what we cannot do with fMRI. This is an article that came out in Nature this week by Nikos Logothetis. I haven't read it yet, but Logothetis is always a worthwhile read, and the topic is always worth reviving.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/131400.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/131400.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:41:35 -0600 a review of the book "The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine" see the review herehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/books/review/Groopman-t.html

I've never heard of this book, but it looks like it's picked up on something important. It reminds me of a time when I heard Robert Sapolsky, the stress researcher, talk at Macalester. He refuted a notion that has gotten into so many people's heads -- that cancer is brought on by stress. And in general, I think stress and whatever other forms of malaise are sometimes given too much credit for their role in pathological conditions, such that we might dangerously overlook other factors that might be contributing to whatever symptoms are going on. On the other hand, one can of course underestimate the role of stress, and it sounds like this book does a nice job of fairly considering the evidence for or against the stress hypothesis, whatever the particular situation might be.

By the way, Vivek, I did catch your link on the taser/mp3 player (where would you ever get the idea that I am bothered by obsessive mp3 player use?). This makes me think I'd better lay off my grievances against the i-Podders of the world, lest I find myself getting zapped next time I sit next to one of them on the bus.


]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/105439.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/105439.html Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:54:06 -0600 it's been a long time since I've posted anything Well, time to put something on the blog. Hmm...

Today I was in Borders book store and kept seeing these signs that said "Books make safe gifts for kids." Interesting.

Other observations of the week: I saw an SUV going down a bus-only lane. I've also seen more than one person waiting for a bus in the rain on crutches. Surely not a good situation to be in.

What else. A couple making out beside the elevators in the psychiatric hospital. A girl talking on her cell phone the entire time she was checking out at Borders (and for my response to that, see my post for November 4th).

And what else...I found another new kind of band-aid that I like:
img2.jpg

It's kind of plastic-y. I hope Band-Aid appreciates the product plug.


]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/102634.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/102634.html Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:57:38 -0600 “If anything characterizes the 21st century, it’s our inability to restrain ourselves for the benefit of other people...� I guess it's kind of lazy on my part to just keep posting nytimes links, but this is good:

Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/096457.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/096457.html Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:42:07 -0600 "The Odyssey Years" ? Interesting...

The Odyssey Years

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/092655.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/092655.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:08:03 -0600 iPods and Crime An interesting nytimes.com piece today:

Are iPods to Blame for Rising Crime?

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/090112.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/090112.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:02:37 -0600 vinegar and Excel Okay, just to reassure you all (and I'm sure there are tons of you, ha) that I haven't forgotten the dear blog--

First, I have learned that vinegar is wonderful. It kills mold and mildew. In combination with baking soda, it unclogs drains. Check it out.

Second, does anyone know how to specify the size of the axes for the charts you make in Excel? Obviously, you can manually drag the entire chart to make it taller or wider, but I just want to change the length of an axis, and I'd like to specify the exact number of inches. So far I can't find how to do this.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/087839.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/087839.html Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:54:33 -0600 Hillary's letters So the New York Times got a hold of a set of personal letters that Hillary Clinton wrote to a friend while attending Wellesley. This does in a sense feel like an intrusion into the woman's privacy, but I have to admit, they are really interesting. What I'm imagining is that her campaign will be very defensive about the whole thing, which is unfortunate, because there are some very honest comments in there that I think reveal more depth, candor, and humanity than politics has generally let her show.

In the 60's, a Future Candidate Poured Her Heart Out

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/084129.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/084129.html Sat, 28 Jul 2007 13:48:12 -0600 And, besides, who isn’t suffering from aberration, nowadays? So, making progress through the Brothers K, thought I would keep you all up to date with where I am. There's some fantastic passages with Madame Hohlakov; I'm reading one right now where she's talking with Aloysha about Mitya's upcoming trial. What's impressive is that back in Dostoyevsky's day they were already dealing with the whole notion of an insanity defense. Interesting. Click here to see the part that I'm reading now. (You have to go a few pages in to get to the part about the aberration).

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/083504.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/083504.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:03:38 -0600 I am about to go for a run. Does that make me a right-wing individualist? A somewhat amusing take on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's running habit, originally cited by artsandlettersdaily.com.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2022804.ece

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/082997.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/082997.html Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:25:45 -0600 my first probably-not-annual list of hits and misses Hello, here returns the most neglectful blogger ever.

It is a lovely day in Pittsburgh, PA, 7:55 p.m. with partly sunny skies, 80 deg F.

And I need something to write about.
My life is very mundane, so I thought I would talk about some of the various mundane products and diversions that surround my mundane life, and provide some mundane commentary so that you all may benefit from my mundane experiences.

a very good thing:
Andrew Bird
Armchair-Apocrypha.jpg

a musician that I discovered on epitonic, www.epitonic.com. Epitonic is a great website for finding new music but I swear they only update it once a year, if that. Anyways, you can access much of Andrew's music on his own website; specifically you should go to http://www.andrewbird.net/AV.htm His song "Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" was so catchy and filled with so many bizarre lyrics that it somehow helped me get through my godawful master's thesis.

a good thing, if you can figure it out:
Nexcare bandages
Waterproof.jpg
How much more mundane can you get than band-aids? I'm still trying to decide what I think of these; I got the waterproof version. Because I am incapable of doing any practical activity that any normal human being can do, I had trouble learning how to apply these properly (yes, I had trouble putting on a band-aid. Yes, I am that incompetent.) But really, in my defense-- when was the last time you bought a pack of band-aids that came with instructions? They have this non-adhesive strip surrounding the edge of the bandage, and you're supposed to remove it once the adhesive material is stuck to your skin. But the thing is that if you're trying to wrap a finger, then the non-adhesive material on one end gets buried underneath the overlapping end, so you have to try to remove that part before you've actually put the band-aid all the way on, but when you do that the adhesive part gets all bunched up and sticks to itself and then because it has the supernatural stickiness of a 3M product, you have to give up and get a new band-aid.
However, if you can actually get it on, it's the best band-aid ever. Never slides off. Not even a little bit.

it should be a good thing but it sticks to your teeth:
Glee Gum
T-Gum Box S.jpg

Today I made another indulgent trip to Whole Foods. There are certain things I always end up buying in whole foods. Like overpriced fancy yogurts. And overpriced fancy juices. And their wonderful 'everything' bagels. And, since I often feel that I could handle life just a smidge better if I could take out my angst on a piece of gum, I often buy some of the "Glee Gum" that they sell there. There are few chewing gum options at the Pittsburgh Whole Foods -- so far as I can tell, just Glee Gum and this gum that supposedly has tea in it. So I get the Glee Gum, which is made of "Rainforest Chicle, the way gum used to be made." On the box there is a jumping, apparently "gleeful" cartoon character next to a caption that says "FINALLY! ALL NATURAL GUM!" Here's the problem with all natural gum-- it sticks to your teeth like I can't tell you. Or at least, it sticks to mine (perhaps because a select few of my teeth are less than all-natural?) Anyways, I don't know why I keep buying it, except in order to satisfy a thoughtless gum addiction, because every time I chew it I end up scraping out bright orange gum bits with my toothbrush.

Anyways, on that note, everyone have a good week, please share if you'd like to comment on bandaids or music or all-natural gum or whatever else occupies your lives right now.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/080055.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/080055.html Tue, 15 May 2007 18:53:34 -0600 birdcage I don't know if anyone has seen the illustration on the vonnegut.com website.

vonnegut.com

I realize now that he died almost exactly one year after I had discovered him, when a friend of mine from college loaned me her copy of Breakfast of Champions, and I started it on a plane flight back from San Francisco. By "discovered", I mean, that's when I truly started appreciating his writing. I had to read various prose bits of his during high school, and was in a cute-ish play that was based on his work, and I saw a tuft of grey hair (associated with his somewhat solemn voice) from the dooway to a cathedral in Saint Paul, when he was there after the release of "Bagombo Snuff Box."

But never before had I been so hooked on anything he had written, and it had been a long time since I had been hooked on fiction in general. And a long time since I had picked up on all sorts of little sentences that followed me around everywhere. One of the best being:

It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done. I am
living proof of that: It can be done.


Anyone else have a favorite quote? If so, do share.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/077214.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/077214.html Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:10:51 -0600 etc. Hi everyone, thanks for the comments.
here's another editorial

Kurt Vonnegut

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/076423.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/coxxx063/deception/076423.html Sat, 14 Apr 2007 09:20:58 -0600