DDR, Regency-Style

From HistoricLOL:

I am amused.

(DDR is the only video game I've really played and am any good at.)

NYTimes: Could Conjoined Twins Share a Mind?

A fascinating article I found this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/magazine/could-conjoined-twins-share-a-mind.html?_r=1&hpw

It's rather long, but well worth the read. Craniopagus twins are probably the most interesting sort of conjoined twins, in that it affects not only their physical existence, but also their mental independence. Imagine being (somewhat) mentally linked to your sibling! (That's a scary thought, given me and my sister -- the world is not prepared for such madness.) It also opens the door to all sorts of ethical dilemmas (how would you legally treat them as two distinct persons, &c.?).

It seems like it would make excellent fodder for a novel (I'm sure it's already been written about.) -- anyone have a good book about craniopagus twins to recommend?

All Roads Lead to Philosophy

 According to Wednesday's xkcd, if you click through the first non-italicized, non-parenthetical link on any Wikipedia page, and keep clicking through every subsequent page, you will eventually reach the article "Philosophy". Naturally, I had to try this:

Happy Towel Day!

For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, Towel Day celebrates the life and works of the author and humorist Douglas Adams, who is best known for the "trilogy" The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He was a great writer and a great humanitarian. As Richard Dawkins said upon Adams's death a decade ago, "Science has lost a friend, literature has lost a luminary, the mountain gorilla and the black rhino have lost a gallant defender."

I have my towel. Do you?

Pendula Madness

Watch this when very tired and/or over-caffeinated:



And this, creative use of pool balls and all:



So hypnotic...

NYTimes: Dragon Fruit has a Knack for Getting Noticed

The New York Times has discovered the dragon fruit: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/dining/dragon-fruit-has-a-knack-for-getting-noticed.html

I'm passably familiar with this odd-looking fruit; it's rather common in Chinese supermarkets when it's in season, and especially in China. It's interesting how America/Western Europe picks up products and practices from elsewhere in the world, and then all of a sudden, with a bit of marketing, they become the next big thing. Then again, that's been happening for hundreds of years (tea, anyone?).

I think it dates back to the Classical Roman idea of the exotic (it applies to most empires in human history -- Rome just happened to be one of the better-documented ones). The Romans often conquered because they were interested in the goods produced by far-flung lands -- silk from Asia, cotton from Egypt, horses from the Arabian Peninsula, &c. Trade quickly resulted in a demand for more specialized luxury products, such as spices and exotic pets, which were valuable for their scarcity, difficulty of transport, unfamiliarity, and distant origins -- sometimes more so for these incidental factors than for their inherent trade value.

Nowadays, there are all these health-, beauty-, and palate-related fads that claim to provide some benefit intrinsic to their provenances. Stripped down, they're much the same thing.

MSNBC: Endeavour Crew Recreates Star Trek Movie Poster

The space shuttle Endeavour embarked on its last mission four days ago (after its decommissioning, the only remaining operational shuttle of the original NASA fleet will be the Atlantis). Traditionally, every mission has a themed poster. This mission, STS-134, modeled its poster on the recent Star Trek film poster, which I think is quite fitting, and quite clever. (The inner geek (or maybe not-so-inner geek) in me just had a field day.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43038704/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/endeavour-crew-recreates-star-trek-movie-poster/

What would have been even better would be if it were the shuttle Enterprise, but that was mostly a test shuttle and was decommissioned early in the shuttle program. Still, a girl can dream.

Dust to Dust

I'm writing a paper on T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" right now, and this is one of (in my opinion) the best and most evocative lines in the whole poem:

I will show you fear in a handful of dust. (line 30)

Simple, vivid, chilling.

It reminds me of "Ozymandias"; it strikes me as something a prophet might have said to that pharaoh, who desired to be great and enduring, and yet, like all other men, ended up fading and crumbling with time. Given that Ozymandias is actually a vague transliteration of what was Greek for "Ramses," that particular prophet would have been the Biblical Moses. Quite fitting, no?

NYTimes: Europe's Plagues Came from China

A very interesting article (from a while back) on the Black Plague in medieval Europe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/health/01plague.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

There have been, for quite a while, theories that the plague originated the East, but I don't think there have been any definitive or substantial studies conducted until this one. Given the relative urbanization along the coast of China in those days, at least compared with Dark Ages Europe, it makes a lot of sense. Cities, then and now, are breeding grounds for disease. And other, good things, too, of course, but plague was perhaps the most transformative.

Happy Llamas!

Found this on DailyCute today, and couldn't resist:

Llamas are among my favorite animals. They look so fluffy, and so pleased with themselves! Also, there's this:



Which is practically (internet) canonical by now. (And yes, I do know the entire thing by heart, and can sing it at great speed. It was a thing in high school.)

Knitting a Poem

This is perhaps the coolest knitting project I've ever seen:
http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/knit/

They're knitting a poem. (And not just any poem -- a Dylan Thomas poem.) My mind is blown.

I'm sorely tempted to try my hand at one of these quilts. New summer project? It would be a tremendously meaningful gift for a loved one, I think, given a particularly fitting poem (one that is, hopefully, not too long!).

Edit: Perhaps this poem? There isn't anyone for whom it would be appropriate, at this time.

Edit II: Alphabet knitting diagram: 
http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/photos/alphabet/

Edit III: possibly the ultimate collection of alphabet patterns:
http://www.chemknits.com/2009/08/assembly-of-alphabet-charts.html

NYTimes: Wildlife Overpasses

A creative solution to the inevitable problems of encroaching upon wildlife territory:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/science/earth/24overpass.html?hpw

Obviously, it would be impractical to just remove hundreds of miles of road -- not to mention that the populace would never go for it. This is a good and quite innovative way to minimize the impacts of said roads on the (often sensitive) wildlife that populate the areas they traverse, without significantly inconveniencing the humans using the roads -- which is one of the major bottlenecks in implementing most environmental protections. Humans are often selfish, and are reluctant to be inconvenienced in the name of even the best of causes if it does not tangibly benefit us. (This brings to mind the days of Econ 101...)

The Stanford Daily: Shakespeare (Kind of) in the Park

An article I wrote (I think it's my first lead story!) that runs today:

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/05/13/shakespeare-kind-of-in-the-park

As You Like It is really funny (though I'll admit that I often find Shakespearean humor more amusing than I do contemporary humor), and the Stanford Shakespeare Company does it quite well. You can see the review for details, but suffice to say that I'd gladly see it again. If you're on campus, go see it! Tickets: http://shakespeare.stanford.edu.

(I also realize that there's a bit of a skewed representation of my journalism on the blog. I'm predominately a book critic, but it seems like everything I plug here is about drama. I'll try to remember to post more of my book reviews!)

Edit: If you're interested in books, or just journalist-y things that I write, there's now a new button in the sidebar. Someone told me it would be a good idea, but I forget who it was, so thanks!

Nose Stylus for iPhone

Ridiculous, but kind of cool nonetheless:


Finger-nose stylus for touchscreen technology from Dominic Wilcox on Vimeo.

I think I want one. I would make a Birdman mask to go around it.

NYTimes: Personal Finance for Dictators

A great article on the tendency of evil dictators to hoard cash:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/weekinreview/13cash.html

Reminds me a little of The Evil Overlord List.

The last line is also just wonderful.

This is why Hemingway is amazing

"Your blood coagulates beautifully." (p59, A Farewell to Arms)

That is all.

Edit: It reminded me of this.

Today

is the 484th anniversary of the Sack of Rome. Since there have been multiple Sacks of Rome (makes Rome sound a bit like potatoes?), I'm referring to the one where Charles V's troops ran amok after the death of their commander Duke Charles and pillaged Rome. (Duke Charles III and Charles V were not the same person; Charles V was the Holy Roman Emperor and Charles III was the Duke of Bourbon.) His second-in-command (sort of) Philibert de Châlon, Prince of Orange, was a bit of a wet blanket, and nobody listened to him, so there was no one to prevent the troops from doing as they pleased. Not to mention that Charles V, while outwardly condemning the lawlessness of his men, actually stood to benefit greatly from the Sack of Rome, as it put Pope Clement VII under Hapsburg control -- so I would imagine that Charles V didn't do much in the way of preventing the Sack.

Edit: I realize, upon re-reading it a day later, that this post is rather incoherent. I blame lack of sleep...

Procrastination with Cute Animals

I have a particular weakness for cute/funny animal pictures, which I have been indulging of late. Here's one (I call it "How I will feel when this paper is done"):

Yes, I'm procrastinating. For your procrastinating pleasure:
http://www.dailycute.net
http://squee.icanhascheezburger.com

You'll either thank me or hate me for that.

Sarah's Miscellany: A Year in Reflection

Happy May Day.

It has been a year since I first started this blog. I've learned a lot in the preceding 342 posts (That's almost a post per day!), even though quite a lot of them have been random, spur-of-the-moment amusements and trifles (there are 103 posts tagged "humor" to date -- that's nearly a third).

I've learned a lot about myself this year. I've gained a sense of direction, methinks: I've figured out some of what I want, which is rather better than the self-knowledge I had a year ago, when I only knew, mostly, what I didn't want. I have a better grasp, now, of who I am and who I wish to be, rather than living daily in the shadow of the person whom others thought I should be. Part of it comes of articulating (some of) my views publicly, in a venue anyone can access. (Part of it, of course, comes of being in college.)

Thank you, friends, for reading, commenting, and being part of the process. You are wonderful, and I couldn't have done this without you.