Apologies for my lack of recent bloggage. I’ve been busy with various projects, trying to get a head start on the reading for my Drexel classes, and sniffling from the pollen in the air. Ah, fall. And thanks to all of the above, my mind’s completely scattered. So here are a few shards. On the […]
I’m back from a weekend at the family homestead in Baltimore, and as my mother and I were out for a walk along Falls Road and around about, we found ourselves face to face with the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in all his noodly glory. I don’t know what impresses me more: the seamless integration of […]
Hmm. Apparently, lots of walking — especially if you’re a fast walker — adds years to your life. Case in point, New Yorkers’ unusually high life expectancy: Scientists who study urban health argue that it’s not just that we walk more—it’s the way we walk that has a surprising spillover effect on life spans. Researchers […]
Nothing says "fall’s on its way" (not to mention "twitchy nervous wreck," "constant state of paranoia," and "no more sound sleep for you") like the return of the dreaded house mice to one’s apartment. They’re back, just as the nights start to get bearably cool again. My landlady’s having the pest-control guy investigate where they […]
Summer-induced mental slump: unblocked. Conference paper abstract: submitted. As Austin Powers would say: Yeah, baby, yeah!
Flipping through a book on people’s relationship to space in the library over the weekend, I came across an analysis of seating patterns on British trains, and in particular the unspoken rule that people never sit directly next to or directly opposite someone else unless they have to. I’ve seen this rule in action on […]
Ogden Nash said it best: Well, well, well, so this is summer, isn’t that mirabile dictu,And these are the days when whatever you sit down on, you stick to. I would post at more length, but it’s 95 degrees in the shade today, and my brain melted hours ago.
On Sunday I went to the new Headhouse Farmers’ Market, where I ended up going a bit produce-crazy: the morning’s haul included peaches, heirloom tomatoes, a cucumber, half a dozen eggs, some really decadent fudge, a bag of Asian salad greens, and — hard-to-find item of the week — a bag of garlic scapes.* They’re […]
A certain behemoth of a phone company is promoting a cell phone you can use to watch TV. (Why you would want to watch TV on a screen that tiny, I don’t know, but they want you to believe it’s the next big thing.) There are billboards up around my area with the slogan "As […]
I’m back in Philadelphia after five days of the outdoor life. We spent most of the family camping trip in Trap Pond State Park in Delaware, but we made a day trip to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland’s eastern shore, and paddled three miles up a marshy stream and back again, looking for […]