Back to Posting

Hi, all. Sorry for not posting for a while. I guess a let this blog slip for a while, but I'm officially getting back into it. Stay tuned for more cool miscellany. For instance, I'm very interested in graphic design, and while shopping at Target a few months ago I came across some very cool-looking cans. I'd love to have images like these framed on my wall!

An Amazing Great Dane

About two weeks ago, near my Brooklyn neighborhood, my fiance showed me something wonderful.  Someone who was exercising in a local gym had left an enormous Great Dane in the car parked outside, and the dog had raised its head out of the car's sunroof to peer around and, I assume, feel the cool night breezes.  It was one of the greatest sights I have seen for months, and I was literally jumping up and down with joy. See pictures below.

I first heard about the legendary Blackwing pencil a few months ago.  I noticed a stupendous Blackwing gift box being sold on the Levenger website; I regularly came upon websites and postings and blogs that indicated a cult-like following of this soft-leaded wonder.  For instance, witness this site, which quotes John Steinbeck and notes that after the pencil was discontinued in 1998, individual Blackwings began selling for $40.00 on eBay.  Wow.  Now, I found this posting on the New Yorker's website about how Blackwings fit into the history of that magazine.  Very interesting, and very cool.

The Finger Lakes and Ancient Greece

I am now in Ithaca, New York: I have a very cool meeting with a very cool person tomorrow.  (I can't reveal too much here.)  On the drive up here, though, I was struck by an interesting phenomenon: many towns in upstate New York have names derived from ancient Greece and Rome.  Aside form "Ithaca" -- the name of Odysseus's native town -- this part of the country is home to Marathon, Syracuse, Homer, Virgil, and Etna.  Was this naming theme coordinated by someone?  What is the history behind this trend?  Does anyone know?

It's Cornbread Time!

Lately, I have been learning how to cook.  I am finding that I am actually enjoying it: it's something new to learn; it's creative; it helps me maintain my weight and my health; and it saves money.  My go-to cookbook right now is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  It has just what I want: simple, easy recipes that can get me familiar with the kitchen.

The dish I have been making often these past few weeks is cornbread.  It's easy, and it tastes great.  Below are some photos that I took of my last cornbread effort.  Not bad, if I do say so myself!

How to Think and Reason Properly

When I was in college, I majored in philosophy, and ever since then I have been intensely interested in all things philosophical: metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, and logic.  I am so in love with the subject that even when I was studying for my master's degree in science writing at the University of Southern California, I made time to take a philosophy class on continental rationalism.  (We read Leibniz, Spinoza, and Descartes, as well as an assortment of lesser-known thinkers.)  On my Twitter feed, I follow a philosophy account, and I have downloaded several podcasts of Philosophy Talk, a radio show hosted by two Stanford professors and broadcast on 91.7 FM in California.  Something about the subject tickles my brain, and I just can't get enough.

So I was overjoyed to come across a series of animations produced by Bridge 8, a company in Australia.  The animations explain what an argument is, what logical thinking is, and how to think clearly.  (Reasoning and argumentation are at the heart of philosophy, as is the question of how to reason and argue properly.  Look here to see what I mean.)  I have included some of the videos below.  They're short, so take some time to browse through them.  You won't be disappointed.

James Gurney and the Art of Dinosaurs

I never read Dinotopia as a kid: I only came to it in high school and college.  But, the experience has stayed with me in a very profound way.  I suppose lots of boys like dinosaurs, and especially drawing them, but that love of the fantastical and the well-drawn never left me.  As I flipped through the pages of James Gurney's amazing story, I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.  Gurney not only drew some of the best illustrations of dinosaurs I have ever seen.  He also took the time to create a written dinosaur language, in which footprints are the basis of an alphabet.  He envisioned innovative ways in which dinosaurs and humans might live together, and drew those collaborations in convincing, realistic detail.  To me, he was like Norman Rockwell, but instead of drawing a family gathered at a Thanksgiving table, he drew mosasaurs pulling rudimentary submarines.

Now, some of his work in on view in the Woodson Art Museum, in Wausau, Wisconsin.  Anyone who has a chance to see this show absolutely should.  I wish I could go.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

I was reading about the Exploratorium's latest After Dark event -- which focuses on Rock, Paper, Scissors -- and I came across the World RPS Society, an organization dedicated to the promotion of the game.  I definitely have to learn more about the people who run this group: I think it's fascinating.

Pirates and the Jolly Roger

As a longtime resident of North Carolina, my interest is piqued whenever I hear or read about Blackbeard, the fearsome pirate who terrorized maritime traffic along the state's Outer Banks.  As a kid, I loved the stories of Blackbeard tying lit fuses in his beard, so when he boarded his victims' ships he would strike even more fear in their hearts.  I also really loved Blackbeard's version of the Jolly Roger: the skeleton stabbing a heart seemed extra diabolical, and frankly, very creative.

And so I was heartened to find the following web posting about the Jolly Roger.  Read it and fear the flag!

Philip Hoare and The Whale

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was very happy with _The Whale._  Like Herman Melville in _Moby-Dick_, Philip Hoare gives a sweeping view of how whales have affected human society.  He also spends a lot of time cataloging the disturbing details of the whaling industry: I was particularly struck by how whalers would use a whale's blubber to fuel the fires that rendered the rest of the animal's fat.  On whaling ships, whales would cook themselves.

Hoare also has a good ear for lush language.  Listen to him on page 290: "And how to convey that magnitude, that mass of whalish flesh, that cavern of ceiling-high baleen?"  If you like natural history, and are partial to poetic prose, this is the book for you.


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Wonderful Fountain Pens in Boston

Today I stopped into Bromfield Pen Shop, a store in downtown Boston that sells fountain pens, fountain pen ink, and an assortment of watches and knives. In other words, it's one of my favorite places in the Northeast! The front counter had a large assortment of Viscontis, Pilots, Faber-Castells, Watermans, Pelikans and more. A shelf towards the back of the shop was stocked with a wide variety of Noodler's ink -- I resisted buying the ever-cool Antietam Red, for now -- as well as standards like Waterman, Lamy, and Private Reserve. To top it all off, Bromfield sells Mondaine watches and Victorinox pocket knives. I didn't get to spend a lot of time in this wonderland, but the next time I am near Boston Common, I will be sure to stop in again and perhaps leave with a new bottle of something.

I took the following photos with my cell phone. They aren't great, but they'll have to do for now.

Religion and Law

While watching C-SPAN, I came across an audio recording of the Supreme Court proceedings for the Hosanna-Tabor vs. EEOC case. Then, I came across a commentary on the case by Stanley Fish. I tend to agree with most of the justices: there's no way to resolve the case without the federal government getting involved in religious doctrine and definitions. Tough situation... In any case, hooray for jurisprudence!

Alfred Hitchcock and Dick Cavett

A few months ago, PBS re-broadcast Dick Cavett's interview with Alfred Hitchcock, and I was lucky enough to watch it. It was one of the most fascinating interviews I have ever seen, and I think the reason is that I could never tell what Hitchcock was thinking. He would crack jokes, and then only crack the tiniest of wry smiles. Or, more often, his face would show no emotion at all. And, I could never really tell whether he was making fun of himself. But, he has amazing insights into film-making and story-telling. Watch the whole thing on YouTube!

Euclid in the Rainforest -- Book Review

Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Logic and Math by Joseph Mazur
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I really, really wanted to like this book. The table of contents sounded so interesting: infinity! logic! how math pertains to reality! But, the further I got into the book, the more frustrated I became. Each section -- infinity, logic, and reality -- contains several chapters, but it's never clear to the reader how each chapter relates to the overarching theme. Moreover, each chapter itself seemed just like a collection of math-related stories, one after the other, with no obvious link. (I'm sure there *were* links, but I would have had to work to find them.) Also -- and this may seem like a nit-picking critique -- the weak topic sentences really got in the way of my understanding each paragraph. Topic sentences have to set up the rest of the sentences in a paragraph, giving the reader a kind of road map, but these didn't. Arrrrgh! In my opinion, the book should be rewritten under the watchful eye of a careful editor.

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The Exploratorium recently won yet another design award. Its Tinkering Studio was recognized by Core77, an online design magazine. The Exploratorium is one of my favorite places in the entire world, fusing science, art, design, and the humanities into a breathtaking amalgam of interesting, cool stuff. You can read more about the design award here. To watch some cool Tinkering Studio goodness, click on the embedded video below:

Amazing Antique Typewriters

Salon's Elizabeth Weingarten has written a story about a fantastic collection of old writing machines. I love the look of these old typewriters: they remind me of steampunk objects. It's also interesting to learn about the ancestors of objects that have become common.

Copper Tea Kettle

This morning I came across this fantastic copper tea kettle. I wonder how much it weighs when it's full....

Conklin Fountain Pens

Wow: I really love the old-timey design of the Conklin pen website. Apparently, Mark Twain -- one of my favorite writers -- used a Conklin crescent filler, a pen with (I think) an internal inflatable bladder. When a writer depresses the button on the barrel, the air in the bladder shoots out, creating a vacuum. Then, ink can be siphoned into the pen. Nice.

[Image is from the Conklin website.]

Waterman Fountain Pen and Amazing Handwriting

The blogger Leigh Reyes recently featured an older Waterman fountain pen equipped with a music nib. Seeing beautiful calligraphy like this makes me want to learn more how to get more out of my fountain pens. I might have to invest in a pen with a more flexible nib, though. Namiki Falcon, anyone?

Anger and Patience

From the Daily Dharma website:

"As a destructive force there is nothing as strong as anger. An instant of anger can destroy all the positive action accumulated over thousands of kalpas through generosity, making offerings to the buddhas, keeping discipline, and so on. So we can say that there is no fault as serious as anger.

Patience, on the other hand, as a discipline which neutralizes anger, which prevents us from succumbing to it, and which appeases the suffering we endure from the heat of the negative emotions, is quite unrivaled. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we resolve to practice patience, and a lot of inspiration can be gained by reflecting on what is wrong with anger and on the advantages of patience."

Wise words.