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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