Mechanical Twit
10-17 January 2013

* 10 *

Jan Estep reminds us that fMRI images are not photographs. And we’re still not sure what they tell us. (triplecanopy; via 3 Quarks Daily)

Zoning laws are, well, medieval. (Brainiac)

Marcy Campbell’s piece about her Book Club is interesting in several ways. It hs been going on for about a decade, and interests have shifted over time. But it triggered a memory from my radio days. As so manyy of our listeners did, Campbell wants her favorites to be shared. But doesn’t the accent in “book club” fall on the seccond term? (The Millions)

¶ Davos fatigue: Felix Salmon reports that Google won’t be giving it’s “ninth circle of hell” party at the Belvédère.

* 11 *

¶ An Iranian riposte to Argo is in the works. (NYT; via The Morning News)

* 14 *

¶ Oh, the glamorous New York spots that — don’t exist. Scout considers the “Chinese restaurant” problem. Dim, moody lighting is not a Chinese cultural choice.

¶ Stools! I love the stools! Just the seating for e-book reading! GOOD reports the opening, scheduled for Fall 2013, of Bexar County (TX) wonder, BiblioTech. A library with no (print) books!

* 16 *

¶ At Brain Pickings: Gorgeous Vintage British Road Safety Ads, 1939-1946. Blacked out!

¶ At PandoDaily, Bryan Goldberg opines that bright young people today are no longer interested in careers in finance: the soul-sucking downside has become too obvious. Good news for the rest of us! (via Abnormal Returns)

§ Why, I’ve no idea. But as I was filling the kettle this morning I was brushed by that warm and awful question: what, really, distinguishes the fate of the kids in Never Let Me Go from mine? On Monday, the dermatologist extracted tissue for three biopsies. We’re all headed in the same direction.

* 17 *

Jim Emerson is GREAT about (the great) Jodie Foster. It’s her business.

Gorgeous George! (Joe.My.God)

¶ As usual, Maria Bustillo’s Awl piece, “The Questions Following Aaron Swartz’s Death,” is full of really good answers. It’s too easy for political toads to become prosecutors.

¶ Sage advice on “warmups” — bringing roomfuls of students back into the classroom from the phonesphere — from Historiann. Also, this incredibly appealing postscript:

Age before beauty:  One more thing about my evaluations:  My evals, unlike those of most of my women colleagues, have never, ever commented on my personal appearance, but for the first time this past fall, an evaluation said “you are beautiful.”  Now I am at an age to find this silly but also kind of cute, instead of disturbing or concerning as I would have when I started teaching at age 27.

One Response to “Mechanical Twit
10-17 January 2013

  1. Jean Ruaud says:

    Jodie Foster’s speech was great and moving. I’m very fond of her.