Recent Posts

  • MR@MoS

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    Disappointing. That’s all I can say. The Museum of Science had announced a special one-day members-only preview of their new model railroad exhibit, so of course I had to go. “What does it have to do with science?” asked Barbara…. Read More ›

  • O Canada!

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    Exactly one week ago I wrote about the podcast Word Bomb, describing the first eight episodes. Now the ninth episode has come out, and I feel compelled to address one point: how Canadian is Word Bomb? The official description of Episode #9… Read More ›

  • The Last Place You Look

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    Kristen Lepionka grew up mostly in a public library and could often be found in the adult mystery section well before she was out of middle school… She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her partner and two cats. That’s what the… Read More ›

  • It’s academic.

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    Passport to Murder; Death by Committee; The Black Hour. My imagined Final Jeopardy clue says “This is is what all three titles have in common.” …  … OK, enough suspense: the answer is “What are three titles of recent academic… Read More ›

  • Noise and the City

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    I thank my former student, Sury Dewa Ayu, for this link to Erica Walker’s website Noise and the City, which examines how urban noise affects public health in various Boston neighborhoods. Here’s Erica’s own blurb about the site: Erica Walker is a doctoral… Read More ›

  • Orange cat on purple blanket

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    William points out that he looks good on the purple blanket:

  • Word Bomb

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    Fat, doxx, like, trigger, moist, they, partner, renoviction —  what do these eight words have in common? The answer is that they are the topics of the first eight episodes of Word Bomb, a new podcast from Canada. Unlike most of… Read More ›

  • An Enemy of the People

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    Your president just called CNN “the enemy of the people.” This, of course, is far from the first time that he has referred to the press by this phrase. (Marvin Kalb just published an entire book on the subject, straightforwardly… Read More ›

  • Moral hazard?

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    “You learn something new every day of your life,” my dad used to say to me. He was right, of course. A week ago I learned a concept that is, apparently, familiar to economists and philosophers but was for some… Read More ›