sci-ligion
i don't object to a film about mother teresa just because i don't believe in god.
from the nytimesPeople who follow trends at commercial and institutional Imax theaters say that in recent years, religious controversy has adversely affected the distribution of a number of films, including "Cosmic Voyage," which depicts the universe in dimensions running from the scale of subatomic particles to clusters of galaxies; "Galápagos," about the islands where Darwin theorized about evolution; and "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea," an underwater epic about the bizarre creatures that flourish in the hot, sulfurous emanations from vents in the ocean floor.:::
Carol Murray, director of marketing for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, said the museum decided not to offer the movie after showing it to a sample audience, a practice often followed by managers of Imax theaters. Ms. Murray said 137 people participated in the survey, and while some thought it was well done, "some people said it was blasphemous."
science is about the continuing creation, development and refinement of our ideas about how our world works (you can be as empiricial or existential about this as you choose). science that gets to the point where it is made into a movie - i.e., for mass consumption - would have in an ideal world, been through years and years of peer-reviews, critiques, and often represents someone's life work. for all that to be undermined by the opinion of someone in the audience that isn't even open-minded enough to consider new ideas and hypotheses... how far are we willing to go as a society in diluting and censoring ideas and knowledge?
how can you even say a film has educational value if it is censored and trimmed to be rammed into a rigid mental box?
i whole-heartedly concur that these
should not be called science museums. they are a priori museums.
next thing you know,
this book will be banned. or maybe
this one.
evolution:society:media
veisalgia
the formal name for a hangover is veisalgia, from the Norwegian word for "uneasiness following debauchery" (kveis) and the Greek word for "pain" (algia).
there's a lot of stuff on the
biology of hangovers but i was most amazed by the bio-medical explanation for "breaking the seal"
When alcohol is consumed, it enters the bloodstream and causes the pituitary gland in the brain to block the creation of vasopressin. Without this chemical, the kidneys send water directly to the bladder instead of reabsorbing it into the body. This is why drinkers have to make frequent trips to the bathroom after urinating for the first time after drinking.
oof. apparently my brain is also
pulling away from my skull. ow.
health:debauchery
internet directions for people without cars
the parks department's new
park locator gives us something amazing that
google maps,
mapquest, and those
other people who make a lot more money doing more or less the same thing, don't - the subways closest to the address that you are looking for.
wow!
transit:parks:new york city
he's still there!
so the
new cashier at the supermarket is either the king of customer service or a serious player - he makes more eye contact than any other supermarket cashier that i've ever encountered.
poker face
if i recall correctly, 55% of a message is conveyed by non-verbal communication (a.k.a. body language)
in this case i think the body language hijacked the spoken message- jon stewart makes us laugh about something that is well, actually a little scary.
intelligence:media:politics
companies and environmental ethics
hathe stats:
75% of people consider themselves green consumers
10% actually follow through in their buying decisions
Cascadia Scorecard's Elizabeth Burton believes this trend is "tremendously hopeful: if companies step up to the plate and make green products easily (and affordably) available, there’s a lot of potential for a healthier planet here." There's also vast potential for further education, as the 75% figure shows that most consumers are interested in buying green even if they're not completely aware of what that means.
the idea that companies would step up to the plate is basically preposterous. companies did not step up to the plate on worker protection or consumer safety standards - these had to be regulated before they became a consumer right and expectation. production methods won't change on any sort of notable scale without regulation. but as the practice becomes more and more widespread, eventually companies will step up to the plate - if only in order to remain competitive.
however, to rely on consumer habits is even more unrealistic. i'm an educated consumer, but as highly evolved as humans may be, i still often buy what's easy and everywhere around me, rather than research and find the product that minimizes environmental harm. our culture doesn't promote group selection and one day our individualistic tendencies will tip the balance too far, but our culture only promotes the pursuit of individual gratification more and more with each passing day.
so, in the meantime, we really need responsible grown-ups around to keep the kids in line.
shopping:environment:culture:society
gentrifying food
so i was getting my hair done last week (go ahead and groan) and my hairdresser - who by the way, is a genius - told me that she's opening her own salon in the neighborhood, in a big factory building that's been in a state of renovation for about a year. i actually know this building well, having ridden by on the bus many times - a sign has been up advertising the coming gym for months.
apparently, a gourmet garage is landing in that building. wary of the whole foods phenomenon, which currently threatens to destroy the farmer's market in union square - i thought before i grumble about it i should probably learn more about the company.
apparently it's a different type of high-end food store, reveling in novelty and diversity, with lower prices and spawning new stores. and it's coming here, but maybe that's not so bad.
i still wonder what will happen to the smaller stores in the neighborhood though. jane jacobs said that diversity of businesses and production makes for healthy cities and argues that innovations arise from the inherent 'inefficiencies' that exist in small businesses. This makes me think about diversity in ecological processes - certainly i'm wary of large grocers that buy food from massive distributers rather than from local, small farmers. While this neighborhood has grown beyond the capacity and apparently, the quality and variety of food available in the local supermarket that has been around forever - why does it have to be a chain store??!
and of course the same demographic and economic trends in the neighborhood that brings on the big bad grocers, help my hairdresser start a small business with her sister, which i'm really happy about.
perhaps i'm just getting old and cranky and resistant to change.
groceries:economy
