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On time-traveling information and quantum mechanics.
K (who is better at reading the internet than I am) asked me, “Have you seen all those reports about future actions dictating the past?” I promptly rolled my eyes. Thinking, which ones? Because there are a lot of “scientific” studies of that ilk. One of my favorites (“favorite” here meaning “most laughably silly) is…
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On killer line breaks.
Tracy K. Smith’s poetry collection Life on Mars is excellent, combining bursts of science-fiction weirdness with totally non-speculative emotional clarity. If you chance upon a copy, you might try flipping to her poems “The Museum of Obselencence,” or “Sci-Fi,” or “My God, It’s Full of Stars,” particularly the fifth strophe of that last one; those are…
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On Alice Goffman’s ‘On the Run’ and extrapolate-able truth.
Many people have criticized Alice Goffman’s ethnography On the Run. The first set of criticisms I noticed were from people who claimed that she misrepresented black urban life by studying the particular group of people on whom she centered her book (examples here and here). Now Goffman is being accused of felony-level crimes and, by virtue…
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On Boyhood (the film), specifically the eleven seconds between 2:34:11 and 2:34:22.
One quick remark before I launch into this essay: I typically type these while N is playing at the YMCA, so I had to take several screenshots of the film before coming here so I could consult them alongside my other notes. But Apple’s built-in screencapture won’t function if the DVD player is open; I’d…
Adele Exarchopoulos, appearance changes after ingesting psychedelics, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Boxtrolls, Boyhood, cinema, computer workarounds, criticism, Do No Harm, Family of the Year, film, fire hydrant photographs, fire hydrants, harms caused by U.S. drug policy, Hero, hydrants, iminent arrival of Gargantua, intentional lack of functionality, Jack Kerouack, losing good words, On the Road, philosophy of the present moment, photography, psilocin, psilocybin, puberty as a special effect, screencapture with DVD player open, special effects, sucks, The Dreamers, the loneliness of artistic pursuits, unintentionally homophobic language, unintentionally misogynistic language -
On Jon Krakauer’s Missoula
I am obviously thrilled that Jon Krakauer’s Missoula has been getting so much press. There are still a wide variety of pernicious misperceptions out there, and Krakauer does an excellent job of addressing them in a very accessible format. I hope lots of people read his book, and, like Nicholas Kristof, encourage their friends and…
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On biomedical research (and why I no longer do it).
Getting a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford is excellent preparation for two careers. One, becoming a research professor at one of our nation’s universities, in which case you get to help mint more Ph.D.s because the workforce employed by research professors is primarily composed of doctoral candidates. Two, conducting bioscience science research at one of…
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On burial rites … and a meaningful life.
And now… a super-cheerful essay to celebrate my 32nd birthday! If you’re writing about conflicts between religious and scientific worldviews, eventually you get stuck writing about death. Within many religious frameworks, inevitable death lurking somewhere down the line doesn’t alter the meaning of the life that comes before it. I’m typing this essay during the gap…
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On evolution (and why there aren’t more black plants).
As I was reading Freeman Dyson‘s recent collection Dreams of Earth and Sky, specifically his essay on democratizing genetic manipulation, I came across the following passage: “For a plant growing in a hot climate, it is advantageous to reflect as much as possible of the sunlight that is not used for growth. There is plenty…
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On Welcome to Braggsville and…
Because it’s a tragicomic collegiate novel about racism (hey! I wrote one of those too!), I’ve been looking forward to reading Welcome to Braggsville for a while. And, praise be to the local library, I finally got my chance! Thank you, library. Thank you, T. Geronimo Johnson, for caring about these issues enough to write…
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On perpetual motion machines (and where to find them).
The invention of a perpetual motion machine will revolutionize the world, and Dr. Harvey Trussbloom has done it! Well, perhaps he didn’t invent it, but he found it. Or, no, not quite found it, but he knows where it is. Roughly. Although perhaps it isn’t entirely accurate to refer to it as a “perpetual motion machine.” …
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Frank Brown Cloud 