Those guys who evaluate how well students in different countries are doing in math and science (you know, the ones where USanians do better than Cyprus. USA! USA!) evaluated the curriculum in the Bellevue Schools. Here are their thoughts.
Spooky and Cool: messing with body sense
Article about the odd messing about with body sense that can be done when you poke the brain, with implications for the messing about the brain does on its own.
Flights Review
Flights, ed. Sarrantonio. No. It’s perhaps not entirely fair to dismiss the entire collection, but the first half convinced me that I would be better off skipping the second half. I had a bad feeling about the collection from the word "Extreme" in the subtitle, and this feeling was reinforced by the presence of a story written by the editor (I didn’t make it to Sarrantonio’s story, but his introductions did not inspire me to persevere). The "Extreme Visions" in the subtitle invites comparison with Dangerous Visions, a nearly 40-year-old collection. Flights is not worthy of the invitation.
Another use for Naugas?
Check out these cute (but spendy) vinyl dolls! Very good expressions on these guys.
September Reading
Like Vector and Weetabix
Vectibix? It sounds much more like a tasty British cookie than a medication for colorectal cancer. Perhaps it is both!
The Demolished Man Review
The Demolished Man, Bester. Yes (classic). I was disappointed with some aspects of the work as a whole, but the writing was just fine. I do enjoy reading The Future As Imagined in the Fifties, and this was as charming in its presentation as any.
Can it be traditional if the patent is still good?
Aside from the inherent cool (uninspiring though I find it) of this tiny projector, I’m entertained by the line "Traditional projectors use arrays of millions of mirrors to display footage." I have a hard time thinking of anything that was in prototype within the last decade or so as "traditional."
mmmm, groceries
Old stock (ha!) photos of grocery stores.
U.S.! Review
U.S.!, Bachelder. Yes. It’s possible I’m not bright or attentive enough to have caught everything Mr Bachelder was doing in this meta-polemic, but there was enough on the surface to entertain me and keep me reading, and anything additional he was doing did not distract me.