Do you add to the energy in the room or suck the energy out?
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Robert Pinsky: I think skepticism toward things like titles, good reviews, what the world calls distinctions, recognitions, can become mechanical, but it’s a good armor too.
Robert Pinsky: At the airport, everybody else was listening to the clatter of CNN in the background and announcements about other flights, and I was getting some work done.
The last thing a young artist should do in poetry or any other field is think about what’s in style, what’s current, what are the trends. Think instead of what you like to read, what do you admire, what you like to listen to in music.
Many, many ideas have come out of basic science over the centuries that initially seemed like idle curiosities.
Neutrino physics is becoming more popular and attractive since it is, relatively speaking, cheaper than big accelerator physics compared to the cost of, for example, the Large Hadron Collider.
The predecessors of today’s neutrinos might have played a role in causing matter to dominate over anti-matter in the early universe.
“I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.” – Jack London (born on this date in 1876)
How our best physical understanding of the early stages of the Universe — that set up the hot Big Bang — inevitably leads us to conclude that there’s a lot more than what’s merely […]
“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.” – Alexander Hamilton (born on this date in 1755)
“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” -George Washington Carver (born on this date in 1864 – we think)
A team of researchers has measured the current size of “baryon acoustic oscillations” (BAOs) from the early universe in order to determine the distances to galaxies more than 6 billion light-years away to within 1 percent accuracy.
“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”- Simone de Beauvoir (born on this date in 1908)
How the Universe made the elements and atoms that make up you and me, and everything else on Earth. “Things are the way they are because they were the way they […]
Where the first atoms in the Universe — the progenitors of all the normal matter that makes up everything we know — came from. “I see a lot of new faces. But, you know the […]
Forensic analysis has revived the features of a prehistoric skull buried near the iconic Stonehenge monument.
Last fall, John Cisna — a science teacher from Des Moines, Iowa — ate nothing but McDonald’s for 90 days and wound up losing 37 pounds! Hold the mustard! How the heck can that be right?
BEIJING – Chinese universities are plagued with corruption. Last November, the clique around Cai Rongsheng at Renmin University got busted. The 48-years old ‘Chief of the Student Admissions Office’ tried […]
A sunset captured in Switzerland featured a sunspot so large it was visible to the naked eye.
Memories triggered by smell are more emotional than those triggered by sounds, pictures or words
Baggy pants. A cane. A bowler hat. A mustache. These are the unlikely visual ingredients of one of the most important fictional characters of the last century around the world. […]
If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to sit through the Gameshow “Deal or No Deal”, you might have concluded as Charlie Brooker put it, that the entire show is “actually […]
Positing Jesus Christ as a yogi has become popular over the last two decades. For some, the symbolism is irresistible: loving your neighbors, turning a cheek and other maxims line […]
During the recent cold snap, wind chill has taken some heat, notably from Daniel Engber at Slate, who castigates wind chill as the “weatherman’s favorite alarmist statistic,” serving as the “PR agent” for horrendous weather.
“The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to an image, put it that way.” – Elvis Presley (born on this date in 1935)
The Merriam-Webster people have named SCIENCE the word of the year. Why? It had “the greatest increase in look-ups” in the online version of their dictionary. This data might be […]
When the nurse footprinted my son at birth, she declared, “his foot almost doesn’t fit in the box” on her special Baby Footprint Form (nurses and doctors like things to fit […]
The dream of overturning Roe v. Wade may yet come to pass for abortion opponents. But as state-level restrictions on the right to abortion continue to mount, the anti-abortion movement is steadily chipping away at the spirit of Roe while it remains on the books.
The Satanic Temple, the monument’s sponsor, says on its website that “Satan stands as the ultimate icon for the selfless revolt against tyranny, free & rational inquiry, and the responsible pursuit of happiness.”
“To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal, to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new.”
-Nicolas Cage (born on this date in 1964)