"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by liberal japonicus It has been tire week (or tyre week if you are so inclined) here at the lj household. Last Saturday, I had a presentation in Fukuoka with a colleague and another teacher came along, so I decided to drive. The night before, I went to our full service gas station (one of … Read more
by Doctor Science
What many, many of us (myself included) imagine when we hear the word “royalty”:
Via: Screen Rant
The reality:
by Doctor Science
I’ll get back to some of the topics I’ve kind of left dangling, but first I need to put up a review of Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, And Warfare in a Transformative Age by William Wayne Farris before Inter Library Loan wants it back.
This is what I think of Inter Library Loan, btw:
this image taken, by me, from Dürer’s "Triumphal Chariot of Maximilian I". (I got distracted into putting together a better version of the whole thing, but I’ll post about that later. I digress.)
Japan’s Medieval Population is just the sort of history book I love. It’s a broad, rapid tour through material I knew basically nothing about, but with a framework I’m very familiar with. Farris uses crucial principles from William McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples, which is one of the books that’s shaped my thinking, as well.
by liberal japonicus Comments in last week's open thread remind me I've not put this week's up. As Miyamoto Musashi said, water take the shape of it's container without losing its essence. How about you?
by Benjamin Orbach I watched the 60 Minutes piece on Greg Mortenson with disappointment. If you haven’t heard of Greg Mortenson, he is a humanitarian that has built more than 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the best-selling author of Three Cups of Tea (co-written with Oliver David Relin). Three Cups of … Read more
by Doctor Science
A few months ago, I read Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, by Richard Wrangham. Wrangham marshals many lines of very good evidence to argue that humans are physically adapted to cooked food. One unexplored prediction of his theory is that, when proto-humans starting eating cooked food, they must have experienced a true "obesity epidemic".
I’m cutting this because discussions of weight, etc., are so fraught.
by russell As we all know, the debt load carried by the federal government is a topic of great concern. It's currently in the historically nosebleed territory of 100% of GDP. I thought I was kinda concerned about that until I ran across this, and in particular this graph: Federal debt is that green series. … Read more
by russell From today's Globe, more doctors gravitate toward boutique practice. The nitty gritty at a glance: six doctors in MA will be converting to a concierge practice this year "concierge practice" means unlimited access to the doctor for an $1,800 rider above your insurance coverage two of the doctors profile will be reducing their … Read more
by fiddler Sonnet of a disgruntled citizenry (with minor apologies to Homer, Chapman, et al.) Sing, news, of Obama’s promises, made To voters who elected him to power. Which has he kept? Wars’ ends? Taxes paid By the rich? An economy in flower? New jobs for all who seek them? Emptying Guantanamo’s cells, its prisoners … Read more
by liberal japonicus Whoops. I've got no classes on Friday for this new school year, which means that I try to get everything I haven't done all week done, which means I forgot the Friday open thread. So here is is. The fact that I had a night out with some others at a place … Read more
