Music | Music

Greater than the sum of its parts | The Economist

It is rare for a new animal species to emerge in front of scientists’ eyes. But this seems to be happening in eastern North America

Music | Music

Why Pendulum Clocks Synchronize | RealClearScience

Hang two pendulum clocks on the same wall, and over time, something strange will happen: the two clocks will tick in synchrony. Renowned Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, the inventor of the...

While not directly tied to audiophile playback systems, the notion of "microvibrations" actually exist. Whether this really affects music playback.... I isolate my equipment!

Miscellaneous | Education

How Spelling Keeps Kids From Learning - The Atlantic

Mastering English requires abilities that most children don’t develop until they're pre-teens.

Education would be easier, if this problem was fixed, which it could be. More easily than you think. Allan Kiisk's "Simple Phonetic English Spelling" could be implemented with just one letter added. Word processors could change to new spelling with a button, back and forth.

Miscellaneous | Life & Health

A.J. Tarpley: Why I Walked Away from Football at 23 | The MMQB with Peter King

The decision was about coming to terms with the totality of my concussion history. I gave everything I had, and when I couldn’t do that anymore, I retired out of respect for the sport—and my health

The cogently written statement by the second important NFL concussion retirement matters. Mr Tarpley was aware of the risks and responded as a human aware of the joys of living and risks to the joy.

Miscellaneous | Life & Health

Here's Why Most Neuroscientists Are Wrong About the Brain - Facts So Romantic - Nautilus

Most neuroscientists believe that the brain learns by rewiring itself—by changing the strength of connections between brain cells,…

Advanced math is about mapping numbers - this is what functions are about! But the brain..... This article argues that numbers, not synapses directly, drive our memory. Worth thinking deeply about.

Miscellaneous | Life & Health

The Health Benefits of Being Cold

How keeping cool can lead to weight loss.

Keep cold to lose excess mass (ie fat)

Books | Literature

America Has Never Been So Ripe for Tyranny -- NYMag

That’s what’s scariest about Donald Trump.

Plato and Equality Politics. Read the first paragraphs of Sullivan's essay.

Books | Literature

It’s not only Germany that covers up mass sex attacks by migrant men... Sweden’s record is shameful » The Spectator

   Stockholm It took days for police to acknowledge the extent of the mass attacks on women celebrating New Year’s…

Exceptionally difficult to discuss issue. Sadly, the term "taharrush' may be added to our vocabulary.

Books | Literature

Robert Alter on His New Translation of the Book of Esther – Tablet Magazine

The Book of Esther is among the Bible’s shortest stories. It tells the tale of a young Jewish woman who saves her people from a genocidal plot conceived of by Haman, an adviser to King Ahasuerus. It’s a story Jews around the world celebrate on Purim w

Professor Alter ranks as the finest translator of ancient Hebrew literature. All of his writings are insightful. This is a podcast.

Books | Literature

How Spelling Keeps Kids From Learning - The Atlantic

Mastering English requires abilities that most children don’t develop until they're pre-teens.

This may not seem like a literature problem, but considering the history of spelling changes, more books could survive by reading, if spelling was fixed.

Education would be easier, if this problem was fixed, which it could be. More easily than you think. Allan Kiisk's "Simple Phonetic English Spelling" could be implemented with just one letter added. Word processors could change to new spelling with a button, back and forth.

Books | Literature

Michael Chabon's Short Fiction, 'Switzerland Today'

In the summer of 1974 my parents sent me to live with my grandparents. My mother’s parents lived in a modest, one-story house in Silver Spring. It was a nondescript little box, half-heartedly Colonial, with a pointed cupola and black shutters that could

Michael Chabon ranks as one of our best writers. A short story