And now for an embarrassing story…the “corn flake mushroom,” as I called it in my head, turns out to be, after months of frustrating research (well, really just hours over the course of a couple months) the extremely common… Crowded Parchment Fungus, considered by mushroomexpert.com to be “the most common, ubiquitous, ever-present, lost-all-luster fungus amongContinue reading “Early Spring Photos: Indiana”
Monthly Archives: March 2020
“Murder Most Foul” and the Mean World Syndrome
A little while ago I watched a great documentary about the work of a professor at UPenn on the effect of TV violence. He found that TV violence did not make people more violent themselves, but that it led them to believe the world around them was more violent than it really was. Seeing thousandsContinue reading ““Murder Most Foul” and the Mean World Syndrome”
Will there be blood?
There Will be Blood is a piece of myth-making about America and about masculinity. The myth it tells about America is that it is the product of fanatical individuality, the fierce will of the strongest, that the problems with our society stem not from something systemic or collective, but from the tragic flaws of greatContinue reading “Will there be blood?”
War with the Newts
I have just finished reading Válka s mloky (War with the Newts) to keep up my Czech. Čapek wrote the novel in four months, and it took me almost that long to read it. As reading practice for a non-native speaker, it is perfect because a lot of different vocabulary comes up: economic, historical, political,Continue reading “War with the Newts”
Notes on “Civil War Monuments and the Militarization of America”
Since the beauty of this book lies in the specifics, rather than try to somehow present a coherent summary in the form of an essay, I am simply giving as bullet points facts that struck me so far. Americans initially thought of themselves as peaceable in contrast to Imperial Britain with it’s global empire andContinue reading “Notes on “Civil War Monuments and the Militarization of America””
Confusion with “Sycamores”
If you look for “how to identify a sycamore tree” on wikiHow you’ll come across one of those innumerable American English / British English differences constantly under our noses and yet so rarely noticed. To identify a sycamore we are told, we should first check for “small woody balls,” like so and then, as ifContinue reading “Confusion with “Sycamores””
What’s up with this beech tree?
This time of year beech trees really stick out because for whatever reason, though their leaves die and turn a beautiful translucent brown, many of them remain on the tree, creating a sort of ghostly afterimage of the full grown summer plant. Like this: When I took a closer look at some beech trees onContinue reading “What’s up with this beech tree?”
recycled paper clips 