via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Washington, D.C., or vicinity
“Flooding”
Aftermath of the “Chesapeake-Potomac” hurricane of August 1933, which led to the train wreck seen here a few days ago.
Who can locate this water-logged crossroads, with “Goode Shoppe” hot dogs going for a nickel?
Harris & Ewing glass negative.
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Was Shakespeare gay, and does it matter?
via Guardian by John Sutherland
Although not a new question, its re-emergence is germane to the interpretation of his plays, and not just a scholars’ spat.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
In praise of cowardice
The practice of ridiculing – even killing – cowards has a long history. But sometimes they are not craven but courageous. Cowardice keeps the peace… more
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Building a 21st Century Library
via Scholarly Kitchen by David Crotty
Another look at the fascinating evolution of the library. The University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library has gone through enormous renovations in recent years, and the video below explains the changes and the thought process behind them. It’s particularly interesting to see the many levels on which change is occurring, from the role of the library on campus and as part of the community, to the role of the librarian and even the purpose and design of the physical building itself.
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The Most Spectacular Place You'll Never See
via Doc Searls Weblog
Unless you look out the window.
When I did that on 4 November 2007, halfway between London and Denver, I saw this:
Continue reading to find out where this is.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Christianity and liberalism
Did Western liberalism grow out of Christianity? It’s a popular idea on the right and the left. But proving it poses problems… more
I had to stop myself reading this review all the way through -- I would not get anything done if I kept on doing this!
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Does workplace stress play a role in retirement drinking?
via OUP Blog by Kathleen Briggs and Peter A. Bamberger
Alcohol misuse among the retired population is a phenomenon that has been long recognized by scholars and practitioners. The retirement process is complex, and researchers posit that the pre-retirement workplace can either protect against – or contribute to – alcohol misuse among retirees.
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Driving a legobot with a simulated worm nervous-system
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
More news from the Openworm project, whose Kickstarter I posted in April: they’ve sequenced the connectome of all 302 neurons in a C. Elegans worm, simulated them in software, and put them to work driving a Lego robot.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
On psychiatry
Psychiatry is the black sheep of the medical family, scorned by physicians and patients alike. The reputation is well-deserved… more
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Contaminomics: Why Some Microbiome Studies May Be Wrong
via 3 Quarks Daily by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
You’ve got a group of people with a mysterious disease, and you suspect that some microbe might be responsible. You collect blood and tissue samples, you extract the DNA from them using a commonly used kit of chemicals, and you sequence the lot. Eureka! You find that every patient has the same microbe – let’s say Bradyrhizobium, or Brady for short. Congratulations, you have discovered the cause of Disease X.
Don’t celebrate yet.
You run the exact same procedure on nothing more than a tube of sterile water and… you find Brady. The microbe wasn’t in your patients. It was in the chemical reagents you used in your experiments. It’s not the cause of Disease X; it’s a contaminant.
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