Category: ideas

“Political pop was not born in 1979. But it received an almighty fillip with the Thatcher era, allowing everyone from Billy Bragg to Wham! to rally around loathing of one of the most hated figures of modern times.”

“As we look at a portrait, our brain calls on several interacting systems to analyze contours, form a representation of the face and of the body, analyze the body’s motion, experience emotion, and perhaps, empathy. Along with these instantaneous responses, we form a theory of the subject’s state of mind.”

“An understanding of math is important, but equally important is understanding the research. Understanding why you are using a particular type of math is more important than understanding the math itself.”

“For alongside their loosening and cheapening of words, our young tools have combined the instant and the infinitely reproducible – and are steadily blurring the bounds between private utterance and public performance. It is a context within which even the most laughable-seeming simplicities conceal possibilities that demand our attention.”

Performance anxiety. Alva Noë explains.

“Music appears to be effective in treating acute and chronic sleep disorders. It is low-cost and safe, and could be used to improve sleep quality in various populations with different ages and cultural backgrounds.”

“Let’s put on our close-reading glasses for just a moment (the ones with the rhinestone frames and the beaded chain) … [to] break down the three stages of the camp experience: the rush, the delight, and the savor.”

“An individual baby – yours, your co-worker’s, etc. – is a truly innocent thing, right? … But the abstract idea of ‘babies,’ on the other hand, is a very different story. Though you would be hard-pressed to find camp pleasure in a real-life baby perambulating down the sidewalk, when that same baby is featured in a toilet paper commercial flying about with wings and a hard-hat, all bets are off.”

Of course it can. Exhibit A: Angels in America

“What does science have to say about body language? Is there anything more in it than entertainment value? If so, which movements and gestures speak volumes and which are red herrings? And, knowing this, can we actually alter our own body language to manipulate how others perceive us?”