Reading the front-page article in the New York Times on “sensitivity readers, ” I was struck how the choice of words can have unintended consequences. Read the article and see if you agree with me. The issue is...sensitive. In brief, sensitivity readers screen for slurs, discrimination or ignorance of cultural realities for the purpose of [...]
“Bitch!” said the gentleman, before he sipped champagne. “I hope she takes a tumble,” said the lady next to him, nodding. “What a monster,” drifted across the room in a voice I couldn’t identify. By Andrew Parodi (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons The infamous 1994 Women’s Figure Skating Olympics was [...]
In a blog last April Defining Flaws, I considered flaws, or imperfections, a characteristic of creativity. I wrote, “...the flaws in design, and characters, and execution may be the most important contributions you make, whether intended or not...Creativity is a mercurial beast, filled with flaws that turn demons into angels, sometimes, if you’re lucky.” The concept [...]
“Going once...going twice...sold,” said the auctioneer, as he pounded the gavel and the spectators gasped at Christie’s auction last week. "Salvator Mundi" Léonard de Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons Imagine, if you can, $450.3 million dollars – almost half a billion dollars – for Salvator Mundi, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci that had [...]
There can be no progress in life without transitions – the ability to move from one state to another. The transitions can be physical, emotional, intellectual, whatever. If not for evolution, Earth would be lifeless. Evolution is all about transitions in genetics resulting in new species. Without mutations – biochemical changes in DNA – there [...]
As a scientist, I lived in a world of “How?” rather than “Why?” We may have strong feelings for the reason something works the way it does – why sickness strikes one person and not another, or why Dartmouth accepted Mary and not Joe – but the answer will remain contentious. “Why?” is a moral, [...]
