Monthly Archives: February 2017

On the Dot, Not to the Point.

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The Speck that Changed the World“The Speck that Changed the World” should perhaps have taken precedence over the dot itself in terms of the purported subject matter: Humez & Humez meander all the way around a cornucopia (a horn of plenty, as you will learn if you read On the Dot) of subjects and disciplines related to, but not strictly or immediately about the dot as it exists in written communication throughout the entirety of the book.

As far as information about the dot goes, if you’re looking for a pretty purely historical retelling of the story of the dot in academic style, this is probably not going to cut it. However. If you’re in the mood for sauntering along in a manner much like a flâneur might, then this dense stream of consciousness will surely charm and delight you!

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Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel

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cover of small admissionsWhat would you do if you were dumped by what you thought was your true love in the middle of an airport before heading off to Paris? In Small Admissions, Kate faces this reality and becomes depressed. She loses interest in working, maintaining a social life, and simply, just doing something with her life. This is understandable, especially when she had let go of her aspirations in graduate studies to be with her “true love” in Paris.

So, what does Kate do now that she’s heartbroken and with no job? Fortunately, her sister, Angela, vows to lift her spirits and help her get her life back on track. Angela is a caring and concerned sister; yet, despite her good intentions of helping her sister out, I find her to be too overprotective and judgmental. Kate is on the way of getting her life back on track, and even so, Angela does not trust her and firmly believes that Kate will fall apart at any moment. I find Angela’s untrustworthiness and lack of confidence in her sister disappointing. However, what would have been more disappointing is if Kate didn’t have the confidence in herself, but I’m glad she did and had the determination to succeed in her career. Continue reading →

The Hidden Life of Trees

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what they feel, how they communicateDid you know:

1.Many trees have pretty shady parenting techniques (literally). Their offspring grow up closeby, under the shadows of their parents, so they can spend hundreds of years under their parents’ thumbs. It’s for their own good, of course, and in tree years, a hundred or so years isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.

2.Trees can send out messages to one another via airmail (e.g. “DANGER! GIRAFFE ALERT! GIRAFFE ALERT! Inject your leaves with bitter tasting compounds!” or something along those lines – I don’t speak tree.)

3. Humans micromanaging the growth of new forests in order to allow them to become old growth forests in the future does more harm than letting nature do its course, the way we do it. (This appears to me rather obvious.)

AND SO MUCH MORE (under the cut).

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