New blog?

Thinking of starting a blog called "sepia futures"

Designer Threads

Interesting!

New High-Tech Thread Can Help Customs Officials Detect Knockoff Designer Goods
Published by Jason Bittel  on May 8, 2013 on Slate

They didn't say where they would manufacture the thread... perhaps China?

I love this time of year in DC-- the cherry trees are blooming and the summer heat and humidity haven't  kicked up yet: 

There are a few hazards, though.  A few days ago, a thunderstorm swept through the area, with residents waking up to a light drizzle and a heavy, gray sky.  At around 7AM, there was an almighty crash and bright flash, virtually knocking anyone who was still in bed onto the floor.  A few minutes later, some more thunder and lightning but not nearly so sharp.  I stuck my head out the window and looked up and down the street but nothing seemed amiss.  Turns out a tree a block and a half away was struck by lightning.  I guess that's how the DC height restrictions are enforced!

This is what happens when your city infrastructure isn't updated!

Steam Pipe explodes under parking lot in Smolensk, Russia

Reminds me of the steam pipe that exploded in Manhattan during rush hour on a summer afternoon in 2007. 

Globalization of the Psyche

There has been quite a bit of research into the homogenization of the world through globalization, often in a tangible sense but I'm intrigued by a relatively new strand of research into the convergence of intangible patterns of thought and expectation.

An interesting case in point was mentioned in the New York Times Magazine  last Sunday:

What Does it Mean to Be Comfortable? The New York Times Magazine (January 27, 2013).

I've also been intrigued by reviews of Ethan Watters' Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche.  Has anyone read it?

Spring has come early to Washington, DC

It's January but it seems Spring is coming early to Washington, DC.  This is what I saw under a bush on my walk home from the Metro.

The Rhetoric of Climate Change

Random thought for the day:

Climate change skeptics have a peculiar refrain every time the weather is unseasonably warm for the time of year. "So much for global warming!" they say. It goes without saying that this is pretty silly, since climate change is an aggregate phenomenon and any individual instance of weather doesn't make a real difference in such a vast pool of data. The problem, really, is coming up with a convincing way of communicating that in a pithy way to the skeptics. Something along the lines of an analogy: that weather is to climate as x is to y.

The only thing I can come up with at 3AM is the really boring one of: Weather is to Climate as a Trip is to Distance.

Anyone out there have better - more snappy (and perhaps more sophisticated) - ideas? Let me know! Hopefully this can lead to a better conversation than the stonewalling I've experienced in the past.