Ailanthus-altissima

I had the world’s worst sandwich the other day. It was my fault — I went to this one shop that was right on my way to a meeting, instead of going a few minutes out of my way and getting something decent.  The […]

I have had a can of pinto beans sitting in my pantry. In true apartment-living style, my pantry is a large cabinet above my microwave, but “pantry” sounds much nicer, though, upon further reflection, I am not sure […]

A few days ago, an article by Richard Vedder on the lack of benefit given the costs of research was published at Bloomberg.com. In the article, Vedder argued that the benefits and quality of research conducted at […]

I am writing to you from 30,000 feet, give or take a mile. Soaring high above the rugged western United States with its snow covered peaks and mesas and roads that, at dawn, resemble rivers of molten lava which […]

This is my last post in this column for the 2012 calendar year and in the 2012 fall quarter/semester, depending on the system your university uses. I cannot be more thrilled. 2012 has been a topsy-turvy year, […]

In two weeks, all of us will be turning over new leaves, or at least replacing our calendars with the most recent versions. For those of us who like to plan, now is the perfect time to think long and hard about […]

Winter is the perfect time of year for cookies. For starters, if you make too much cookie dough, you can freeze it just by throwing it outside (in a sealed container to prevent attracting raccoons and other […]

The title is not particularly catchy. None of mine usually are, to be honest, but at least in this case, it is accurate. Without further (or any, really) exposition, let’s get down the heart of the matter: […]

Last week, I talked about the pros, cons, and explosions of Mythbusters. A few thoughts have been percolating ever since, like why do most of the scientists in the public eye work with some form of physics […]

Every week, I take a moment to scan apartment décor blogs, book suggestion blogs, and food suggestion blogs. With each type of blog, I have a system: for the apartment, I gloss over anything that won’t stand up to […]

Like many of you, I have watched Mythbusters, the science-based reality TV show on Discovery channel, off and on for many years. This weekend, I realized that the show was available on Netflix, and since my part […]

Lately, I’ve been doing recipe reviews to expand my own culinary skills and to share my mistakes with others, thus hopefully preventing them from repeating my errors. It’s almost a public service! I mean, not […]

If you are reading this post on this particular website, then I assume that you love to read. In fact, if you demur and say, “Oh no, no, no, reading is for people with expensive library card holsters and gigantic, […]

Climate change made me late for work. Climate change bought the last chocolate chip chocolate muffin. Climate change thinks my hair is flat and lifeless. Climate change told my boyfriend that he could do […]

I try to keep a running list of ideas for topics to talk about for these posts. I do this because my brain tends to oscillate between full of ideas and totally and completely useless; and for some reason, this […]

In honor of American Thanksgiving on Thursday, a complicated day with a complicated history and a complicated set of silverware, today let’s talk about the natural history of the big bird, the star of the show, […]

Ah, one of the most wonderful times of the year is finally almost upon us. Like a lion, shaking its butt in a stealthy manner while preparing to spring upon the (I’m assuming) delectable haunches of a gazelle, I […]