Epistemographer

Rubber ducks lost at sea being tracked by scientists:
“Remnants of the lost armada of bath toys, which also includes frogs, beavers and turtles — nearly 29,000 in all — are thought to be streaming down the New England seaboard right now. Although there are no confirmed sightings in the Atlantic yet, oceanographers who have [...]

As a sort of last-minute thing, I had dinner tonight at Otto (Mario Batali’s new Enoteca/Pizzeria), and wound up having one of the best culinary experiences of my recent memory. By the end of the night, the four of us at the table had tasted seven cheeses, five seafood antipasti, five cured meats, assorted mushrooms/figs/olives, [...]

As a scholar who’s sensitive both to historiography and contemporary media criticism, I’m well aware that for the vast majority of the world, those who don’t get to go into archives or interview historical actors firsthand, history only exists in the telling. We labor to make our work transparent, extensively documenting our work in part [...]

No writing recently, in large part because I haven’t been online very much lately. Came to a conclusion as I was driving up to Ithaca with Jenny last Wednesday that I need to rein in my online grazing, and I’ve noticed that as I’m reading blogs less and less, I’m feeling less of an urge [...]

I’ve been thinking about writing something on this for a while (I’m finding that I’m mentally writing blog posts to work out ideas, but once I write it in my head I don’t bother to write it out when I’m actually at a computer), but it took Alex Pang to actually jolt me into doing [...]

…and none the worse for wear, with the exception of the produce in the refrigerator that didn’t survive the blackout. Ew.
Had a great weekend down in DC, and got to see tons of family and friends. Friday night, my parents got a bushel of crabs and invited over the family for dinner.

Now, I [...]

And what better gift than to be out of town (in DC) when a massive power outage hits both Ithaca and New York City?

As if the now-omnipresent phenomenon of reality TV weren’t enough, the newest reality series of the summer (NBC’s The Restaurant) comes complete with a handful of unofficial, unsanctioned websites and blogs by Rocco DiSpirito’s eager young staff. There’s newly-departed Topher, gimpy-armed Gideon, as-of-yet-barely-seen Uzay, and badass-with-a-new-moped Lola.
The idea of reality TV “stars” commenting on the [...]

…2 great pieces on NPR’s All Things Considered, one on book camp for grownups and the other on a library’s worst nightmare (scroll down for this one).

Okay, this has to stop. Seriously. Every time I sit down at my computer, I find myself compulsively clicking through the list of about four dozen blogs in my “Favorites” menu (most of which I still need to add to the blogroll on the right). Moreover, when I do finally start working, I’m interrupted every [...]