And so it does.

I’m pretty sure the line should be “Come lie with me…”

Alas.

Atul Gawande, ever-perceptive, writes about end-of-life care.

Makes for some gruesome (yet strangely fascinating) reading. I had no idea so many television shows had episodes based on reality.

There are some ant species that explode suicidally to spray glue all over attackers.

First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.

— Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

But they’re my favorite punctuation mark; I use them all the time.

Found this today in an old notebook.

Feels like summer. I think I’m getting old.

The plot isn’t exactly airtight, but the action here seems less forced than many another flick’s. And the timing could not have been better.

I want to be on that boat.

Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.

— John Wooden

I quote this not because I love feel-good motivational silliness, but because John Wooden was one of those people that you cannot help but be inspired by. He was a legendary basketball player and coach; nowadays, in a time when sports stars are busy with money, fame, and sex, he reminds us what sports are really about. I could go on and on about him, but others already have.

His line on success was the result of years of thought, reflection, and refinement. It is a definition, and a challenge.

Now get to it.

You have stellar actors and actresses, a solid comic mythos to draw from, as well as a successful prequel. So why can’t you rise above mediocrity? Why is it so hard to write a good movie? Why, why, why?

(The first Iron Man is, for some reason, one of my favorites of the recent comic-book-turned-movie era. Behind The Dark Knight, obviously. I think it’s because Iron Man didn’t take itself too seriously. The Dark Knight, on the other hand, took itself extremely seriously, and dragged you in entirely. All of the other superhero movies of late have been a sad mix of the two; a ridiculously misplaced gravity that never fails to seem absurd.)

Nothing like burning some delicious, delicious carcinogens into meat.

Oh, PubMed, bastion of peer-reviewed biomedical research, you never cease to amaze and inspire.

As always, an amusing and highly informative discussion.

Which makes me wonder.

We’re lucky that our planet doesn’t normally spew enormous amounts of particulate matter into the air. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, Earth is pretty stable. We take for granted the fact that we can just fly anywhere, anytime.

What if, however, this wasn’t the case? What if, for example, every so often a volcano would pop up and render a region inaccessible by plane, perhaps for months? Southeast Asia this fall, North America next winter. How different our perception of travel would be. How would our global culture have developed differently? (Ignoring, say, long-term health effects and possible technological solutions—e.g. do turboprop planes work in ash? and the airships of yesteryear?)

Alternatively, what if the current volcano was a lasting thing? (On the scale of, say, decades.) Would the economy and culture of Europe (or whatever poor region) be thoroughly decimated without the convenience and power of flight? How dependent, really, are we, on air travel?

What a bizarre world that would be.

Photo credit: NASA.

Tuna tartare on guacamole, citrus marinated salmon on sweet potato blini.

It makes you wonder. Does Max have such fantastical adventures often? Does he revisit this world and its inhabitants? And for someone so young, that is a lot of drama, sadness, and conflict to exist entirely in one’s imagination.

All this on account of not getting supper.

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

— The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot.

The first stanza of this poem is possibly my favorite eighteen lines of written word, ever.