What, to the American, is Independence Day?
Many of you may not quite realize that Independence Day for many Black folks is more important than you know, signifying the price paid for and memory of a paradoxical fate.
Dispatches
The First Woman to Circle the Globe Never Dared Admit It
Six of Washington University’s plant-science biologists are female. They travel the world easily. Not one of them, to my knowledge, has had to shear off her hair and bind her breasts to do so.That was the trick used by Jeanne Baret, a self-taught herbalist who became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.
Some Interesting Items I Found on the Internet, July Edition
I go to church on Sunday but I have been told that addictive personalities find it hard to kick their habits.
How to Time a Professional Baseball Game
The pitch clock is meant to shorten the length of games which, apparently, is one of the major sins of baseball, even in the eyes of the people who oversee the sport: the games are too long. Supposedly, shortening the length of games to under three hours will make baseball more attractive to younger fans, who somehow feel that the national pastime is too nineteenth-century.
The Psychopathic Brain
In a new study, individuals diagnosed with psychopathy (egotistical, antisocial, and devoid of empathy, guilt, or remorse) were compared to individuals with low or zero scores on the standard checklist of psychopathic traits. Those with psychopathy showed a nearly 10 percent increase in the size of their striatum.
How Pee Could Save the Planet
Peecycling could replace at least 25 percent of the commercial fertilizer used worldwide. And the advantages are stunning. First, it is cheaper. Second, peecycling keeps the urine out of the groundwater.
Espionage in the Midwest
Economic espionage takes place with increasing frequency, part of the 700-plus China-related counterintelligence investigations the FBI now launches every year. But because the United States has an open market and laws protecting privacy, individual liberty, and the global collaborations of our corporations and universities, economic espionage is incredibly hard to prove and prosecute.
Roe Falls, and Missouri Bans Most Abortions
Missouri became the first U.S. state to ban abortion after Friday’s Supreme Court ruling overthrew Roe v. Wade.
Copi: “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Eat ‘Em”
Asian Carp have become a serious problem in midwestern rivers and lakes. They overpopulate; drive out native species; decimate food supplies such as plankton, algae, and endangered mollusks; and, as you have probably seen in videos, often swarm the surface and fly through the air, hitting boaters.
Who Even Whistles Anymore?
A whistled melody always sounds carefree. Or maybe people are likelier to whistle when they are happy? When you are sad it is hard to summon the breath. But there is also whistling to while away tedious work; whistling to work up courage; whistling in the dark, of which there is a lot these days.