December 3, 2009
Arts and Culture Blogging: Terra Cotta Warriors
If you’re in D.C. and have one hour and 12 bucks to spare, the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit at the National Geographic is well worth checking out. I agree that a traveling exhibition with just 15 of the life-sized sculptures (and more than 100 objects) can never compare to an in-person view of some 1,000 battle-ready soldiers discovered so far in the Chinese city of Xi’an. But the display layout, brief reading material, reproductions, and actual pieces are arrayed well and can be easily digested, even if there’s a crowd. For those who’ll never get to China, the exhibit provides at least a small sense of what was accomplished more than 2,000 years ago. (I was fascinated to learn that even 2,000 years ago, folk were contending with government bureaucracy!)
Listen to a radio interview with the museum director, watch a four-minute video, download teaching materials, and read other information on the website. The exhibit is in Washington through March 2010.
Subscribe to the National Geographic magazine.
December 1, 2009
Would You Escalate? Watch Speech Live
Tonight, before learning the details about the escalation (surge) of the Afghanistan War, play the “Escalation: The Vietnam War Simulation” demo. Just enter a name and email, and put yourself in LBJ’s shoes in the period from 1964 through 1968.
Post-speech reaction: Not impressed.
November 30, 2009
Radiolab: Numbers
This episode of WNYC’s Radiolab, originally broadcast Oct. 9, takes on the subject of numbers: What do they mean? Can we live without them? What is their use?
Listen to the first segment below and the entire show here.
November 27, 2009
Science Friday: Turtles Crossing!
A (tiny) bridge not too far for track-traversing turtles. Below and here.
Support Science Friday.
November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving …
Have fun, eat well, and …
Feed a Neighbor, from a White House guide.
Read, in the New Yorker, a heart-breaking story of famine in North Korea and an array of articles about the opposite problem in The Food Issue (Nov. 23, 2009; pictured at right), including this one about the somewhat beleaguered Michelin Guide.
Watch the ridiculous turkey-pardoning ceremony.
See PETA’s take on the whole Turkey thing.
Tune in tomorrow for American Public Media “The Spendid Table” Turkey Confidential.
Consider these turkey freakonomics.
Enjoy.