Japanese Iodine-131 Emulates Kon-Tiki

Surprisingly for those of us who considered people complaining about radiation imminently flying from Japan to the Pacific Northwest coast in Canada and the USA as selfish and silly,

Why Is Easter Late?

From Wikimedia Commons

Half an Angleworm (World Poetry Day)

It's UNESCO World Poetry Day, an event which seems to be passing very quietly; but it has only been around since 1999.

In its honour, here is a classic from Emily Dickinson:

A Bird came down the Walk—
He did not know I saw—
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

cont'd.

Quoted from Poets.org
World Poetry Day [UN.org]
Illustration from Wikimedia Commons.

The French Revolution

The historian Thomas Carlyle's thoughts on the rightness of revolt in a chapter from his work on the French Revolution. He approached it from a rather religious perspective. The text I cite is different from the original, since this blogger has rewritten it for the sake of fluency and accuracy; of course it may not be an improvement.

From Wikimedia Commons

Questionable

IS the "Age of Hope" only a chimera, cloud vapour with rainbows painted on it — beautiful to see, to sail towards — which hovers over a Niagara Falls? If so Analysis will gain the victory.

Security Council Resolves to Enforce No-Fly Zone

In the early evening of March 17th, the Security Council voted 10 to 0 in favour of resolution 1973, which establishes a no-fly zone over Libya and permits a military intervention as long as no foreign ground forces are sent in.

Five Pieces of Advice for an Interview

I am probably the last person to ask for interview tips. I take looking for work very seriously and rarely apply to places, so I have had four interviews and two disasters and one fizzle, and besides I have not been hired yet. The fourth interview, for a tutoring company, was on Tuesday.

Still, my advice is after the jump.

'Tis the Season for (Swiss Herbal) Cough Drops

In the Northern Hemisphere, at least, the mass of Facebook status updates indicates that the peak days of colds, flus, and other ordinary nasties are upon us again, making the interval before spring begins properly extra-especially miserable, as usual.

I have a not-so-secret vested interest in this phenomenon, since I have a sore throat, iffy voice, congestion and a mild fever. From the medical perspective honey is proving surprisingly unhelpful; alcohol mellows me out but since I've felt the urge to drink more than I normally would it had to be limited to the one glass; and I really wish that I had cough candies because they are delicious.

Of course, as you've heard before, you're curing the symptoms but not the virus anyway.

On the positive side, the cold subsided during a job interview yesterday. It may be the most considerate infection ever.