marmar1028's blog

If you could have any superpower, which one would you choose?

I’ve given this question (probably too) much thought since I started watching Heroes three years ago, but until last week, had no definite answer. In last week’s episode, Nathan (having all of the abilities Sylar had) touched objects to receive flashes of their histories: their previous owners, their former uses, and the events that happened around them. This superpower has a name – clairsentience*– and this is definitely the one I would choose.  Read More »

A recent column in the NYT about morality has me outraged.  In The End of Philisophy, Brooks distinguishes the 'old' view of morality originally championed by Socrates, and a 'new' view of morality put forth by contemporary psychologists, cognitive scientists and "even philosophers."
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One particularly illuminating aspect of the thesis writing process has been situating my interests in the existing disciplines.  Right now, I would say I fit somewhere in the intersection of human geography/economic sociology/anthropology of markets with an STS twist.  Very exact, I know.  For those of you similarly confused about where in academia you might find a home after graduation from CCT (and taking into consideration whatever unrelated major you studied in college and whatever odd or professional position you may have held), scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have a tool that can help: a detailed graphical chart showing the interconnected relationships between the various academic fields.  Read More »

On gnovis

Continuing the ongoing conversation about the journalism crisis, Brad reframes the question asking about the kinds of opportunities the collapse of old media creates for new media.  In a comment, he points to Clay Shirky's post on the topic: "When we shift our attention from ’save newspapers’ to ’save society’, the imperative changes from ‘preserve the current institutions’ to ‘do whatever works.’ And what works today isn’t the same as what used to work."  Read More »

I have a distinct memory from my first year of immigrating to America involving cereal boxes.  I remember looking at the bowls on the front filled with monster sized cereal and feeling completely confused when, upon opening the box, I would inevitably discover a much smaller version.  We didn't have cereal in Russia, nor did we have advertising, and the discrepancy remained a mystery until I learned to read English well enough to understand the "Enlarged to show texture" disclaimer.  Read More »