Posts by author
Brian Spears
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Ironic Processes
Harvard University psychologist Daniel Wegner is trying to figure out why we can’t stop ourselves from doing stupid things while under stress, a trait exemplified by the character of Jeff Murdock on the BBC show Coupling. But what exactly are…
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Saturday Morning Links, Independence Day Edition
Olay, I confess–there’s nothing particularly “Independence Day” about this linkfest. Except for this story about the history of preserving the original Declaration of Independence. But that’s it. Onward! It’s rare that I’ll take the side of a lawyer, but man,…
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
Billy Collins says we need better poets in the US: “There’s an awful lot of bad poetry out there. I’d say about 87 percent of the poetry in America isn’t worth reading.” Collins may be right–the question is who makes…
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Temple of the Cats
I’m sure that if I ever make it to Rome, I’ll go see this, even though I can see something similar every morning when the neighborhood stray/feral cat population (and there is a difference) shows up on my deck for…
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Farrah Fawcett: 1947-2009
Farrah Fawcett and my mother were born about a month-and-a-half apart, and to my knowledge, that’s all they have in common. Fawcett’s death has been overshadowed by Michael Jackson’s, which was inevitable, but tragic in my opinion, since I think…
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Will the Suckers Get Their Money Back?
Yesterday, we blogged a story about a porn app in the Apple iTunes Store, and noted that it was a pretty crappy app. Well, it’s not even an app anymore. Apple yanked it, claiming that “the developer of this application…
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Saturday Morning Links
If you really, really need something from a person, ask in the right ear. Especially if you’re in a club in Italy and need a cigarette. Speaking of cigarettes, D. J. Stout has some marketing ideas that will fulfill the…
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
Starting off, I want to thank Jeremy Hatch or subbing in for me last week, both on this column and as Saturday Editor. Great job, dude. Seth Abramson writes a lot about MFA programs and, by extension, the PhD in…
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A Barricade of Books
Yiyun Li in The New Yorker: Despite my rudimentary understanding of the language, most evenings, after lights-out, I would sneak away to the platoon storage room, where I could take a leave from my small miseries—the bullying of the officers,…
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Vogon Poetry
I dare say I’m not the only iPhone owner who’s also a fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy–the book, not the film. Smartphones in general seem to be turning into the technology Douglas Adams envisioned all those years…
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Seriously?
Seems to me that the mockery from the general public for having stolen such a bad movie would be enough punishment. Jack Yates, 28, was sentenced to six months in prison today for making an unauthorized pre-release copy of “The…
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Brian’s Saturday Morning Links
Miss me? I expect I’ll be caught up from this move by sometime in mid-July, 2013. Bentham Science Publishers has a credibility problem. I think I saw that movie, almost 20 years ago. Sunspot simulation–the image is, if possible, even…