Knocking At The Gate

I didn’t know where I was going until I found my brother Frank under a big spiraea bush. Frank was twelve then, and I wasn’t surprised to find him under there. He spent a lot of time under there on hot days. Just like a dog, he’d make a hollow in the cool earth all around the roots. And you never could tell what Frank would have under the bush with him. One time he had a dirty book. Another time he had a bottle of cooking sherry. On the day they dropped the bomb Frank had a tablespoon and a Mason jar. What he was doing was spooning different kinds of bugs into the jar and making them fight. The bug fight was so interesting that I stopped crying right away — forgot all about the old man. I can’t remember what all Frank had fighting in the jar that day, but I can remember other bug fights we staged later on: one stag beetle against a hundred red ants, one centipede against three spiders, red ants against black ants. They won’t fight unless you keep shaking the jar. And that’s wha

At Lunchtable , Shanique Yates interviews Sean Patrick Thomas, who recently played Monteith in the recent Joel Cohen version of The Tragedy of Macbeth .

In an effort to get people to look into each other’s eyes more, and also to appease the mutes, the government has decided to allot each person exactly one hundred    and sixty-seven words, per day. Full poem here. Jeffrey McDaniel. (1998). “The Quiet World” from The Forgiveness Parade . San Francisco: Manic D Press.

Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) Challenger lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) at 11:38 on the chilly morning of Tuesday, January 28, 1986. The mission ended in tragedy moments later with loss of all hands. Commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee Pilot Michael J. Smith Mission Specialist 1 Ellison S. Onizuka Mission Specialist 2 Judith A. Resnik Mission Specialist 3 Ronald E. McNair Payload Specialist 1 Gregory B. Jarvis Payload Specialist 2 S. Christa McAuliffe

Based on award nomination data through 2019, USDISH calculated the most-nominated pictures of all time. There are some surprises in here. Full methodology and discussion at USDISH .

  Although conjectures have been formulated about the proportions of primes in higher-degree polynomials, they remain unproven, and it is unknown whether there exists a quadratic polynomial that (for integer arrguments) is prime infinitely often. Image source Text Source

In 1843 Magazine , Catherine Nixey considers why we ever had offices in the first place and how they got to be the way they are.

  David Potter in Aeon : "What can disruptions of the past – with their diverse outcomes – tell us today? The value of history is that it enables us to detect patterns of behaviour in the present that have had serious consequences in the past." * * * * * Potter, D. (2022). A history of disruption, from fringe ideas to social change in Aeon Essays . Melbourne, Australia: Aeon Media Group. Retrieved 24 January 2022 from https://aeon.co/essays/a-history-of-disruption-from-fringe-ideas-to-social-change.

This UK study follows up previous evidence that sons of fathers who started smoking regularly before puberty had increased fat mass during childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. These new analyses show that if the paternal grandfather had started smoking pre-puberty, then his granddaughters (but not grandsons) had evidence of excess fat mass at age 17 and again at age 24. The excess weight varied by age and was typically around 3 to 5 kg (7 to 13 pounds). It goes even further. When fathers of maternal grandfathers had started smoking pre-puberty, their great-granddaughters (but not great-grandsons) had excess body fat at age 17 again at age 24. The excess weight varied by age and was typically around 5 to 6 kg (11 to 13 pounds). This appears to be one of the first human demonstrations of transgenerational effects of an environmental exposure across four generations. * * * * * [Open access full-text in HTML] Golding, J., Gregory, S., Northstone, K. et al. Human transgenerational

The issue probably isn't over, but a federal court ruled that the Florida's flagship state university may not prohibit its faculty members from testifying in court in litigation against the state. (The case in question regarded voting rights.) U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark Walker's 74-page decision contains some forceful language, and opens with a description of how Chinese political suppression has led to serious harm to Hong Kong universities. More on the story from the Chronicle of Higher Education .

The thing about Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell (as with many things that Jim Steinman helped create) is that it is so vastly over the top that it seems like we are supposed to enjoy it as a novelty, a goof, a Springsteen parody for Halloween — and yet every single note, every lick, every yelp is presented with such earnest passion, with such desperation, with such musical force that you cannot help but be moved. This is sweaty, silly, and yet genuinely moving opera. This is tumescent Grand Guignol in the parking lot of the Homecoming dance. This is every cheesy date night horror movie, every misshapen romance, every facemelting rock and roll dream. Through it all is that voice, that impossibly beautiful voice, that lusty, heroic, angelic voice. I have listened to this album at least a few times a month every month for FORTY-FIVE YEARS now and each time it makes me smile. Every time it makes me feel as clammy and powerful and ridiculous as the first time I heard it. I adore ever

  I have listened all day long to this new album from Derek van Beever, in which he faces faces crushing grief and seeks some path to continue on. His songs bristle with sharp and hurtful moments, and stark glimpses of loss and sorrow — and yet we are left moved and inspired by his love, and in the end we are made whole by his immense and abundant heart. This is an intimate and powerful work, and I urge you to give it a listen. * * * * * https://derekvanbeever.bandcamp.com/album/living-with-a-ghost — J.F. "Jeff" McCullers

From my boyish days I had always felt a great perplexity on one point in Macbeth . It was this: the knocking at the gate, which succeeds to the murder of Duncan, produced to my feelings an effect for which I never could account. The effect was, that it reflected back upon the murder a peculiar awfulness and a depth of solemnity; yet, however obstinately I endeavored with my understanding to comprehend this, for many years I never could see why it should produce such an effect. Here I pause for one moment, to exhort the reader never to pay any attention to his understanding when it stands in opposition to any other faculty of his mind. The mere understanding, however useful and indispensable, is the meanest faculty in the human mind, and the most to be distrusted; and yet the great majority of people trust to nothing else; which may do for ordinary life, but not for philosophical purposes. Of this out of ten thousand instances that I might produce, I will cite one. Ask of any person