What to do with the dead? This timeless problem took extra urgency in Victorian London. Excerpted from the book Dirty Old London, by Lee Jackson, in the Guardian. The existence of such gases was undisputed – sextons and undertakers were often called up to “tap” coffins in church vaults, drilling a hole to prevent them […]
Continue reading →Via the wonderful The Londonist. By MB Films. Soundtrack Rael Jones, who did same for Sherlock. As the Londonist puts it, ‘According to the filmmakers, their intention was to “capture the spirit and endless energy of London.” Job done.’ I should add: and the skies. I’m still mourning our departure, 9 months ago, after a year […]
Continue reading →This lovely map of scientific collaboration is done by research analyst Olivier Beauchesne at Science-Metrixm who examined scientific collaboration around the world from 2005 to 2009. I love the way the patterns in the EU, so dense and flaring, look like the center of an explosion. Here’s the same EU pattern up close: I would bet […]
Continue reading →This I could not resist: Ed Yong and Jonah Lehrer have written intriguing fine pieces about a new study of beauty — or rather, beauty’s appreciation. The study examines which brain regions fire up when a viewer perceives something that he or she finds beautiful: It’s not a particular stimulus that evokes these distinctive brain […]
Continue reading →The Green Wave in Copenhagen from Copenhagenize on Vimeo. I brought no car to London but soon bought a bike. I’ve found the riding here to be wonderful, exhilarating, and — notwithstanding a few wooooooops-OTHER-side-of-the-road braincramp scares — safer-feeling than my last extensive urban riding, years ago, in Houston. Why? These London drivers, though generally […]
Continue reading →As I’m packing to move there for a year or two, I was pleased to find, at the splendid site ” Samuel Johnson Soundbites ,” that it bears even more fully on my own move when given in context: Boswell and Johnson were discussing whether or not Boswell’s affection for London would wear thin should he choose to live there, as opposed to the zest he felt on his occasional visits.
…In any case, my posts over the next few weeks may be light, or lean towards reposts, as I finish off some things here (stories, packing) and get my family and myself properly situated in London, where we’ve been lucky to find a nice spot to live up near Hampstead Heath, where if need be I can try Oliver Sacks’ cure for writers’ block: a swim in that splendid park’s pond.
Continue reading →As he notes below, other cities are available as well. a map of london’s twittering classes Via Strange Maps comes this creative visualisation of London’s Twitter traffic, with different regions re-named to reflect the amount of Twitter activity. … [NB from DD: I’l be up there around Hampstead Side — though with luck will rent an office somewhere near the high ground.]
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