Category Archives: December 2008

A Modest New Year

Just wanted to drop a note of good-will and wish everyone–readers, non-readers, friends, enemies, ect…–a Happy New Year.
The next Modest Proposal issue will drop within the two weeks.  We’ve got a jam-packed slab of reviews, essays, original photos, stories, and the like.  Expect to have something to read at work.
Keep your head held high in [...]

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Probability and Evolution

Apparently the blog is working again!  Huzzah!
A recent paper in Nature Genetics shows that mutations in two genes tranform an annual plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) that normally grows a few centimeters, fruits, and senesces in a matter of weeks into a perennial – long-lived, large, bushy, and even woody!  Their findings are remarkable for a couple [...]

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Why the MP is better than everyone

GoodReads is a fairly excellent social networking site, as far as social networking sites go. It’s much closer to hanging out in an actual bookstore than visiting an online bookstore like Amazon, so that’s nice.
But it has the same faults as any other social network:

How can Twilight be both one of the “Best Books [...]

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The Museumatorium

I was in the DC Metropolitan region this weekend visiting my parents, and we decided to take a trip to the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History.  I hadn’t been there for ages and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.
A lot of the exhibits were the same ones I remember form my childhood, only now [...]

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The Joys of Getting a Good Deal, Part II

(Part I is here)
There is a used book store here in Bloomington that has piqued my interest for some time.  Located on the main square, Caveat Emptor has the appearance of one of those tucked away and little known retail treasures that probably hasn’t changed anything but it’s inventory in 30 years.  The owner, seemingly [...]

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