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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n So, remember how I mentioned that the last question at my book talk in DC was about transhumanism? \u00a0Well, here\u2019s a particularly amusing body augmentation<\/a>:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a rugby player, you\u2019re going to take a lot of hits \u2014 and you might even lose a tooth or two. Rather than replace those lost incisors with regular old implants, athletes might consider something more useful \u2014 a steel tooth that doubles as a bottle opener.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking of impressive new bodily powers, I liked this Nautilus piece on the breath capacity of free divers<\/a>:<\/p>\n In recent years, the feats of free divers have forced Lindholm and other scientists who study physiology to explain not only what humans are capable of underwater, but how much control we have over the speed of normal metabolic functions. Many of these feats, including some of the adventures that lay ahead for Prinsloo during her 2011 record attempt, were\u00a0detailed in the 2014 book,\u00a0<\/span>Deep<\/i>,\u00a0by James Nestor, who spent several years traveling to far-flung regions of the globe to learn about the sport and understand why anyone would want to do it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Free divers, scientists say, may push evolutionary buttons honed in a simpler epoch. A time, perhaps, before obstetricians, when it was paramount to slow down to survive a perilous passage through a birth canal that restricted blood flow. It was a time when natural selection, for whatever reason, favored traits that allowed us to downshift our biological systems into a slow gear we are only beginning to rediscover. It can be a dangerous process, physiologists say, but available to us all.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 3 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I loved this essay on data visualization and redesign<\/a>, and was struck by the author\u2019s point about what makes this form of critique different from those of other arts:<\/p>\n The technique of \u201ccritique by redesign\u201d in some ways works uniquely well in data visualization. A movie critic can\u2019t remake a movie. An art critic can\u2019t ask the subject of a portrait to sit for a second time. A book critic may be able to rewrite a sentence, but not a whole book. But with data visualization, if there\u2019s access to the underlying data set, and the data is not too complicated, it\u2019s feasible to create at least a rough redesign.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In semi-related news, I should have something up on GitHub that you can poke at yourself on Monday.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 4 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen a number of critiques of\u00a0Spinster<\/em> by Kate Bolick<\/a> (a book that, as my frustrated friends keep pointing out, includes no actual spinsters). \u00a0Via my friend Catherine, I found some quotes on spinsterdom that one blogger liked better<\/a>, and I was most struck by this one:<\/p>\n The spinster aunt is a great literary figure, but a great person to have in your life, I think.<\/b><\/p>\n I think so, too. Especially if you\u2019re different.<\/p>\n Actually, that brings up an idea I had. I\u2019m like a big film nut. For years I\u2019ve been thinking of writing a book called Old Dames. Before World War II, in 80% of films there were major grandmother and maiden aunt characters. The films were not centered around the person, they were asexual, obviously. It would have taken hours to get the corset off. But they were the wisest, quite often. They were the ones who would give the heroine advice, or they were the ones who would remain calm in a crisis.<\/p>\n What happened to that character? Shouldn\u2019t feminism have made that character more interesting rather than making her disappear? Now it\u2019s Jane Fonda, who can still compete for her son with his wife. That\u2019s what happened. All of that wisdom and step back from society so that you can value it disappeared from film.<\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0Interview with Bruce Benderson<\/a>, author of\u00a0Against Marriage<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 5 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Catherine is also the cause<\/a> of me finding this Argentine cast cover of \u201cI\u2019m Alive\u201d from\u00a0Next to Normal<\/em>, and I\u2019m quite grateful.<\/p>\n