![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" "\\"7_quick_takes_sm\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This week, I had the pleasure of going to a talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library on the discovery of Richard III\u2019s body<\/a>. \u00a0They had one of the archaeologists and one of the geneticists talk about how they knew where to look and how they verified the skeleton\u2019s identity. \u00a0I could probably fill most of the Quick Takes just with facts from their lecture and the Q&A, but here are some highlights:<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n So, to go on in the vein of science and death, io9 had a nice explanation of why canaries make such good canaries in coal mines<\/a>:<\/p>\n For birds, the oxygen goes in and the carbon dioxide out, when it travels through a structure that resembles a ribcage-like series of tubes. When a bird draws breath, it passes air through those tubes, absorbing the oxygen into its bloodstream while the remaining de-oxygenated air goes into two sacs in its body. It also takes in air that rushes directly to a second set of sacs. When the bird exhales, the \u201cspent\u201d air rushes out, along with the carbon dioxide. That second set of sacs, full of unused air, also empty. Their oxygen-rich air rushes through the tubes on its way out, letting the blood absorb yet more oxygen. Birds are getting fresh air when they inhale and when they exhale \u2013 a double dose for our single one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 3 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Leslie Jamison has an excellent essay up at\u00a0The Believer<\/em> about her experience as a Medical Actor<\/a>, helping medical students practice diagnosis and empathy. \u00a0Then she winds up in the hospital as herself.<\/p>\n We play a demographic menagerie: young jocks with ACL injuries and business executives nursing coke habits. STD Grandma has just cheated on her husband of forty years and has a case of gonorrhea to show for it. She hides behind her shame like a veil, and her med student is supposed to part the curtain. If he\u2019s asking the right questions, she\u2019ll have a simulated crying breakdown halfway through the encounter.<\/p>\n Blackout Buddy gets makeup: a gash on his chin, a black eye, and bruises smudged in green eye shadow along his cheekbone. He\u2019s been in a minor car crash he can\u2019t remember. Before the encounter, the actor splashes booze on his body like cologne. He\u2019s supposed to let the particulars of his alcoholism glimmer through, very \u201cunplanned,\u201d bits of a secret he\u2019s done his best to keep guarded\u2026<\/p>\n Other students seem to understand that empathy is always perched precariously between gift and invasion. They won\u2019t even press the stethoscope to my skin without asking if it\u2019s OK. They need permission. They don\u2019t want to presume. Their stuttering unwittingly honors my privacy: \u201cCan I\u2026 could I\u2026 would you mind if I\u2014listened to your heart?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d I tell them. \u201cI don\u2019t mind.\u201d Not minding is my job. Their humility is a kind of compassion in its own right. Humility means they ask questions, and questions mean they get answers, and answers mean they get points on the checklist: a point for finding out my mother takes Wellbutrin, a point for getting me to admit I\u2019ve spent the last two years cutting myself, a point for finding out my father died in a grain elevator when I was two\u2014for realizing that a root system of loss stretches radial and rhizomatic under the entire territory of my life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 4 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n My friend Robby has a fascinating blog post up on Anglish, which is like English but different<\/a>. \u00a0Anglish purges the romance roots from our language, and leaves us with the original, Germanic-derived words and phrases. \u00a0Here are a couple of my favorite swaps he mentioned:<\/p>\n abduct<\/strong> = neednim (Ok, I had to cut myself off in the As, but quit yer brangling, there\u2019s plenty more at the link).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Update: a couple of you have recommened Poul Anderson\u2019s \u201cUncleftish Beholding\u201d<\/a> which is a brief explanation of atomic theory using exclusively words of German origin. \u00a0And I got a bonus delight when looking at the story\u2019s Wikipedia page<\/a>\u00a0where I discovered the word\u00a0calque<\/em><\/a> (n,v) \u2013 a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word (Latin: verbum pro verbo) or root-for-root translation.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 5 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The New York Times<\/em> did another fun bit of translation this week, superimposing Sochi venues onto New York City landmarks<\/a> to give you a sense of scale. \u00a0It really merits clicking through, but I\u2019ll show you my favorite below:<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 6 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n And in the most wondrous transposition of all: a detailed explanation (complete with maps, graphs, and simulations) of what life would be like if the Earth were a torus<\/a> (donut-shaped). \u00a0My favorite part was all the different, bizarre-but-stable possibilities for moon orbits.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll give you the conclusion as a teaser, so you\u2019ll want to know what it means.<\/p>\n Torus-worlds are unlikely to exist naturally. But if they did, they would make awesome places for adventure. A large surface area. Regions with very different climate, seasons, gravity and ecosystems. Awesome skies on the interior surface. Dramatic weather. Moons in strange orbits.<\/p>\n We better learn how to make them outside of simulations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 7 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n And finally, let\u2019s return to the most important story of the week: J.K. Rowling disavowing Ron and Hermione\u2019s romance. \u00a0You\u2019ve seen my thoughts<\/a>, and now I want to point you towards Alyssa Rosenberg\u2019s reflection<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no question that some people do meet the loves of their lives as teenagers. But not everyone does. And Rowling\u2019s refusal to acknowledge that has the effect of freezing a part of all of her characters in their adolescent years, at a moment when their emotions are most intense and their perspective on love is most exalted. That\u2019s a mode of dealing with the world that\u2019s in keeping with epic fantasy, with its absolutist approach to political conflicts. But it also means that there\u2019s something flat at the heart of many of Rowling\u2019s characters, an area in their lives that\u2019s somehow immune from the kind of grand complexities that defines their approach to magic, to technology, to racialized politics, and even to their friendships. Maybe it\u2019s meant to be an act of mercy, a place in the characters\u2019 lives where something is simply a source of joy. But it\u2019s a way of telling love stories that to me, does a small disservice to the characters that Rowling created, who can be selfish, temperamental, close-minded, hysterical, hypocritical, and beautifully silly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n
\nabet<\/strong> = frofer
\nabhor<\/strong> = mislike (I knew this one!)
\naccident<\/strong> = mishappening
\nadolescent<\/strong> = halfling, younker, frumbeardling
\naltercation<\/strong> = brangling
\narmadillo<\/strong> = girdledeer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a>