Tag: Things to Read

Various and Sundry

A Singular Ranking of Five Score Sherlock Holmes Portrayals. Most Singular!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I do not know Olivia Rutigliano, but upon starting to read her exhaustive article on Crime Reads ranking 100 portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, I immediately detected that same sort of insanity that drove me to rank all Star Trek episodes. It’s a delightfully thorough list. I know many of these portrayals, but by Jove, I hardly know all of them. And now, thanks to the assiduous investigation of, one may hope, soon-to-be-Doctor Rutigliano, I can…

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Various and Sundry

Turn off the Gadgets and GO OUTSIDE!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I wish I could find the faux PSA from whence this title came, but even though it’s about to be Insect Spring Break where I live, the notion that nature can have healing power is being bolstered by science. Adele Peters writes about a recent U.K. study that points to the health benefits in the usually-not-arboreally-themed Fast Company. In fact, it’s not like you need to suddenly fine time to fit many a day hike…

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Various and Sundry

Jobs, Mental Health, and the Malasch Burnout Inventory

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

The CDC announcement last week that vaccinated people could go all maskless all sorts of places has led to the inevitable realization for many of us that, “Oh, yeah. I guess we might be back in an office this summer.” But even before then, I’m sure many of us have been contemplating more about what we want out of a job — along with wondering what is up with Zoom today. So I found this…

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Various and Sundry

The Cicadas are Coming! The Cicadas are Coming!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I mentioned last month that Brood X, the prodigious cohort of cicadas that emerge every 17 years to mate and be quite loud about it, are coming this year — possibly near you! For those of you who want more of the science behind it all, here’s Mike Raupp, the “Bug Guy” and avowed cicada fan to give you all the details you didn’t know you needed.

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Various and Sundry

Friday Movie Night: Cult Edition

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

What with my biennial Favorite Films sort, I have a soft spot for many an internet film list, especially when it’s clearly crafted with passion (as opposed to, say, the need to fill electronic print space on deadline). So I was totally down with this list from the gang over at The Ringer detailing the top 50 cult films of all time. Now, I would venture that the appear of cult films is often why…

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Various and Sundry

Not Always Solemn with Possible Swearing: Inaugural Trivia

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I don’t want ye olde blog to go without updates for too long, but I also gotta take care of some other stuff offline. I confess some of the delay in getting to those offline things has been checking out the many fun articles about all sorts of odd inaugural trivia. Enjoy! (there will be a test Thursday). The Virginian-Pilot The Daily Record WTOP The Seattle Times Perennial favorite Mental Floss

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Various and Sundry

Raise the Fungal Radiation Shields!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’d heard earlier that a particular radiation-loving fungus had been observed near Chernobyl, but this article by Stephen Johnson in Big Think explains how they’ve been testing it for SPAAACE TRAVEL. Specifically, they’ve been testing it on the International Space Station with the idea that some form of this radiotrophic fungus could help shield astronauts bound for Mars. So, in other words: really, really cool. And will I work this into some future episode of…

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Various and Sundry

2020: The Year We… What’s With the Monolith?!?

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I saw this last week, but decided to hold off, because I didn’t want to dwell on it, but here it is: a metal monolith was accidentally discovered in the middle of the Utah wilderness and although it’s probably made by humans, the level of effort to get it and “install” it like it’s some weird “think-piece” in the middle of nowhere is deeply weird. In other words, it’s peak 2020. I’m not sure what’s…

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Various and Sundry

America and Mass Transit

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Hey! Since we here in the United States are not traveling so much on this traditional week of travel, how about we take that time and read this longform article by Jonathan English all about mass transit in the United States. It unearths some assumptions about what mass transit is and can be and how those assumptions developed over the past 100 years or so. Besides the fond memories evoked by seeing the picture above…

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Writing

Banned Book Week, 2020

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Librarians, archivists, and bibliophiles are well represented in my family, so I’ve always enjoyed Banned Book Week. Since many library systems are closed due to the pandemic, many of you probably can’t saunter over to your local library and see their cool “Banned Book” displays. The site does have plenty of resources to read and download — as well as the always interesting top 100 books challenged or banned. That list also provides me with…

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