In parts one (DigBoston, Vol. 20, Iss. 36, p. 6) and two (DigBoston, Vol. 20, Iss. 40, p. 6), I discussed how working a temp factory job at Belden Electronics on assignment for Manpower for several weeks in early 1989 in Vermont led to my sustaining a sudden and permanent spinal injury while walking […]
THE REAL FIGHT AGAINST FAKE NEWS
Project Censored’s top censored stories of 2018
FROM INJURY TO ACTION: A LABOR DAY REMEMBRANCE (PART II)
In part one (DigBoston, Vol. 20, Iss. 36, p. 6), I related how working a temp factory job at Belden Electronics on assignment for Manpower for several weeks in early 1989 in Vermont led to my sustaining a sudden and permanent spinal injury while walking to my car just after my last shift. At the […]
BOOK REVIEW: TWO VEGETABLES THINK BETTER THAN ONE
The Revolutionary Genius of Plants by Stefano Mancuso In one of Roald Dahl’s creepier short stories, “The Sound Machine,” an inventor rigs together a listening device that converts the inaudible screams of plants into human frequencies. When the inventor, named Klausner, plucks a daisy, he hears “a faint high-pitched cry, curiously inanimate.” Do […]
THE FANTASY ROBOTS OF BOSTON DYNAMICS
Relax—we’re a lot further away from an automaton takeover than you may think
SEA LEVEL RISE IS JUST ONE OF BOSTON’S WORRIES
As Earth approaches several catastrophic global warming “tipping points” Before writing more columns examining Boston city government’s emerging plans to cope with the effects of global warming, I think a quick review of what area residents are likely to face in the coming decades is in order. Because it’s important to disabuse people of […]
THE SEAPORT FLOOD IS JUST THE BEGINNING
Unless Boston builds proper defenses against global warming-driven sea level rise So, Boston’s Seaport District flooded early this month during a bad snowstorm in the midst of several days of arctic temperatures. And nobody could be less surprised than me. Because I’ve spent a lot of the last quarter century closely following developments […]
ON MAKERSPACES AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Making can be cool, but conscious making is cooler For many of us living in and around Boston in recent years, it has become common to see lots of communications from makerspaces around holiday time. Which is totally understandable. Such creative centers produce neat things year-round, so it’s only natural that their members […]
GALLERY REVIEW: The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766-1820—Harvard Art Museums
In the early days of the republic, the Philosophy Chamber at Harvard College housed an assortment of natural specimens, scientific instruments, and various objects of curiosity and delectation. This was a place to apprehend the logic of the universe and to ruminate on divine influence in the natural world. It was also a […]
SAVING SCIENCE, ONE DATASET AT A TIME
The librarians and archivists in the group were there to caution the technologists that this wasn’t a new problem, and to remind that the solutions would end up being more complicated than they might imagine.
