Other mammals have not joined the party. "There is not a single animal that likes hot pepper," Dr. Rozin said. Or as Paul Bloom, a Yale psychologist, puts it, "Philosophers have often looked for the defining feature of humans - language, rationality, culture and so on. I’d stick with this: Man is the only animal that likes Tabasco sauce."
source: ( Read more... )

NPR's Three-minute Fiction is back for another round. This time the first and last lines of the story are set, and it's up to you to fill in the middle.

On a vaguely related note to the Choose Your Own Adventure ebook thingers a while back, Rob a Bank with Blast Theory

Filed under OMG ridiculous, but I love this news for so many reasons: Harvey ( Read more... )

New York Times: Does Your Language Shape How You Think? I haven't read all of this yet, because I fried my brain today. But I will read it, someday! Mostly, I was surprised to make it through the first page without a reference to 1984.

At West Point, Hidden Gay Cadets Put in Spotlight - I assume this has been in the media elsewhere, but I ( Read more... )

I have one word for the beginning of this year's Tony award broadcast. Awkward. I think this was the same word I had for last year's broadcast. And this year there's no Neil Patrick Harris, though I do enjoy the effort Sean Hayes is making ( Read more... )

Times readers are literate and well educated. But privately, away from the cocktail party, some of them may wonder: what exactly does “jejune” mean, anyway? If someone put a gun to my head, could I give a precise definition of “atavistic ( Read more... )

...though I did sleep for something like 36 of 48 hours this weekend.

NY Times Blog: Stand up while you read this
Your chair is your enemy ( Read more... )