![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Side Effects: Dogs May Laugh, but Only Cats Get the Joke
By JAMES GORMAN, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
The last time I wrote about cats and humor was 20 years ago. It did not turn out well.
I was happy with the column, which appeared in a science magazine, but many readers were not. The mail was unfriendly, to say the least. One letter writer (this was back in the days of actual letters) wanted to see me eaten by a Doberman. Another suggested I should be in a mental hospital.
What prompted their ire was that I had argued, with support from Darwin and other luminaries, that cats have no sense of humor.
( Read More )
An Abolitionist Leads the Way in Unearthing of Slaves’ Past
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
EASTON, Md. — Except for the archaeologists digging in a grove of trees, the old plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland appears to be much the same as it was when the abolitionist Frederick Douglass lived here as a slave child, some 180 years ago.
The main house has lost none of its “air of dignity and grandeur” that Douglass remembered. The long drive from the gate runs through a broad lawn and is still paved with white pebbles that sparkle in the summer sun. The mind’s eye pictures carriages arriving at the steps of the two-story Georgian house, with its fresh coat of pale yellow paint.
In the back, there are neat out-buildings that served as wash houses and henhouses, kitchens and stables. Beyond, there are formal gardens, an old greenhouse for growing exotic fruit and, not far away, the family cemetery. A single family, the Lloyds, has owned this land since the 1660’s. While the cemetery is filling up, their property has diminished to 1,300 acres, still a substantial spread but down from the 42,000 acres they had owned in three states.
The Wye House plantation is a kind of time capsule of the economy and society that dominated much of the antebellum South. All that is missing is the reminder of the human cost that Douglass knew, rose up against and never forgot.
The slave quarters have vanished, on the whole a matter of no regret. But for the archaeologists digging on the grounds, the absence is lost history. They are among a steady number of scholars in the South engaged at ground level in reconstructing the culture of slavery in America.
( Read More )
Research Shows That Plants Like a Path to Biodiversity
By CORNELIA DEAN, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
For years, ecologists have theorized that establishing landscape corridors to connect otherwise isolated plant and animal habitats would encourage biological diversity. Now researchers working in South Carolina have demonstrated it, at least with plants.
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: Avoiding Spicy Foods Can Ease Symptoms of Heartburn
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
THE FACTS People with heartburn have long been advised to steer clear of certain foods out of fear that they may aggravate their condition.
Coffee? Too acidic. Hot sauce? Out of the question. But what if the claim that simply limiting such foods can reduce heartburn — a claim quoted by doctors everywhere — is wrong?
( Read More )
Risks of Smallpox Vaccine Vary by Virus Used as Base
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
A significant number of deaths and serious side effects could result from a mass smallpox vaccination program, according to a newly published analysis of historical data, and the exact numbers might depend on the strain of virus used to make the vaccine.
( Read More )
By JAMES GORMAN, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
The last time I wrote about cats and humor was 20 years ago. It did not turn out well.
I was happy with the column, which appeared in a science magazine, but many readers were not. The mail was unfriendly, to say the least. One letter writer (this was back in the days of actual letters) wanted to see me eaten by a Doberman. Another suggested I should be in a mental hospital.
What prompted their ire was that I had argued, with support from Darwin and other luminaries, that cats have no sense of humor.
( Read More )
An Abolitionist Leads the Way in Unearthing of Slaves’ Past
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
EASTON, Md. — Except for the archaeologists digging in a grove of trees, the old plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland appears to be much the same as it was when the abolitionist Frederick Douglass lived here as a slave child, some 180 years ago.
The main house has lost none of its “air of dignity and grandeur” that Douglass remembered. The long drive from the gate runs through a broad lawn and is still paved with white pebbles that sparkle in the summer sun. The mind’s eye pictures carriages arriving at the steps of the two-story Georgian house, with its fresh coat of pale yellow paint.
In the back, there are neat out-buildings that served as wash houses and henhouses, kitchens and stables. Beyond, there are formal gardens, an old greenhouse for growing exotic fruit and, not far away, the family cemetery. A single family, the Lloyds, has owned this land since the 1660’s. While the cemetery is filling up, their property has diminished to 1,300 acres, still a substantial spread but down from the 42,000 acres they had owned in three states.
The Wye House plantation is a kind of time capsule of the economy and society that dominated much of the antebellum South. All that is missing is the reminder of the human cost that Douglass knew, rose up against and never forgot.
The slave quarters have vanished, on the whole a matter of no regret. But for the archaeologists digging on the grounds, the absence is lost history. They are among a steady number of scholars in the South engaged at ground level in reconstructing the culture of slavery in America.
( Read More )
Research Shows That Plants Like a Path to Biodiversity
By CORNELIA DEAN, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
For years, ecologists have theorized that establishing landscape corridors to connect otherwise isolated plant and animal habitats would encourage biological diversity. Now researchers working in South Carolina have demonstrated it, at least with plants.
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: Avoiding Spicy Foods Can Ease Symptoms of Heartburn
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
THE FACTS People with heartburn have long been advised to steer clear of certain foods out of fear that they may aggravate their condition.
Coffee? Too acidic. Hot sauce? Out of the question. But what if the claim that simply limiting such foods can reduce heartburn — a claim quoted by doctors everywhere — is wrong?
( Read More )
Risks of Smallpox Vaccine Vary by Virus Used as Base
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, September 5, 2006
A significant number of deaths and serious side effects could result from a mass smallpox vaccination program, according to a newly published analysis of historical data, and the exact numbers might depend on the strain of virus used to make the vaccine.
( Read More )
