top 3 reasons to cook with lardo

• pork fat is delicious
• it's perfectly seasoned
• you can snack while you cook!

bach bach revolution

lunation

paradoxes of human experience

there are many reasons why this photograph is telling, not the least of which is that the koran rests on a machine gun. the other is the iconography of the machine gun strap.

Toxic - A Pediatrician's Parody

remarkable astrophotography

oral histories of israel

just time for a potentially momentous meeting between obama and netanyahu, fascinating oral video history projects about the founding of the state of israel, as told by the israelis and palestinians.

bilingual anthology of russian poetry

a remarkable anthology of russian poetry! here are some treats:

• giraffe by gumilev, read by yevtushenko
• but i am warning you by akhmatova, read by herself
• a little bird by pushkin, read by kutepov

it's a shame poetry is so untranslatable.

patenting genes

finally, the patentability of genes is about to be tested in court. this question has been controversial for several decades. yet, patents of genes continue to be granted and upheld without explicit descriptions of their use. paradoxically, these lax utility criteria do not apply to patents of proteins.

now, the aclu has filed suit arguing that patents of brca1 and brca2 genes, mutations of which are associated with breast and ovarian cancer, are unconstitutional. plaintiff statements, story in nytimes and the lede.

Picture Show: You Are What You Eat

what makes us happy?

what makes us happy? in the atlantic is a story about the harvard grant study. as always, commentary on david brooks' op-ed is worth reading too.

quimby the mouse

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.