noise and signal

I've been using email longer than almost anyone I know, thanks to an early career on the net. There are some email subject lines that ...

If you feel good, you'll act empowered. Yeah, you already know that. Better posture, smiling -- that sort of thing. The body language t...

how are you fine thanks and you "Hi, how are you?" "Oh Fine thanks. And you?" "Good!" You hear it e...

I am eating chocolate today. Since I'm a semi-professional (heh) in fine chocolate, what with teaching tasting classes and writing news...

I don't know what I was thinking. Actually, yes, I do. I was thinking I didn't like my choices. To me skiing is uncontrolled falli...

"It's funny how the printer only runs out of paper when you're trying to print something," I say, refilling the hungry lit...

It's relentless. Even my go-to song isn't working. That's my most insidious,  earwormy song, the one I only use when I'm de...

It's a pun.  I'll explain in a moment. We serious insomniacs -- the no messin' around totally committed kind -- know life as day...

That chocolate festival you missed last month in Seattle? Here's my review at Chocolate Atlas .  And here, for extra added specialnes...

I had a tetanus booster a bit ago.  The doctor and nurse had to talk me into it. I vividly remember my last one, some ten years ago and ...

As an early adopter of email (seriously early -- early like "what is email?" early), an avid IMer, and an enthusiastic SMSer, I lu...

A 21-year long study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that dancing increases cognitive acuity. Significantly more than crossw...

I'm at Gasworks, standing atop The Mound (I'm sure it has a real name and that's not it). My companion says, "See that bu...

Heavy traffic, light turns green, starts moving forward, and a guy in a covered pickup changes lanes left, directly into me on my motorbik...

God knows the New Yorker doesn't need my help getting publicity. But as a (reluctant) fan of the "The Girl with/who..." Stieg ...