The Modern Library is a series of affordable reprints of classics, begun in 1917. 800 titles have been published and that doesn’t count the different covers, styles, forewards, etc. which make the same titles unique. Do you sense a collectible? You sure do. There are even subcategories to collect: the “buckram reinforced” editions, the “giants” who weigh in at over 1,000 pages each, and all sorts of specific binding types and dustjacket artists. Publisher Random House was originally a Modern Library subsidiary, formed to print random titles outside of the M.L. charter. (via xBlog)

Perhaps about a third of the people I knew from MIT graduated with an uncredited minor in the art of pen spinning. Learned and perfected during monstrous lectures and then performed without much thought in smaller recitations, tutorials, and study sessions, the 360 degree spin was legendary. Some started with their mechanical pencils, others with their white clicky erasers. Only the truly bored became ambidextrous. In the same vein (not recommended for class): ZippoTricks.com. (via antenna)

Former Maxim editor Dave Itzkoff reveals The (not so secret) Formula that congeals into every issue. It seems more time and effort is spent on the attention grabbing cover lines than the actual contents (maybe they should have hired Helen Gurley Brown’s husband who penned all of Cosmopolitan magazine’s cover lines when she was editor). To make Maxim sell, they pumped up the page turning teases and never really delivered much. And when they couldn’t get a recognizable woman for the cover they had to scramble to actually try something creative, to the derision of media critics. Well, at least it’s reassuring to know that a men’s magazine can be as content-free and formulaic as the average women’s magazine. (via misnomer)

William H. Calvin, neurobiologist, author of fascinating books, has started a weblog. His June Science Surf has a nice piece on Stephen Jay Gould.

Manhattan is sitting on a treasure trove of minerals and these NY Time writers went in search of them. First stop is Central Park where the mica schist that gives New York’s buildings a strong foundation is visible. Then it’s off to the shores where the material excavated from the construction of subways and skyscraper was piled along the edge of the island. There they find numerous garnets, not excellent quality, but sparkly red just the same, and a bit of black tourmaline. Last stop is the American Museum of Natural History where the New York Mineralogical Club’s impressive collection is housed.

Take a peek at fashion magazines from the 1940s and 50s. Most of them have scans from a few inside pages as well (click on the covers). (via DesignWritings)

Here’s an update on nushu, the special script that was used by women from Jiangyong County, in China’s Hunan Province. Efforts are being made to preserve knowledge about the language. Only a few women remain who can write and read the script. A museum is being built to collect and house the language’s artifacts. A publishing house is compiling a nushu dictionary. Researchers continue to look for the origins of the characters, which have been compared to inscriptions that are 3,000 years old. (via provenance: unknown)

Ever wonder how far your mouse or trackball travels as you point and click through your daily grind and surf? The Modometer (for Windows users) will track your cursor movements, button clicks and keystrokes. You may be surprised by the results. Things can really add up! I haven’t tried it myself, but I am certainly curious. (mentioned in a Scientific American article about voice recognition software)

This NY Times article discusses an interesting approach in anthropology, determining when humans started to cook their food and correlating expected body changes and social behaviors. Anthropologist Dr. Richard W. Wrangham postulates that the advent of cooking was 2 million years ago, 1.5 million years earlier than the standard belief. There’s no evidence for skeletal changes at the time where most believe humans started cooking their food, but Homo Erectus had the smaller teeth, gut, rib cage, and larger females that could point to a shift to a cooking lifestyle. Wrangham prefers the cooking theory as cause for the evolution to Homo Erectus rather than the common view that the changes resulted from the hunting of big game. Why smaller teeth if they were eating more raw meat? Why did the Homo Erectus female evolve to be substantially larger but not the male? Did cooking help create monogamy and the family unit? The arguments, listed in detail in the article, are fascinating to think through, but don’t have strong supporting evidence. Better tests are being developed to determine how long ago men made their own fires. Regardless of whether Wrangham is correct that cooking started with early Homo Erectus, the approach is fresh and provides new theories for anthropologists to sink their little teeth into.

Looks like Discover Card is continuing along in the designer card trend. My husband got the kidney-shaped 2GO card I mentioned last month and he even used it at a point-of-sale terminal this weekend. Today I got a pop-up ad for what appears to be a see-through Discover Platinum card. I can’t find it from their main site (only the Platinum and U.S. theme cards are available there), but here’s the secure link that the ad led to. It’s difficult to see how the card is transparent, but the ad reads: “Unique Clear Design”. I’ve seen a couple people showing off their clear American Express Blue cards. Interesting that this one’s blue too.