“Maybe this is too personal,” says Charlotte, “but I wasn’t as careful with my virginity, with my heart and my body, when I was a teenager, and maybe that’s where I’m escaping to. I’m rescuing the shy virgin in me that didn’t get to be a shy virgin as long. I want Bella to be protected. And Edward does that. Albeit in a scary, dangerous way.” She’s careful to say, however, that her regression is pretty benign. It’s not like she actually wants to be 15 again…. Actually, what “Twilight” has brought flooding back for many fans is not just the high drama of first love and betrayal but warm memories of a different relationship altogether. “For so many of these women, this is the first book they’ve read cover to cover in 10 years,” says Kirsten Starkweather. “Now they’re grabbing the new book, whatever it is.” Charlotte agrees. “Reading is an act of defiance in the world today. I owe Stephenie Meyer a thank you note for reminding me of that.” —“‘Twilight’ of Our Youth: It isn’t just a tween phenomenon. Women in their 30s and beyond are addicted to Stephenie Meyer’s vampire saga, too,” Sarah Hepola, Salon
Tara McKelvey on veterans, religious faith, and PTSD;
United States faces flu-vaccine shortage, along with
doctor shortage,
toy shortage,
pumpkin shortage,
and waffle shortage
White geek Nick Douglas had a theory about Black People Twitter a while ago. His friend suggested “These people don’t have real Twitter friends. So they all respond to trending topics.” This is so obviously wrong. (“No, they have their own communities and their own friends that you are not paying attention to,” wrote Maria Diaz.) And then Douglas himself posted a great response to his poor dumb friend: “It’s the nature of how we craft these environments to suit our core comforts and fine tune our twitter experiences. Twitter’s addition of the trending topics bar has simply shattered our insulated perception of how everyone uses this thing.” —“What Were Black People Talking About on Twitter Last Night?” by Choire Sicha, The Awl
90 percent of the world doesn’t care about Microsoft Bing;
scientists, entangled, create programmable quantum processor;
IBM finally simulates cat brain (it spends most of its time in sleep mode)
In the experiment, preliminary results of which were presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, scientists allowed one group of rats to run. Another set of rodents was not allowed to exercise. Then all of the rats swam in cold water, which they don’t like to do. Afterward, the scientists examined the animals’ brains. They found that the stress of the swimming activated neurons in all of the brains. (The researchers could tell which neurons were activated because the cells expressed specific genes in response to the stress.) But the youngest brain cells in the running rats, the cells that the scientists assumed were created by running, were less likely to express the genes. They generally remained quiet. The “cells born from running,” the researchers concluded, appeared to have been “specifically buffered from exposure to a stressful experience.” The rats had created, through running, a brain that seemed biochemically, molecularly, calm. —“Phys Ed: Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious,” Gretchen Reynolds, The New York Times
Liberals and conservatives can’t agree on anything, including Girl Scout cookies (add “arugula” to “politics” and “religion” as a topic to avoid);
man raised child to speak only Klingon;
10-year-old self-described nerd (note shirt) loves, supports gays, induces cringing, anchor asks for definition of “gaywad”;
see also: how to find a masculine halloween costume for your effeminate son