Reading is destiny
I don't really subscribe to the concept of destiny. Lately, though, I've been thinking that geography is destiny. If I weren't so tired I'd expand on this (it doesn't have anything to do, or not much, with the recent American election), but instead I will note the following findings:

• There are about 3400 webpages agreeing that geography is destiny.
• 7800 pages concur with Freud that anatomy is destiny.
• 1850 pages or thereabouts agree with Waking Life that dream is destiny.
• According to Google, the five things most likely to be destiny are intelligence, character, strategy, geography and biology.

Though lately I feel a bit like I'm living a Milan Kundera novel, reading probably isn't destiny. Still, the texts that have grabbed my attention recently suggest more sources of destiny.

Policy is destiny: The Mystery of the Coca Plant That Wouldn't Die -- in Colombia, spraying pesticide on coca plants has not only apparently accelerated the selective breeding of Roundup-resistant plants, accidental (and I'm tempted to put that in quotation marks) spraying of legal crops has made growing those less lucrative crops riskier and thus even less popular with farmers. But the article's a great read.

Conversation is destiny: Useful Phrases -- useful because they are bizarre, which generates better conversations when travelling. (from the series KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE .)

Chemistry is destiny: "Practical Applications of the Philosopher’s stone. For drunks." -- scienticians testing a method to make cheap vodka palatable (via The Perfect World)

Methodology is destiny: The Secret Sins of Economics (via Marginal Revolution) -- actually, "Methodology is destiny" is a cheap and innacurate characterization of this very lucid pamphlet; alas, I'm tired and it's the best I can come up with.
- posted by Christina @ 11:35 pm