What Do You Mean, Happy New Year?

I got a bunch of Happy New Year emails, and it got me thinking. I quote (from an email I wrote to friends):
What am I saying really when I say, “Happy New Year”. Am I saying that I want the new year to be happy? That’s great, but really, I want you to be happy. [...]

In 15 Years: Obesity in the US

I made a poster using CDC data comparing obesity rates of adults (20-74 yrs) in the US between 1975 and 2005. In just 30 years, the number has jumped up 20 percentage points. The font sizes are to scale, relative to the percentages they represent.

InfoArt/ The Crisis of Credit Visualized

I just stumbled on this info-animation created by Jonathan Jarvis. He explains the credit crisis in the most comprehensive and beautiful way I could imagine:

Meeting Myself, My Bookshelf

Searching for a certain book on my bookshelf, scanning through every title there because I couldn’t find it, I realized that meeting my book collection is one way for me to meet myself.

Hampshire College: No Application Fee

Hampshire College recently announced that it has eliminated the application fee for its fall 2009 applicants. Karen Parker, director of admissions, explained that this was to “ensure that [Hampshire is] accessible to all students who wish to apply.”

A Serving of American College Life

It’s astonishing the number of things I end up learning about my own culture when I think about the American way of life and my impressions of it. Take food, for example. I like food. I love food. But I’m used to not thinking very systematically about food, and I’m used also to not thinking about weight and calories and cardio and “love handles”, but they’re quickly becoming part of my vocabulary. Should I be surprised, worried, shocked?

Here’s what I really think.