Weeknotes: 09/27/25-10-03-25

This Week:

• In MUST205, we talked about label design, and making labels that are engaging without being overwhelming.
• I finished reading “Deep Past” by Eugene Linden. It’s a science thriller in the Crichton tradition, about a paleontological dig that both uncovers evidence of ancient non-human consciosuness, and also sets off a geopolitical firestorm. I found the prose kind of clunky and plot uneven, and the scientists in it are all universally terrible at what they do. There’s also some rather lascivious language about a young female grad student that rubbed me the wrong way. Kind of an interesting concept, exploring how consciousness (and culture) may have developed outside of hominins, but overall, meh.
• I did some more work on the Museum’s NAGPRA obligations.
• I worked on our upcoming co-campus Indigenous social dance.
• True Things
  • Death, Power, and the Charlie Kirk Memorial (w/ Pat Blanchfield), Know Your Enemy Podcast
  • The Distorions Hindering Gender-Affirming Care by Jack Drescher
  • New York Faces Painful History as It Marks the Erie Canal’s Bicentennial by Justin Murphy