Something's Brewing

The Sugar Myth

Posted on November 4, 2011November 4, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Science

I was happy to read this via Marginal Revolution: Let’s cut to the chase: sugar doesn’t make kids hyper. There have been at least twelve trials of various diets investigating different levels of sugar in children’s diets. That’s more studies than are often done on drugs. None of them detected any differences in behavior between children who had eaten sugar and those who hadn’t. These studies included sugar from candy, chocolate, and natural sources. Some of them were short-term, and some of them were long term. Some of them focused on children with ADHD. Some of them even included only children who were considered “sensitive” to sugar. In all of them, children did not behave differently after eating something full of sugar or

The Rolling Sloans

Posted on November 2, 2011November 2, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Greater Boston, Music

This fall I’ve been playing the guitar with the Rolling Sloans, the MIT Sloan cover band. We had a show a few weeks back at Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square. It was a great time, and here are a few clips filmed by Natacha Hardy: All My Loving: Don’t Look Back in Anger Part 1: Don’t Look Back in Anger Part 2 (Sean Lee Kills it): Just a Girl: Say It Ain’t So: The Band is: Robin Bose – Vocals Charlotte Rocker – Vocals Vanessa Kafka – Guitar/Vocals Sean Lee – Guitar/Vocals Eugene Feldman – Keys Robbie Hobbs – Drums Anand Desai – Bass Jamie Fordyce – Bass Antonio Yanez – Guitar Myself – Guitar I’ve heard there are a

The Arcade Fire at Neil Young’s Benefit Concert

Posted on October 25, 2011October 25, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Music

Here’s a great 40 minute performance by the Arcade Fire from earlier this month. They played at a benefit that Neil Young hosted to raise money for a school for children with disabilities: They’re awesome.

It’s going to be a big week…

Posted on October 23, 2011October 23, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Current Events

Trampled by Turtles

Posted on October 22, 2011October 22, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Music

Last weekend I discovered a great bluegrass/folk band while having a few drinks at Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale. Trampled By Turtles, if you’re into this sort of thing:

Owls

Posted on October 21, 2011October 21, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in General

Via James Fallows, an Owl swooping in on its prey, filmed in HD at 1000 fps:

Vanessa Kafka at the Cantab Lounge

Posted on October 19, 2011October 19, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Boston/Cambridge, Current Events, Music

From the open mic on Monday night: Matches & Heat: Till August: More of Vanessa’s music here.

Some Links

Posted on October 15, 2011October 15, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Links

1. Full resolution photos from the iPhone 4S 2. In defense of Black IPAs 3. The 9-9-9 plan is actually a tax hike 4. 1-year-old thinks a magazine is an iPad 5. Iran tried to send a monkey to space?

National Park Landscapes

Posted on October 14, 2011October 14, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Another high-definition time-lapse landscape video. There seem to be dozens of these going around these days. But many are extraordinarily well done, and this one by Dustin Farrell is no exception:

Homemade Rocket (Almost) Goes to Space

Posted on October 13, 2011October 13, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Current Events, Technology

It only reached an altitude of 23 miles, but it definitely looks like space. For a prize of $10k, an amateur rocket builder launched a rocket 121,000 feet into the sky and has footage of the entire event. The video’s pretty amazing: Here’s the initiative website with lots of pictures and tech details, and here’s a much longer video of the launch — worth a watch if you have time.