http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes Education, design, society, and whatever else. Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:21:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Walking into a library doesn't make you literate. Owning a speedo doesn't make you a swimming superstar. Nor does having a chemistry set make you a chemist. Sure, all of these statements make sense. It's hard to argue otherwise. So why was I so shocked this morning when I realized ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2008/10/25/possession-is-less-than-nine-tenths/ When I was a sophomore in college, math had got me down pretty bad. You see, it's never math's fault if you don't get an answer. My friends and I used to joke that math was that really hot cheerleader in high school. And who did she date? Well, the ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2008/07/21/read-my-other-blog-too/ I'm loathe to write this post, because I know it's going to be short and what I'm about to write—and my essential character, therefore—can easily be misinterpreted. Still, in the last two days people have accidentally uttered things that I think could be motto-worthy. However, one of my implicit mottos, ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2008/02/03/some-mottos/ It that's time again: the start of a new year. And while my cat hasn't seemed to respond to the fleeting opportunity to mend one's ways that the beginning of a new year brings, I have. In order to honor that age-old tradition of turning over a new leaf and ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2008/01/01/making-proper-new-years-resolutions/ Everyday each of us engages in several delicate dances with the other members of society. I secretly long for the days of learned formalities, proper ettiquette, and wide-spread manners. If someone were just to tell me what to do, things would run more smoothly. Take, for instance, the simple act ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2007/09/02/hold-the-door-please/ A pet project of mine has flung me into the exciting though less-than-firm territory of web-backed geographical information systems. Since I don't have the thousands of dollars it costs to get a commercial server like those provided by ESRI, I've had to check out the open-source alternatives. And there are ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2007/08/03/geotools-wfs-t-update-request/ This time I have a question for you, the kind reader: can anyone tell me (or point me to a study that suggests) whether non-human animals practice their skills outside of a group? On many a PBS nature documentary, you can find a gathering of young, fury things play-fighting one another ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2007/07/15/animal-imagination/ Happy Independence Day! To celebrate our nation's founding, my family and I often hit up the Cape. This year was no exception, there's little to report. The weather has been spotty: a little rain here, a few showers there, but nothing substantial. Someone was playing bagpipes the other night. And ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2007/07/08/genetics-by-the-poolside/ No, I haven't been off on vacation in the Caribbean---but I have seen the third pirates movie. It was great. But I wanted to let anyone out their who is interested that I'm going to lead an informal seminar on general relativity at UMass/Boston this summer starting June 4th. Here ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2007/05/29/summer-informal-seminar/ Last night I was hanging out on the couch, while DJ played video games on my living room television. I don't quite remember what obnoxious thing I was doing---I do remember, however, that it was, indeed, deliberately obnoxious---but it prompted DJ to burst, "You make me want to drink." "Then you ... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jreyes/2007/04/15/visitation-rights/