Cosplay as Empowerment

"Cosplay is a form of empowerment for all children and adults," says Stanford Carpenter, president and cofounder of the Institute for Comics Studies, who says that he used to be dismissive of cosplay. But after attending dozens of ComicCons, he witnessed the dress-up affair changing masked heroes indefinitely. "It's about empowerment. It's about the possibility of what you can be or what you can do. And when you see people in underrepresented groups, it takes on the empowerment fantasy of not...

 The Problem with Natural

A natural pas may afford the most convenient way to cros a mountain, but it wil be vastly improved by bilding a good road thru it. Fruits and vegetables that grow wild in their natural state ar greatly and universally improved and adapted to human needs by cultivation. Every process of manufacture, from roast- ing a potato to bilding a battleship, involvs an arti- ficial change in natural products. All civilization is based on man's ability to direct natural processes. We can not depe...

 Geometry Seems Disconnected from Reality

Why is geometry often described as 'cold' and 'dry?' One reason lies in its inability to describe the shape of a cloud, a mountain, a coastline, or a tree. Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line... Nature exhibits not simply a higher degree but an altogether different level of complexity.