Friday Varia and Quick Hits

It feels much earlier (or later?) than 7 am right now as I push through jet lag to prepare another little spread of quick hits and varia for my readers. To continue where I left off on Wednesday, William Gibson describes jet lag in his 2003 novel Pattern Recognition as “the dire and ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythms.” That may be a bit overwrought, but it feels sort of accurate this morning.

• An owl in Athens.

• A couple articles by Joanna Smith and Szymon Rusinkiewicz on using and producing 3D models at Polis on Cyprus here and here.

• Along similar lines, this is really funny and critically essay on the problem with state birds. 

• This is a cool faculty research seminar at my alma mater.

• This is a ringing endorsement for peer review. (via Dimitri Nakassis). Is this really the best that the world can do right now?

• MOOCs and the end of reform.

• How to cite social media in MLA and APA style. 

• No go zones for Soviet citizens during the cold war.

• Neil Gaiman and Kyle Cassidy discuss creativity.

• Top 50 Oil and Gas people to follow on Twitter. 

• Follow the adventures of Kyle Cassidy and Bret Weber in the the Bakken this weekend on Twitter at #OilCampsND.

• Great Deadspin article on how UND can lose its mind over little things.

• What I’m listening to: Daft Punk, Random Access Memory; The National, Trouble Will Find Me. 

• What I’m reading: Polis and PKAP Notebooks.