Rhetoric: December 2005 Archive Page

Why do you love online publishing?

Here's why I do: As an American, I feel so fortunate to be alive at a time when, 200-some years after the ratification of the First Amendment to our nation's Constitution, the people of this country finally have a medium at their disposal which allows any person to speak and be heard by a global audience. If freedom of the press belongs to those who own one, now, we all do. And the world, ultimately, will be the better for it.

Unfortunately, the Internet is also being used by those who favor schmoozing the wealthy and well-connected at the expense promoting the welfare of all fellow citizens. I love that the Internet allows the rest of us a powerful collective voice with which to give all readers an alternative to such smarmy propaganda. Now it is up to us to be smarter, sharper and louder than ever when using this medium during the year to come. --Robert Niles --Why do I love online publishing? (Online Journalism Review)

If they want to deliver a written paper, they need to understand that, no matter how short they think it is, the odds are against their finishing it. They need a conclusion they can jump to when they get the five-minute warning. That conclusion must be brief. Rather than reading a full paper, it's better to summarize it and have copies of the full paper available. Presenters could also tell attendees that they will send copies to those who want them. Tell the presenters this: when you get the five-minute warning, do not take that to mean you must read the rest of the paper at double or triple normal reading speed. No one in the audience will be able to follow it, and you will probably hurt yourself. --Timothy J. Madigan --''Thank You Very Much. That's All the Time You Have'' (Academe)

"I will NEVER EVER DO THIS EVER AGAIN and I am once more terribly sorry... Please let me go for I am terribly sorry!!! I'm only a kid! Help me out. I just want to go home. I did this not knowing of the serious penalty that lies behind it. Please! Please! Please!" --Jonathan Baldino --Swiping goes high-tech in bar-code scam (Denver Post)

Defense Attorney: As you can see, Your Honor, my client used all caps for portions of his statement, and used three exclamation marks in a row.

Judge: Well golly... then HE MUST BE TELLING THE TRUTH!!!

Defense Attorney: I would like to introduce into evidence this follow-up statement. "I am extremely sad now, and I just want to go to bed... Please let me sleep in my own bed tonight."

Judge: What's this? The criminal justice system has made someone sad?

Defense Attorney: Besides, who really expects a 19-year-old to know right from wrong?

Judge: You're right. Case dismissed!!!

(Pause.)

(Judge and Defense Attorney burst out laughing.)

Defense Attorney (wiping his eyes): Man, they couldn't make this stuff up in Hollywood. Okay. Let's get back to work.

Scientists are no different in their level of objectivity than are other professionals. They are careful in the analysis of evidence and in the procedures applied to arrive at conclusions. With this admission, it may seem that this myth is valid, but contributions from both the philosophy of science and psychology reveal that there are at least three major reasons that make complete objectivity impossible. --William McComas --Ten Myths of Science: Reexamining What We Think We Know

A 1996 article.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone to contribute articles, is tightening its rules for submitting entries following the disclosure that it ran a piece falsely implicating a man in the Kennedy assassinations. Wikipedia will now require users to register before they can create articles, Jimmy Wales, founder of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site, said Monday.

The change comes less than a week after John Seigenthaler Sr., who was Robert Kennedy's administrative assistant in the early 1960s, wrote an op-ed article revealing that Wikipedia had run a biography claiming Seigenthaler had been suspected in the assassinations of the former Attorney General and his brother, President John F. Kennedy. --Dan Goodin --Online Encyclopedia Tightens Rules (Breitbart | AP)

This is an important change in the techno-idealistic principle that formerly animated Wikipedia. Reality has come crashing through the door.

Non-registered users will still be able to edit existing articles, and the registration process does not sound difficult.