Gladiators fought for thrills, not kills

To amuse the crowds around the arena the gladiators would display broad fighting skills rather than fight for their lives, argues archaeologist Steve Tuck of the University of Miami. “Gladiatorial combat is seen as being related to killing and shedding blood,” he says. “But I think that what we are seeing is an entertaining martial…

Online Activities & Pursuits

Only 38% of users are aware of the distinction between paid or “sponsored” results and unpaid results. And only one in six say they can always tell which results are paid or sponsored and which are not. This finding is ironic, since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if…

Google gears up for a free-phone challenge to BT

The company behind the US-based internet search engine looks set to launch a free telephone service that links users via a broadband internet connection using a headset and home computer. —Elizabeth Judge —Google gears up for a free-phone challenge to BT (Times Online) The acronym BT isn’t explained in the article… from the context, I’m assuming…

Man found after weeks in cave

A man who went missing five weeks ago in south-western France has been found alive in an underground cave system where he had got lost. —Hugh Schofield —Man found after weeks in cave (BBC) What’s French for XYZZY? Similar:York Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of footage.Did you like or share that social…

Phaedrus

Is not rhetoric, taken generally, a universal art of enchanting the mind by arguments; which is practised not only in courts and public assemblies, but in private houses also, having to do with all matters, great as well as small, good and bad alike, and is in all equally right, and equally to be esteemed-that…

Slayer Slang

Buffy has introduced new slang terms and phrases in nearly every episode, many of them formed in the usual ways, some of them at the crest of new formative tendencies. The show incorporates familiar slang, too; the familiar and newly coined slayer slang together compose a particularly vivid snapshot of current American teen slang. —Michael…

Professor's Saturn Experiment Forgotten

“If you’re looking for a job with instant and guaranteed success, this isn’t it.” — David Atkinson, scientist whose 18 years of work on a space probe experiment were trashed when someone forgot to turn the thing on before the probe’s 1997 launch. —Professor’s Saturn Experiment Forgotten (AP/My Way) Similar:Study finds AI tools made open source…

Welcome Back, Blog

Welcome Back, Blog (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Dear blog, I missed you while you were down. Let’s take this opportunity to thank Will Gayther for helping me bring you back, and to thank those who e-mailed me to let me know you weren’t well. Welcome back. Similar:York Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of…

Data Analysis

You wouldn’t buy a car or a house without asking some questions about it first. So don’t go buying into someone else’s data without asking questions, either. Okay, you’re saying… but with data there are no tires to kick, no doors to slam, no basement walls to check for water damage. Just numbers, graphs and…

Web Site Usability

—Web Site Usability (Mind Tracks) A good collection of links introducing usability and web design. I’ll keep it in mind for the next time I teach “Writing for the Internet“. Similar:York Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of footage.Study finds AI tools made open source software developers 19 percent slowerTouch Me Now: York…