Tolkien, earthed in Old English, had a head start that led him straight to the flinty perfection of Mordor and Orc. Here, by contrast, are some Lucas inventions: Palpatine. Sidious. Mace Windu. (Isn’t that something you spray on colicky babies?) Bail Organa. And Sith. [..] What can you say about a civilization where people zip…
I therefore formulate and offer to the world the following Principles for Quotations, two for quoters and two for readers, which, if universally followed, would make an immense improvement to the reliability of the information available on the world wide web. Principle 1 (for readers) Whenever you see a quotation given with an author but…
At the grave yard Hamlet does not manifest any feelings towards his late father who according to the traditional interpretation, must have been buried there only a couple of months before that. Hamlet’s behavior remains the same even when the grave-digger mentions king Hamlet. There appears an impression as if Hamlet had two different fathers:…
America’s entertainment industry is committing slow, spectacular suicide, while one of Europe’s biggest broadcasters — the BBC — is rushing headlong to the future, embracing innovation rather than fighting it. Unlike Hollywood, the BBC is eager and willing to work with a burgeoning group of content providers whose interests are aligned with its own: its…
It’s that abrupt elbow in a graph of growth or decline when the new technology or paradigm truly kicks in, and suddenly there is no going back. From that moment, the new stuff takes off and the old stuff goes into rapid decline, whether it is a new standard of modem, a new video game,…
Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines. Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse are individual interactions, not corporate communications. IBMers are personally responsible for their posts. Be mindful that what you write will be public for a long time — protect your privacy. Identify yourself — name and, when relevant, role at IBM…
But while the goal of rewarding good teachers is laudable, the awards can sap the morale and productivity of faculty members who try too hard to receive them. For young professors in particular, paying too much attention to teaching awards is dangerous. […] A professor whose goal is to win a teaching award can be…
Instinct told me to start with the market of the 1970s – the time when electronics were getting small enough and cheap enough to allow for the definition to become true. Therefore the 1970s were also a time when the very concept of a PDA was something ordinary people could grasp. In some ways this…
Dripping wet and deeply disturbed, the smartly-dressed man was discovered walking along a windswept road beside the sea. Over the next few days he steadfastly refused, or was unable, to answer the most simple questions about who he was or where he had come from. It was only when someone in hospital had the bright…
Six in ten among the public feel the media show bias in reporting the news, and 22% say the government should be allowed to censor the press. More than 7 in 10 journalists believe the media does a good or excellent job on accuracy–but only 4 in 10 among the public feel that way. And…
Newsweek magazine on Sunday said it erred in a May 9 report that said U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article. “We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence…
“Parents so far have not gotten the message that trampolines should not be used in the home environment,” said James Linakis, a pediatric emergency physician at Rhode Island Hospital’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital. —Study: trampoline injuries have spiked (Washington Times |UPI) Sigh. My next weekend project is to put together the backyard trampoline that my wife got…
Are classic essays like Swift’s still being written, or has the elegant thoughtfulness that is the essay’s legacy been winnowed away by its rapacious bastard offspring, the blog? And will the Internet generation, suffused by the blogosphere, lose the ability to write essays altogether? (The plethora of essays for sale online to students portends they…
For those of you who don’t know what Mono is… let me explain. It is known to most ignorant people as “The Kissing Disease.” This, of course, makes anyone who has it appear to be a whore or a gameshow host. But, this isn’t a proper representation of how the disease is actually spread. I…
The departure of Griego Erwin, who wrote three columns a week, continues the run of recent embarrassments for newspapers, many of which have cost writers their jobs. Last week, USA Today Pentagon correspondent Tom Squitieri resigned under pressure after lifting quotes from another newspaper and using other quotes without attribution. That followed on the heels…
—Ladies of Star Trek (SixtiesCity.com) Knee boots and beehive hairdos… I’m in heaven. (Thanks for the link, Scribblingwoman.) Similar:Checking out of @frontporchtheatricals Grand Hotel. What an experience!My brother had already planned to visit …AestheticsThe girl's modern dance choreography workshopAestheticsKitchen utensils for my steampunk villain's hideout. #Blender3D. There’s nothing particularly steampu…AestheticsHere I am sketching spaceships like I’m…
After finding food, scout bees returning to the hive dance on the vertical walls of the honeycomb. A round dance indicates the food is very close, within 35 yards or less. A figure-eight pattern indicates that the food is farther away. The bee indicates the distance to the food by how long it dances; it…
“The cause for the beatification of John Paul II is open,” the new Roman Catholic leader told priests meeting at Rome’s Basilica of St John in Lateran. —Pope John Paul II to be beatified (BBC) Similar:Academic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaHermann Zapf, the font designer behind Palatino and Zapf Dingbats,…
I have recently decided that not being in a class that requires blogging is a bad thing. Because i am not required to do blogging, i don’t do it. This isn’t because i don’t want to, it is because i don’t have time to. If it were required, i would make time to do it,…
The World’s Energy Problems Solved by My 7-year-old (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) For months now, my son has been requesting, for his bedtime stories, books about chemistry and energy. We just finished one on windmills. These aren’t kiddie picture books — they are thin, but they are chapter books, packed with statistics and chemical equations. For a…