Novels ‘better at explaining world’s problems than reports’

Fiction – including poetry – should be taken just as seriously as facts-based research, according to the team from Manchester University and the London School of Economics (LSE). Novels should be required reading because fiction “does not compromise on complexity, politics or readability in the way that academic literature sometimes does,” said Dr Dennis Rodgers from Manchester University’s Brooks World Poverty…

Nasa Mars mission declared dead

Nasa says its Phoenix lander on the surface of Mars has gone silent and is almost certainly dead. | Engineers have not heard from the craft since Sunday 2 November when it made a brief communication with Earth.|  Phoenix, which landed on the planet’s northern plains in May, had been struggling in the increasing cold…

Experience: I escaped from a death camp

Stark, unadorned writing. No melodramatic flourishes or sentiment. Just the truth. Powerful. Fewer than 100 survived Treblinka. I am the last one. The will to live is stronger than anything else; I never gave up. Maybe I’m meant to be alive to tell the story. This is the last generation to hear first-hand from survivors.…

"Star Wars" – an a capella tribute to John Williams

Similar:Another 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dart #relaxing #aestheti…AestheticsPreemptive Strike (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 24) Lt. Ro's loyalties are te… Rewatching ST:TNG The newly promo…EthicsLocal TV News Stations Present Amazon PR Video as JournalismAbout a dozen local TV news stations air…BusinessWhere is the tipping point?What if universities stopped buying acad…AcademiaNASA…

The Incredible Vanishing Book

Many professors will spend countless hours putting together elaborate and voluminous course packets of photocopies for classroom use (I used to be one of them). And now, it is more frequent for technologically minded teachers to file-share large numbers of PDFs through password protected sites on campus. This is so wrong it hurts. We are…

Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004

When blogging was young, enthusiasts rode high, with posts quickly skyrocketing to the top of Google’s search results for any given topic, fueled by generous links from fellow bloggers. In 2002, a search for “Mark” ranked Web developer Mark Pilgrim above author Mark Twain. That phenomenon was part of what made blogging so exciting. No…

The Unfinished Swan

Via The FPP — first-person painter! I wish the creator hadn’t chosen to go eerie with the mood, that seems like cheating a little… it’s so easy to go scary. Still, it’s beautiful And it’s an XNA-developed title. Interesting. The Unfinished Swan – Tech Demo 9/2008 from Ian Dallas on Vimeo. Similar:In May, 2000, I…

E-mail error ends up on road sign

Thanks, Mike, for pointing out this one, which is a close second to “Translate Server Error.” The English is clear enough to lorry drivers – but the Welsh reads “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.” When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road…

Chronicle and HBO Win Excellence in Sports Journalism Awards

Some award-winning sports journalism. Filing it away for future reference. Similar:Missouri governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website • …I’m shocked… shocked that a reporter p…Current_Events20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't GetI expect my English majors not to balk w…AcademiaLiberal arts college professor assaults alt-right group memberCarefully choosing language that fits yo…AcademiaMan…

A Self-Referential Story

One of my freshmen recently submitted a paper about how to overcome writer’s block.  It reminded me of this story, which I came across many years ago and was able to find again fairly quickly with Google. Fun stuff. The purpose of this sentence (which can also serve as a paragraph) is to speculate that…

Our Readers' Coolest Geek-o'-Lanterns

From Wired: Similar:Why liberal arts and the humanities are as important as engineeringWe learned that though a degree made a b…AcademiaIf You Ever Find a Link to ThoughtCatalog, I'm Begging You Not to Click It Here’s a thought… nothing you can …BusinessFact check: Trump utters series of false and misleading claims at coronavirus briefingNot fake…