Sony Reader Is a Work in Progress

Having used the device for many hours, I found it to be a comfortable, pleasing way to read, after initial hesitance. And it’s a sharp-looking, techno-wow device with a durable feel. Its size, its screen, its general “thingness” were all appealing. But I love the feel, heft and smell of books, the tangible touch of…

Quotation Marks

One further use, according to the Chicago Manual of Style: in philosophical discourse, key concepts may be set apart with single-quote marks. When such concepts are set off in this way, periods and commas go outside the single-quote marks: * Sartre’s treatment of ‘being’, as opposed to his treatment of ‘non-being’, has been thoroughly described…

Asskicking Device

—Asskicking Device (YouTube) Amazing. A…ma…zing. Thanks for the link, Karissa. Similar:‘It’s destroyed me completely’: Kenyan moderators decry toll of training of AI modelsOpenAI has already taken a toll on human…BusinessWriting Tips for Critical Thinking  Critical Thinking Matters Pers…AcademiaSportsWorks Adventure at the Carnegie Science CenterI confess that I have never been all tha…CultureMyths about "Learning Styles Persist…

Ibsen's Relevance and Influence Endure

Today Ibsen’s wedding of tragedy to the ethical dilemmas and unadorned rhetoric of middle-class characters seems like the necessary prelude to modern drama, from George Bernard Shaw to Arthur Miller. Within his stuffed Victorian living rooms, the Norwegian playwright championed free-thinking, if flawed, heroes over both the conformist masses and self-aggrandizing authorities. His signature metaphors…

Global warming?

The words “global warming” provoke a sharp retort from Colorado State University meteorology professor emeritus William Gray: “It’s a big scam.” And the name of climate researcher Kevin Trenberth elicits a sputtered “opportunist.” At the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where Trenberth works, Gray’s name prompts dismay. “Bill Gray is completely unreasonable,” Trenberth says. “He…

Hitler and the Sea-Monkeys

Nobody ever doubted that Harold von Braunhut was one twisted dude. What else can you say about a man who transformed a dinky, transparent species of crustacean into “Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys,” peddling billions of the creatures under fantastically false pretenses? A man whose 194 other patents included those other unforgettable staples of comic-book advertising, Invisible…

The Mythical 40-Hour Gamer

The 40-hour gamers are able to play in a way that I used to when I was a teenager, but can’t anymore. They devote full evenings and entire weekends to marathon play-sessions. They get into the zone — that Csikszentmihalyian state of “flow” where all distractions drop away, and you focus with lizard-brain survival intensity…

White and Nerdy — Weird Al Yancovic

—White and Nerdy — Weird Al Yancovic (YouTube) E-mailed to me by a student who knows me well. P.S. Kirk, definitely. Similar:Wearing A Mask Is A Sign Of Mutual Respect During The Coronavirus PandemicShortly after my region ended their lock…BusinessNicholas Winton, “Britain’s Schindler,” Dies at 106Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker w…CultureAnother delightful section of a #steampunk…

New Evidence Points to Myspace as Catalyst in Educational Depression of 2300

This discovery, if validated, will be one of only 10 remaining pages left in existence today, and according to unnamed sources at Seton Hill University of Internet Sciences, could expose the true reasons behind the almost complete depletion of both public and private schools circa 2300. Though several prominent scientists at the competing University of…

Feature: Columbine RPG Creator Talks About Dawson Shooting

Knowing that the game would become an underground cult obsession, knowing that someone would eventually ferret out my identity, knowing that I would get death threats and receive requests for autographs, and knowing that one mentally disturbed man would cite my game as one he liked to play before randomly shooting at college students… there’s…