M: An argument isn’t just contradiction. A: It can be. M: No it can’t. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition. A: No it isn’t. M: Yes it is! It’s not just contradiction. A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position. M: Yes,…
You can’t consider yourself a moral person and at the same time allow the field of education to replace well-designed instruction on tough and important material (what it takes to sustain a democracy, how to read accurately and with deep comprehension) with superficial coverage of dumbed-down subjects. You can’t spend your life in silence, smiling…
Of course, computer games and the machines they run on have changed enormously since Zork first appeared in 1980. But I can’t say that the games are any more entertaining. Playing Zork and some of the other games of the day that were called “interactive fiction” was like reading a “Lord of the Rings” book…
For the few seconds between the announcement that Ratzinger was named pope, and the announcement of his choice of name, the Wikipedia entry was titled Pope Joseph… I just happened to catch it on the fly (it was changed before I could update it)… —Stephen Downes, in a comment. —How the Community Can Work, Fast (Dan…
OTBs, or “Outside The Boxers,” as they call themselves, are unconventional thinkers who believe “there are no stupid ideas,” Lessjo says. “We really just wanted to know what would happen if Civil War soldiers fought the crew from ‘Star Trek.’ You never see that in the movies or TV reruns.” —Tim Chitwood —A battle outside…
“God forbid, if someone shot the President, which network would you turn to? It will be cable, the Internet–something other than General Hospital being interrupted.” —Sam Donaldson, former ABC News anchor —Donaldson: Network News Dead (BroadcastingCable.com) Similar:The Great Works of SoftwareI realized that each one of these techno…AestheticsThe Crucible, Geyer PAC (Scottdale, May 16-19)My wife is…
The school argued a need for it’s services by citing lower test scores in Marlborough, Hudson, Maynard and Clinton than in surrounding areas. Set to open it’s doors in the fall to 276 sixth- and seventh- grade students, the charter school plans to expand it’s enrollment to 826 students in grades six through 12. —Schools…
Google il Papa! (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Google hasn’t yet started returning meaningful results for “Benedict XVI” in its main search results, though its news service was doing fine right from the start. At 1:45 EST, I googled the new pope’s name, and found plenty of speculation that the next pope after John Paul II would choose…
—i am 8-bit A Los Angeles art show. Website requires Flash. Similar:Attached (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 8) Picard and Crusher are telepathical… Rewatching ST:TNG Picard and Crusher…AmusingJudge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksThe Battle (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 8) A Ferengi plots tricks with Picard's former…
Sorry, we were unable to locate document(s) pertaining to your request. Did you mean: zirconium instead of kirschenbaum? —This Morning’s Lesson in Machine Learning (Or, So Said the Search Engine Unto Me) (MGK) This is tremendous news… search technology has advanced to the point where a search engine has become aware of Matt Kirschenbaum’s strong, metallic…
Sign Your Child Up Today! Make extra money – or start your son’s college fund! We are currently looking for children in your area! Rent your son out on weekends. You have complete control over your child’s schedule. All of our clients are fully screened, and you may screen prospective clients before any transaction takes…
The real appeal of the game is seeing Star Wars characters rendered in itty-bitty plastic form. By the end of the game, there are more than 30 different little guys you can be in Free Play mode. The good guys are cute, but the evil folks are just adorable. Mini-Maul! Sen. Palpateeny! Bite-sized battle droids!…
And there is no doubt that there are profits to be made in the reconstruction business. There are massive engineering and supplies contracts ($10 billion to Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan alone); “democracy building” has exploded into a $2 billion industry; and times have never been better for public-sector consultants–the private firms that advise governments…
Goodbye, Blogdex (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I used to love Blogdex, but today’s “most contagious information currently spreading in the weblog community” are measured by a grand total of three links. So I’ve taken it off my blogroll. (I can’t remember the last time I did that.) The last announcement was posted in October of 2004, and…
—Gibby’s Game Room (Nescapades) That’s my first computer on the bottom shelf, a Texas Instruments TI-99 4A (c. 1981). The key combination that produced “+” was “shift+equals.” The key combination that produced “System Reset” was “namelessbutton-right-next-to-shift + equals.” One day it started smoking, so we took it back to the store. I didn’t see an Atari…
Now, in a breakthrough described as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail, Oxford University scientists have employed infra-red technology to open up the hoard, known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and with it the prospect that hundreds of lost Greek comedies, tragedies and epic poems will soon be revealed. In the past four days…
You Get Transported To Another Dimension and Find This Weird Machine In A Maze And Then Some Other Stuff Happens, It’s Really Cool —Jacqueline H. Lott —The Stupid Title Comp What a stupid title for an adventure game. Similar:Twelfth Night Cast Photo (Prime Stage, May 3-12)My daughter can hardly stop talking abou…AestheticsStorage Wars Sued By…
Although the English word weblog is known in other languages, this has not prevented translations to appear. In Spanish, for example, weblog in general has apparently been translated using the journal-style kind of definition. In effect, in Spanish, weblogs are more commonly referred to as bitácoras, even though the word weblogs is well known. The…
Are libraries and librarians willing to support initiative to provide weblog support for their community? The University of Minnesota Libraries think so: “It is our goal to develop a blog server through which everyone in the university community (faculty, staff, and student) can have access to their own individual blog” (University of Minnesota Libraries, accessed…
Super-volcano, robotic rebellion or terrorism? Kate Ravilious asks 10 scientists to name the biggest danger to Earth and assesses the chances of it happening. —What a way to go (Guardian) Just in case you’ve gotten lax and started feeling optimistic or something, and you were planning to get a good 8 hours sleep tonight, this…