Grammar and Punctuation Tests

—Grammar and Punctuation Tests (The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation) Nifty little grammar and punctuation/capitalization online tests. Via MetaFilter. Similar:Diana Kimball on "What Scares Us About Programming?"A few months old, but still interesting:…AcademiaTwo classic novels returning to Accomack schools following voteAccomack County Public Schools announced…BooksThe Offspring (StarTrek:TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 16) Data Experiences FatherhoodRewatching…

Against Syllabi

Any syllabus is fated to yield to the messy circumstances of its course, with results that cannot be predicted. This is reason enough to be against syllabi; their presentation of a course as a fully reasoned, systematically organized thing is spurious. A course that is only its syllabus, day after day, is a course where…

Memo to media establishment: Ignore blogs at your peril

Web publishers and bloggers are already stealing readers, advertisers and classifieds. Particularly for young people, journalism has become, in the words of NYU professor and PressThink.org blogger Jay Rosen, more of a conversation than a lecture. That conversation, at least for now, almost always begins with a traditional news story, which is then subject to…

Journalism's 'Ethical Vertigo'

“The ideal of objectivity, properly understood, is vital not only for responsible journalism but responsible scientific inquiry, informed public policy deliberations and fair ethical and legal decision. The peculiar Western attempt to be objective is a long, honorable tradition that is part of our continuing struggle to discern and communicate significant, well-grounded truths and make…

Machine learns games 'like a human'

A computer that learns to play a ‘scissors, paper, stone’ by observing and mimicking human players could lead to machines that automatically learn how to spot an intruder or perform vital maintenance work, say UK researchers. CogVis, developed by scientists at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire, UK, teaches itself how to play the children’s…

Reading and Seeing

Literary critics who never use but one approach remind me of a child who, playing with a piece of transparent red plastic, has just discovered this effect. ?Look, mommy,? she says, ?the refrigerator is red!? ?Look, mommy, the stove is red too!? ?Look, mommy, the dish towel is light red and dark red!? ?Look, mommy,…

The Being John Malkovich Effect

Sure, blogging can serve as a corrective to the ideological blind spots and commercial orientation of the corporate media monopoly, Fact Checking Their Asses and Working the Ref and restoring some semblance of balance in the absence of the Fairness Doctrine. But bloggers who want to remedy what ails the corporate McMedia monopoly should grab…

Study: Watching Fewer Than Four Hours of TV A Day Impairs Ability To Ridicule Pop Culture

A Columbia University study released Tuesday suggests that viewing fewer than four hours of television a day severely inhibits a person’s ability to ridicule popular culture. “An hour or two of television per day simply does not provide enough information to effectively mock mediocre sitcoms, vapid celebrities, music videos, and talk-show hosts?an essential skill in…

Academics give lessons on blogs

Until a few months ago, the attention paid to web logs, or blogs, focused mainly on politics and the media business. However, many in academia followed the web-diary of Salam Pax, the famous Baghdad blogger during the build-up to the war in Iraq. Now, the technology that has been an alternative source of news to…

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:More Adventures in Suburban AdultingAbout four years ago I bought an electri…CultureNASA! Mars!! Panorama!!! Video!!!! Audio!!!!!New video from…