They’re the ones who keep the puerile shows on TV, who appear as regular recipients of the Darwin Awards, who raise our insurance rates by doing dumb things, who generally make life much more miserable for all of us than it ought to be. Sad to say, they comprise a substantial minority — perhaps even…
Suddenly the cold white marble warmed up and flushed a deep golden brown, and the cold white pupils were suddenly swept by a wash of black. They turned to stare at the sculptor who was still kneeling in supplication. When he felt a warm hand upon his shoulder, he jumped back with alarm, but when…
LBV-1806-20 may have formed in what Eikenberry called “violent, triggered star formation.” In the process, a huge, massive star reaches the end of its lifespan and explodes in an intense supernova. The shockwave from that supernova then hits a young star just as its forming, compressing gas around it quickly — over a period of…
Well, That was Unexpected.Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I showed my five-year-old son the two recent blog entries in which he features (Johnstown Flood and The Meatball), and to my surprise he spent the next 40 minutes dictating responses to all the comments left by readers. It was interesting watching his composition process… the sentences are choppy…
At first some girls were intimidated by the power drills, but soon they were vying for access to them…. After building their own siege engine — a medieval invention to catapult objects — they launched the head of a Barbie doll, to mimic the practice of launching diseased corpses over castle walls, to introduce disease…
My sister let herself into my hotel room and sat on the edge of my bed. I said: “This was awful. I threw up in front of two members of the search committee.” Her response was kind and gentle: “It could have been worse. You could have thrown up on two members of the search…
RSF counted 42 journalists slain in 2003, while CPJ concluded in a separate report that the total death toll was 36. Both groups said the toll was about twice as high as in 2002 and that the war in Iraq was the primary reason for the increase. —Jim Lobe —2003 Bad Year for Press Freedom…
Notwithstanding all his efforts, the only semblance of a revolt of the poor is the antimodern Islamic tide, which from the Marxist point of view floats in a medieval dream. With us he seemed pathetically hungry for some kind of human contact. Brilliant as he is, spirited and resourceful as his people are, his endless…
He never learned to use the MLA citation method, but today he’s a successful engineer who supports the local arts council. | What counts as intelligence depends almost entirely on context. I find that my students are as smart, diligent, and idealistic as they have always been — as I was. But what they know,…
Pygmalion is a legendary sculptor (whose role as King of Cyprus seems unimportant to most versions of the story) known for carving Galatea, a statue of a woman so beautiful he is no longer interested in real women. Moved by his devotion, the goddess of beauty Aphrodite brings the statue to life, and the artist…
The Drake equation cannot be tested and therefore SETI is not science. SETI is unquestionably a religion. Faith is defined as the firm belief in something for which there is no proof. The belief that the Koran is the word of God is a matter of faith. The belief that God created the universe in…
This afternoon, I took my son to our local Borders for a talk on the Johnstown Flood documentary. The flood was caused by the 1889 collapse of a dam originally built for Pennsylvania’s canal system, then abandoned when rails came along. The presenter, Richard Burkert, a museum director whose commentary is included on the DVD…
From email messages and front-page news in the New York Times to published books and magazine articles, the 10 ouchies listed here crop up everywhere. They’re so pernicious that even respected Internet columnists are not immune. | The list also could be called, “10 COMMON PROBLEMS THAT DISMISS YOU AS AN AMATEUR,” because these mistakes…
From pictograms to pixel fonts, written language has evolved over time, changing in response to communication methods and printing technology. This overview is presented as an introduction to the origins, evolution, and applications of modern letterforms. —The Evolution of Type (Medium Bold) The ubiquity of the word processor has changed what it means to write. I…
Jerz Course Books — Spring 2004Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) For those who are interested, here are links to the required purchase books for my classes; in a few days I’ll post the full syllabi: Seminar in Thinking and Writing II (no new books) EL 150: Introduction to Literary Study EL 267: American Literature 1915-Present EL 309:…
This paper addresses the evolution of metaphors for the Internet and shows how they have constrained and determined the development of cyberlaw. | Within the law, metaphors mold the framework of discourse, determining the scope of appropriate questions about and answers to various social and legal problems. Courts and commentators employ metaphors as heuristics to…
Instead of being dollars or euros or kroner, links seem a lot more like the major prison currency, cigarettes, in the hands of a heavy smoker who cares more about smoking than about any other prison commodity. First of all, you can do something with them; as an afterthought, you also use them to get…
I went into the office for about an hour and a half tonight. When I came back, my wife was writing busily at the kitchen table. “I’ve got a blog entry for you,” she said. This is rather momentous — she has very little interest in cyberculture. But here’s what she wrote. (Let this be…
The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has been awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. —Web’s Inventor Gets a Knighthood (BBC) Definitely one of the good guys. If he had tried to keep control over his invention, of course it wouldn’t have worked, since the web depends upon the contributions of thousands and…
Patrice Moore, 43, had apparently been standing up when the books, catalogs, mail and newspapers swamped him on Saturday. Firefighters and neighbors rescued Moore on Monday afternoon and he was hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday morning with leg injuries. —Man Trapped Under Mountain of Books, Papers (CNN/AP) Note to self: find a sturdy box and insert…