Beneath the arena’s grandeur lay a netherworld of gladiatorial schools and storerooms, all linked by corridors filled with pulleys and levers, animal cages and gladiators. | The system was run by teams of slaves who faced being fed to the animals themselves if their timing went awry.-Michael Leidig —Animal magic of Rome’s Colosseum underworld (Sydney Morning…
Bjorn Lomborg, the author of a controversial book attacking the environment movement, was cleared yesterday of “scientific dishonesty” by the Danish science ministry. The ministry overturned a ruling in January by the Danish committee on scientific dishonesty (DCSD), part of the Danish Research Agency, that Mr Lomborg’s book The Skeptical Environmentalist was “clearly contrary to…
Thus we are pleased to announce the winners of The Chronicle’s First Annual Awards for Self-Consciously Provocative MLA Paper Titles (also known as the Provokies). All selections are cited as listed in the program for the 119th MLA Annual Convention, to be held this month in San Diego. (In other words, no paper titles were…
But we have brought you into the world to be rulers of the hive, kings of yourselves and of the other citizens, and have educated you far better [520c] and more perfectly than they have been educated, and you are better able to share in the double duty. Wherefore each of you, when his turn…
Evolutionary psychologists insist that wherever an intense pleasure is found in human life, there is likely some reproductive or survival advantage connected with it. Art has little practical value, but can deliver intense pleasure. Why? Aestheticians, please explain. —Denis Dutton —Let‘sNaturalize Aesthetics (Aesthetics Online) Dutton is the creator of the monumental Arts & Letters Daily,…
This bibliography was originally compiled by Scott Stebelman from 1996-2000. Scott, a librarian at Gelman Library at George Washington University from 1986 until 2000, retired recently. The page is currently being updated and enhanced by Dr. Seth Katz and Jim Bonnett at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. —Hypertext and Hypermedia: A Select Bibliography (Bradley University) The…
The pleasures of videogames are frequently enjoyed by those that commonsense might encourage us to consider as non-players — “onlookers” that exert no direct control via the game controls. In this article, I want to suggest that videogame players need not actually touch a joypad, mouse or keyboard and that our definition needs to accommodate…
Dennis Jerz tiene un excelente Literacy Weblog, hoy navegando su sitio, he encontrado un link a un super artÃculo, sobre Memes, Memex y Vannebar Bush… Aquà transcribiré solo algunos fragmentos. Pero lo más importante es que, dado que El Tao de Internet ya ha llegado a Vannebar Bush, Memes y Memex por caminos alternativos, es…
This is not passive news consumption. Neither is it broadcasting. The average blogger has time to surf the web, but no resources to report stories. Some bloggers will follow a news story to the end, some may lose interest after a few days. Commentary will range from the fully-formed to the random blurt and can…
The word “grammar,” Mr. Ellis writes, had an old vernacular usage, meaning “the ability to do magic.” That overtone survives in “grimoire,” the term for a book of spells, as well as the word “glamour,” which was originally “an illusion of beauty created through black magic.” A sorcerer, then, is a kind of scholar, and…
Finished Reading Angela’s AshesJerz’s Literacy Weblog) I finally finished reading Angela’s Ashes. I can’t really say that I enjoyed it, although I appreciated the skill in the storytelling. I’ve noted before, I find myself resisting the melodramatic tugs at my heartstrings, and since the book is presented as a memoir, of course I feel terrible…
The fact that Google now “sucks” is in a large part not Google’s fault: Google simply reflects what it can see, and most of the Web is simply invisible to Google, as it now lies behind closed doors. Google’s aggressive, but essentially dumb robots can only get so far. We’re painfully aware that Google’s lack…
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a sports fan. And here’s one reason why. “When I was (in school), we had a day when everyone who was receiving scholarships — academic or athletic — was called up at an assembly and honored. One guy who barely met NCAA requirements got a full athletic…
Gaming Culture and Theory — Or; Will Somebody Please Pinch Me?Literacy Weblog) About a half hour ago, I returned from a meeting with the dean of academic affairs, at which I was planning to pitch a new course that I’m calling “Gaming Culture and Theory.” I brought a short stack of scholarly books along with…
No matter how tricky or convoluted the map becomes, you will always have a clear picture of how to get from one part to another. Accurate mapping cannot be overstressed if one is to become an above-average adventure game player. Top players map at least 50 percent of their game-playing time. —Roe R. Adams III…
Reading a decision novel is much like walking along a path: when you come to a fork in the path, you must decide on the left path or the right path. You cannot leave the path. Decision books look a lot more like novels than interactive fiction. They are cleverly woven stories that overlap at…
Moveable Types of Information Literacy: Emerging Electronic Genres and the Deconstruction of Peer ReviewLiteracy Weblog) Vannevar Bush, writing in 1945, lamented that the volume of scientific knowledge being published each year forced researchers to spend unprecedented time and energy searching for relevant information (and choosing what to ignore). His solution, the Memex, was a photocopier…
Considering how little return American students get on their books during “Book Buyback” at the end of the semester, I wondered if Iraqi students could use these donations instead? —Mike Arnzen —Gun and Pencil: Book Buyback for Baghdad? (Pedablogue) A reflection on the CS Monitor’s report on the state of higher education in Iraq. Now there…
If there’s a problem with PowerPoint, it’s not that it makes you dumb, it’s that Microsoft has never taken the time to show us how it can make you smart. —Mike Gunderloy —PowerPoint Doesn’t Make You Dumb (ADT Mag) Enough people responded ethusiastically to the NY Times article dissing PowerPoint that I thought it worthwhile to…
The machine’s inventors are somewhat vague about what the food simulator will actually be used for, but they suggest that it will be helpful in designing new foods… —Lawrence Osborne —Food Simulator, The (NY Times (will expire)) Here’s the PowerPoint business plan these guys must have followed. Step 1. Invent a device that can simulate the…