I’ve noticed for a while that I seem to get some of my best ideas in the shower in the morning. Looks like I’m not alone, according to this article from the New York Times: …Where does inspiration strike? Obviously, in isolated instances, anywhere at any time. But the one place that seems to ignite the creative process in an amazing …
Limericks & Pi
Here are a quick couple of links relating to curiosities we glanced at in class: You can find The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form here Mike Keith’s story, “Cadaeic Cadenza,” based on the first 3,000 or so digits of pi is here. Enjoy!
Paper or Plastic?
Yikes. A Salon.com article, “Plastic Bags Are Killing Us”: All the plastic that has been made is still around in smaller and smaller pieces. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade. That means every plastic bag you’ve ever used in your entire life … still exists in some form, even fragmented bits, and will exist long after you’re dead. Troubling. Read the whole thing …
You Rite Liek A Theef
I just took the McAffee SiteAdvisor Phishing Quiz. I got an 8 out of 10— go give it a try yourself! If you’re not familiar with the term yet, phishing is when crooks send people to bogus web pages disguised as banks, or credit card companies, or whatever, hoping to collect valuable information from them. Anyway, as I reviewed the answers, …
“Museum” of Misused Quotation Marks
Ok, ok…technically, they call it a “gallery,” but that title serves to illustrate a point. And for the “quotationally challenged” of you out there (and you know who you are…or may not, actually…) that point may be worth making. If you’d just like to take a look, hop over to The Gallery of “Misused” Quotation Marks, and have at it. If …
On Writing Well
Columnist and editor John Leo gave a speech at Ursinus College last year in which he addresses inflated bureaucratic and academic language, the notion of “correctness,” and clarity of voice and style. He covers such a wide range of subjects that it’s hard to pick a good teaser, but here’s a short excerpt: When you write, how will you sound? Many …
Erudition.
Behold: “100 Words That All High School Graduates — And Their Parents — Should Know,” as chosen by the editors of the American Heritage dictionaries. If nothing else, it makes for a great band name generator. I hereby lay claim to “kinetic kowtow,” “fatuous xenophobe,” and “vacuous nanotechnology” — though I shall probably shorten the last to “vacuous nanotech,” once …
Summertime III: The Reconnoitering
Film Studies prof. David Bordwell discusses the concept of the film sequel with a group of cronies on his blog: Facing a summer packed with sequels, a journalist gets fed up.… Sequels prove that Hollywood lacks imagination and is interested only in profits. Sequel films are boring and repetitious. They rarely match the original in quality. And when good directors …
Are You Going To Eat That?
Ran across this photo set today: Underground menu at L’Enclume. If you’ve never seen molecular gastronomy up-close and personal before, here’s your chance—intimate photos of a 24-course meal that’s a blend of science, art, and food. That picture to the left there, for instance, is of a dish labeled “Whim 03”: The white block was an impossibly light, and yet completely …
Running the Numbers
Wow. Photographer Chris Jordan has some sample images from his new exhibition online. He writes: This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My …