02.08.09
damn liberal media pt 2
I’m just going to leave this right here…
05.08.08
buzzkill
I think blind adherence to a subculture is a bad thing. Yes, there are crazy goths, as well as hippies, fundies, and whatever else. But blind adherence to cynicism is bad, too. You miss out on a lot of fun. Okay, fine, maybe steampunk’s not your style of fun. Move on. There is no greater sin in this world than to deny someone their bit of whatever little fun they’ve found, just so you can get your momentary buzz of kill-joy.
-Eideteker
From this post on the death of Steampunk, over at Metafilter.
Bonus points for “steamfunk” and “steamcrunk.”
04.10.08
maths
From this:
SIMPLICIO: Then what should we do with young children in math class?
SALVIATI: Play games! Teach them Chess and Go, Hex and Backgammon,
Sprouts and Nim, whatever. Make up a game. Do puzzles. Expose
them to situations where deductive reasoning is necessary. Don’t
worry about notation and technique, help them to become active and
creative mathematical thinkers.
(emphasis added)
*addendum: I wonder if this technique could be applied to other subjects, too.
03.13.08
a true wordsmith
Personally, I’d eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance.
-Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series.
02.19.08
no news today
Americans, in particular, prefer shorter sentences without, as style books advise, that distinct division between statements that are closely related but require a separation more prolonged than a conjunction and more emphatic than a comma.
This is what passes for humor among punchy journalists.
Via NY Times.
10.24.07
Best quote I’ve read all day
“No scientific conclusion can ever be proven, and new evidence
may lead scientists to change their views, but it is no
more a ‘‘belief’’ to say that earth is heating up than to say that
continents move, that germs cause disease, that DNA carries
hereditary information, and that HIV causes AIDS. You can always
find someone, somewhere, to disagree, but these conclusions
represent our best current understandings and therefore
our best basis for reasoned action”
“Borrowing” (stealing) this idea from Willis, who might have (probably) cribbed it from someone else.