Archive for the 'Culture' Category

Word of the Day: "Ender’s Folly"

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

ACE2006 Keynote: The Military Industrial Light and Magic Complex (pdf link), via research.techwondo, defines “Ender’s Folly” as
An excessive commitment to, and a fetish of 2nd Life worlds will inflict irrevocable damage upon 1st Life worlds.

Feed reading and my desire for summaries

Wednesday, March 29th, 2006

Most feed readers have an inbox-like user interface. The user scans through a long list of new items that, once read, are moved out of the inbox into a less visible place. In the following discussion, let’s think of an individual user as the consumer, and the weblogger or journalist as the producer.
The inbox metaphor […]

Mathematical literacy

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

Jacques Distler has a great rant about mathematical literacy, rebutting algebra-flunker-empathizer Richard Cohen. Quoting Cohen’s WaPo column:
“Gabriela, sooner or later someone’s going to tell you that algebra teaches reasoning. This is a lie propagated by, among others, algebra teachers. Writing is the highest form of reasoning. This is a fact. Algebra is not. The proof […]

Coffee mugs with water in TV interviews

Friday, March 17th, 2006

Ever wonder why celebrities and other interviewees on TV talk shows drink water out of coffee mugs? I’ve tried drinking water out of coffee mugs (when I really need to do the dishes) and it kind of weirds me out.
Anyhow! Margaret points out that the reason is probably that regular glasses are reflective. They would […]


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