Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Why The Wisdom of Crowds Provides Feeble Tech Support I’ve been trying to run down the answer to a problem I encountered entering events to secondary Google calendars. The problem’s details aren’t important for this post and, in any event, it has been resolved. The passive voice is intentional; I’m not certain what solved the [...]
As the blog train begins powering up for the fall, a few news articles have caught my wandering attention: 100,000 Gone Since 2001 (Bob Herbert, The New York Times 14-Aug-07) 100,000 people have been murdered in the U.S. since 9/11. “No heightening of consciousness has accompanied this slaughter, which had nothing to do with terrorism. [...]
Explanations of why I love teaching can be abstract, sprinkled with words like “energy” and “engagement” and “chemistry” without conveying the edgy give-and-take that makes a great class like a high-wire act. With most students I have a relationship that combines respect and playful banter. It’s not the only style, it may not be the [...]
April 15 is the anniversary of three events with far-reaching consequences in American history. On this day- Two men were murdered in South Braintree, MA in 1920, murders for which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tried, convicted, and executed Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti against a backdrop of anti-immigrant hostility, Jackie Robinson played his [...]
Peter Beinart’s column in The New Republic on Joe Biden’s foot-in-mouth remark last week about Barack Obama argues that “[s]tupid, insensitive remarks shouldn’t sink political candidacies unless they bespeak some larger animus.” Unlike George Allen’s macaca moment, uttered by a politician with (in Beinart’s words) “a long history of racist sympathies,” Biden’s senate career displays [...]
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
I followed a story today to cRANKy, “the first age-relevant search engine.” How does an age-relevant search engine differ from an age-irrelevant search engine? According to a press release dated today, cRANKy is “designed to deliver the most targeted search results by applying a 50-plus lens to every query . . .” The site is [...]
Saturday, December 23, 2006
I posted last week (iTunes iNtrouble?) about a report by Forrester Research that, according to The Register, Bloomberg, and others, disclosed a collapse in iTunes’ sales in 2006. The claims of trouble at iTunes “threw the cat among the pigeons,” as a boss used to say. Apple shares dropped almost 3% after Orlowski’s story, others [...]