Book ‘Em: Speaking Personally.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

We assume the internet connects people in ways they’ve never been connected before, and there are some pretty strong indications that’s true. In Hello Stranger, Vicky Baker writes about her experience using a social networking site to find travel companions. It’s hard to imagine people using the electronic equivalent of personal ads to meet someone [...]

Word Of The Week: November 22nd, 2008

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 22, 2008 | 4 Comments

Normally the prefix un- is a negative, meaning “to reverse” in words like undo, untie, undelete, or even undismember (yeah, it’s a word), or “not” in words like undelayed, unsurprised, or unreliable. And yet it’s positive in words where it’s not a prefix, such as unite and unanimous, which are derived from the Latin unus, [...]

All Solar Systems Go.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 21, 2008 | 3 Comments

Sky & Telescope, in its December issue, reports on the ongoing debate about the status of Pluto. Yes, there’s still debate. The International Astronomical Union may have demoted Pluto to a vague non-planet status in 2006, but that hasn’t settled anything, even in the minds of scientists. At least part of the problem seems to [...]

Just The Fax.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Remember a great to-do a few years ago about the paperless society? I remember reading an article about ten years ago (I can’t remember where, especially since I have a hard time remembering even what happened yesterday) about offices where supervisors were making their staff throw out all paper. Even though there’s been a lot [...]

Book ‘Em: Around The World In 10 and 1/2 Chapters.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Imagine you’re an animal on Noah’s ark. Imagine you’re not just any animal, but a stowaway, an animal Noah decided was “not wanted on voyage” and apparently slated for extinction in the great deluge. What would you tell us humans about what it was really like? That’s a basic description of the first chapter of [...]

Word Of The Week: November 15th, 2008

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 15, 2008 | 5 Comments

There’s a Global Language Monitor based in Austin, Texas, that’s been tracking words in the English language for the past five years. According to an article in Smithsonian, the Global Language Monitor’s, um, monitors have come to the conclusion that a new word is added to the English language every ninety-eight minutes. There are more [...]

Halloween At The Library.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 14, 2008 | 4 Comments

I can finally provide some of the promised video of the special storytelling event at the Vanderbilt University Library on October 30th. Storyteller Boone Westfall told some very funny and some very chilling stories. I acted as photographer and videographer for the event. And here I am reading Tim Burton’s poem Vincent, which was done [...]

Barty Crouch Jr. Strikes Again.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 12, 2008 | 1 Comment

 
When I first heard that an upcoming episode of Doctor Who was being planned with J.K. Rowling as a guest I was a little surprised. Rowling is a contemporary author, but Doctor Who is, usually, a show about the past and future. When actual figures have appeared, and, in particular, authors, they’ve been historical authors–Dickens, [...]

Burning Books.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 12, 2008 | 2 Comments

The idea of burning books still sends a chill up my spine even though I think we live in a time where it’s become a symbolic act, because technology can produce more copies than any group of thugs could ever destroy. At least I hope I’m not wrong about that. I hope the printing press [...]

Book ‘Em: No Mind Left Behind.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Some issues–health care, the economy, national security–seem to dominate specific elections, but education is a perennial issue. Perhaps that’s because so many voters are parents and, as parents, their children are the most important things to them. And there’s very little more important to their childrens’ futures than a good education. A good education or [...]

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