Month: July 2008
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Legal Cases That Changed Britain
The Times has now concluded its series on The (Legal) Cases That Changed Britain: 1785 – 2006. DPP v Ray July 27, 1973 This case settled an important principle of law applicable to people caught legging it out of restaurants without paying. It has been applied countless times since. After eating a meal in the…
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White Privilege
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, is an article by Peggy McIntosh on the invisible privileges of being white. I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my…
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Media Ownership and Mergers
Neatorama on media ownership – The Big Six of US media (via Link Banana). Last year I linked to a similar chart, from 1991, showing the media ownership of The Big Ten multinational conglomerates. Mother Jones has an appealing visual representation of 25 years of media mergers and how the biggest media conglomerates in the…
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Top 50 Productivity Blogs
The Top 50 Productivity Blogs is one of those lists that I love to hate. It’s so useful and contains a wealth of extraordinary resources, but at the same time will temporarily ruin my productivity as I scour through the archives of the mentioned blogs looking for said resources. Getting Things Done (e.g. Zen Habits)…
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Common Errors in English
Mixed-up, mangled expressions; foreign-language faux pas; confused and confusing terms; commonly mispronounced words – they’re all explained in Common Errors in English by Paul Brians. The concept of language errors is a fuzzy one. I’ll leave to linguists the technical definitions. Here we’re concerned only with deviations from the standard use of English as judged…
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The Disadvantages of an Elite Education
William Deresiewicz on the foibles of the Ivy League elite: Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers. […] With respect to class, these schools are largely—indeed increasingly—homogeneous. Visit any elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming spectacle of the children…
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Kurt Vonnegut: Advice to Writers
Author of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut, offers us advice on How to Write With Style: Find a subject you care about Do not ramble, though Keep it simple Have guts to cut Sound like yourself Say what you mean Pity the readers
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52 Proven Stress Reducers
I’m always a bit wary when I see a list such as this, but these 52 Proven Stress Reducers are all worth reading. Common sense, of course, but it’s always nice to be reminded. Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful. Prepare for the morning the…
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Dr Mezmer’s Dictionary of Bad Psychology
For an amusing take on the A-Z of psychology, Dr Mezmer’s Dictionary of Bad Psychology is close at hand. Meme: The idea that since ideas reproduce metaphorically like genes, that they must reproduce actually like genes. Thus because ideas spread like the plague, tunes are infectious, and advertising phrases are catchy, this must mean that…
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Guide to Road Trip Photography
I’ve thought before on how to document a road trip: it’s a tricky area with no perfect solution. Photojojo’s Ultimate Guide to Road Trip Photography has thrown a few more ideas into the mix. I like this suggestion: Make Your Own Postcards – Before you head out, read our tutorial on three easy ways to…