Letters Remain

Author: Lloyd Morgan

  • The Ideal News/Media Outlet

    Describing his new rules of news, Dan Gillmore provides 22 rules that he would insist upon if he ran a news/media outlet (and, in turn, describes what many would believe to be the ideal news organisation). This particularly caught my eye: We would replace PR-speak and certain Orwellian words and expressions with more neutral, precise…

  • Common Misconceptions About Iran(ians)

    Ten common misconceptions people of the West have about Iran and its inhabitants, as compiled by Juan Cole, president of the Global American Institute, Professor of History at the University of Michigan, and author of Engaging the Muslim World: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US. Iran is…

  • Realising Metaphors

    Deciding which part of this article on how we internalise metaphorical concepts to quote was proving troublesome, then David came along with this take on the article: Though Drake Bennet’s piece feels a little shallow — like he’s pointing to this really interesting thing and rather than explain it is merely puzzling at it beside you — he does…

  • The Downside of Scientific Progress

    Scientific progress is making most ground-breaking academic achievements occur later on in researchers’ lives. This in itself is not a bad thing, of course, but could it be signalling the end of the polymath (or the intellectual polygamist, as Carl Djerassi would prefer it be called)? Back in the early 19th century you could grasp a…

  • Guest Posts (3) – Thanks

    For the past week you have been treated to Andrew Simone’s thoughts on publishing. To recap, these were Andrew’s posts: There is something outside of the text Social Publishing Books, Printing, and Self-Publishing “We have broken your business, now we want your machines.” Newspaper Odds and Ends New Authors and the Web Social Writing Publishing…

  • Guest Posts (3)

    Still away this week, and with my return flight date fast approaching, I have one final guest author waiting in the wings to entertain you. For the coming few days you will be treated to the musings of Andrew Simone. Andrew is a thoughtful and amusing chap who writes over at the fantastic group blog clusterflock (Andrew’s posts…

  • Surviving Jet Lag

    With my 25-hour flight from Sydney back to London fast approaching, my mind is wandering to the topic of jet lag–or desynchronosis, to use the medical term. The most often suggested remedies for jet lag (where recovery times are generally said to be 1 day per eastward time zone or 1 day per 1.5 westward time…

  • Sydney Dust Storm

    After travelling to Sydney, I somehow managed to miss the spectacle that was the biggest dust storm to hit the city in over 70 years by going somewhere else for a week. While I was in Melbourne preparing for a road trip down the Great Ocean Road (and generally avoiding the earthquake and the collapse…

  • Blogs as Public Billboards

    First seen over at Raul Gutierrez’ Heading East, this Tim Berners-Lee quote on the role of the home page from 1996 or so seems to come from an interview with Rohit Khare and DC Denison: With all respect, the personal home page is not a private expression; it’s a public billboard that people work on…

  • Scarcity Marketing

    Neuromarketing has recently been looking at The Scarcity Effect: WORCHEL, LEE, AND ADEWOLE (1975) asked people to rate chocolate chip cookies. They put 10 cookies in one jar and two of the same cookies in another jar. The cookies from the two-cookie jar received higher ratings—even though the cookies were exactly the same! Not only…