I recently overheard someone explaining that intelligence acquired by means of torture was crucial in determining the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, which determination led to bin Laden’s death by US armed forces. This lie must be exposed as...
This morning I dreamt I was going to a workshop about the use of technology in academic research. I was with people who reminded me of my colleagues and coworkers in the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia....
After finishing the major work for a new web page, I discovered the page wasn’t properly rendering on Internet Explorer. I expected some discrepancies because the page layout used some moderately advanced CSS. What I didn’t expect was that the...
This morning, I finished reading "Those Who Write, Teach” by David Gessner, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, who discusses the effect of academic teaching (Creative Writing) on writers. In addition to being an excellent read,...
The two areas which have absorbed my attentions for the last two months (outside the shambles that passes for my personal life) has been my teaching and my writing. This entry is about the writing part of my life, research...
I received my first batch of student papers this calendar year, which means I am encountering the Microsoft .docx format for the first time. The Microsoft Word 2008 .docx forrmat is incompatible with earlier versions of Word which shouldn't really...
Three graduate students in philosophy have begun an anonymous blog where they have found the courage to decry the heartache that is their job market. There are a thousand things I'd like to cover regarding the protocol of the philosophy...
One of the pleasures of being an academic (as distinct from an intellectual or smart person, etc.) is occasionally gathering with colleagues for an evening of conviviality and camaraderie.December is a season of stress for many US academics. The weather...
A video essay about the drug Burundanga reminds me of the (much more authoritative) work Wade Davis did regarding "Ethonobiology of the Haitian Zombie" (subtitle) in Passage of Darkness.1 Zombification in Haiti involves the use of a powerful neurotoxin that...
Before I begin, I hope you will forgive me for being so short of hyperlink references for this entry. I'm in the middle of an article and I can't psychologically justify the effort it would require to hunt down those...
In the middle of posting this entry, I found out that one of the writers of Marvels 1991 Deathlok series, Dwayne McDuffie, was considering purchasing my dissertation. I dont even know what my royalty rate is. To be honest,...
The day before yesterday (Friday, 12 May) was the last day of the Literary Festival. It was the 21st annual festival and I had come across a number of “21”s in the couple of days previous. I enjoyed the...
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