Charlotte’s Webpage. “At the heart of a child's relationship with technology is a paradox—that the more external power children have at their disposal, the more difficult it will be for them to develop the inner capacities to use that power wisely.”

Michael Nielsen’s blog contains some excellent essays on research skills and principles; see his list of favourite posts on the sidebar. I got there via a MeFi link to the piece on Extreme Thinking.

Cassette Jam '05: ten megs of home taping nostalgia (not suitable for puny connections).

Sky Cutter [Windows Media clip, via MeFi]. Watch the movie first so as not to spoil the effect, then read the background.

DDT myths. Tim Lambert debunks an emerging anti-environmentalist canard. [Via Crooked Timber.]

Richard Ingrams on Paul Foot and Private Eye. I subscribed to Lord Gnome’s organ a couple of months ago, after picking up a copy for the first time in a while. Good stuff, but its spotty web presence makes it hard to comment on here.

Elaine Showalter on academic fiction, and other links from the last old-style Review section in the Guardian: Ian Jack on Scottish food, Günter Grass on Berlin’s newest public sculpture, and Murray Bail on reading in translation (no aphorisms and anecdotes in English and American culture? Read some blogs, Murray).

Four and a half years ago I found a tattered passport photo and posted it on this site, kicking off an unexpectedly long run of noticing and posting similar stuff, one item at a time. It turns out that a lot of other people do the same; there must be something about the anonymity of found items and the anonymity of most of our readers that compels us to connect the two.

Read More · 16 October 2005 · · Site News

Charlie Brooker on knives: “If you live in a town, venturing outside at night is dangerous. Anything could happen to you ... 1: You could get stabbed in the chest. 2: You could get stabbed in the neck. 3: You could get stabbed in the knee, which would really hurt, because the blade would sort of glance off your kneecap without puncturing it ... it's a world of knives out there; knives, and hands holding the knives, repeatedly jabbing them in your direction.”

Standing Still

Kilmartin Standing Stones, August 2005

Read More · 10 October 2005 · · Site News

September 2005