For no good reason, I’ve been reading some of the stories from the Decameron when I have a few minutes. Well, maybe the timing is the reason: each story is quick and easy to read. When I don’t have a lot of time or mental energy, I can open the thing at random and know […]
Author Archive | weeklyrob
Surprise. Wikipedia Can't Be Trusted
Wired reports that a cool (but extremely clunky) new tool called WikiScanner lets us all see who’s been making anonymous edits to wikipedia. Or, at least, which IP addresses. And of course, it turns out that those edits haven’t all been for the betterment and enlightenment of mankind. Nope, politicans trash others and prop themselves […]
Memory Lane
So, I already posted some stuff from my travel journal (about lots of non-travel stuff). This blog was definitely NOT going to be a place for my nostalgia about traveling. Not. And it still won’t be. But, as I said in that other post, I was skimming through some of the old stuff recently, and […]
Bad Writing
I’m reading an autobiographical book called, “Looking for Trouble,” by journalist and producer Leslie Cockburn. She’s done a lot of really exciting stuff all over the scariest parts of the globe, and her story is fascinating. But God do I hate her writing. It’s not that it’s flat, or dull, or without style. It’s that […]
Check Out the Brain on Rob
Just skimming through an old journal of mine from my overseas days, and I came across a swath of my writing about biology, evolution, and more. Man, I can’t even remember when I had so much time. To have hours to talk to someone without interruption, then to have time to think about it deeply, […]
MySpace Spam
I have a MySpace page. I make no apologies, but I don’t really go very often. Today, I dropped in and saw that I had a message from January. (As I say, I don’t go very often.) The message is from a girl I don’t know. Krystal. Here’s what she says: Hey Robert, How’s it […]
Stupid Fatwas
They saved the best for last, so make sure to read it. Fatwas.
Mixed Bag of Diversity
Apparently, while diversity in neighborhoods and cities can drive creative and economic forces, it can also lead to civic disengagement. People in diverse communities are more likely to: “… distrust their neighbors, regardless of the color of their skin, to withdraw even from close friends, to expect the worst from their community and its leaders, […]
Weird Science
Anyone who’s read a couple of posts here knows that I’m hung up on the use of language. But part of my exquisite beauty is that I can also get hung up on science. Today, I present a combination of the two. A misuse of a science term. Slate, which I like (and link to […]
I hear ya
I recently posted that, due to podcasts becoming mainstream, people aren’t as snooty about audiobooks as they used to be. But, according to this article in the NYT, many people in book clubs (bastions of literary pretension) disagree. Apparently, listening to the book is cheating. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks that reading letters […]