Thursday, January 31, 2013
Garbage In, Culture Out
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Revolting Academics
Eleven leading British academic associations have issued an open letter
condemning government plans for open access publishing as a
“rushed policy” that threatens the “international standing
of British Universities and research.” Signed by the Royal Historical Society, the
Political Studies Association, and the Council for the Defence of British
Universities, among others, the critique calls open access a
“fundamental revolution” in academic life and expresses fears about the
publication of papers falling to university administrators. Academics Revolt Over Open Access
Monday, January 28, 2013
A Wealth of Words
There’s a positive correlation between a student’s vocabulary and the likelihood he'll graduate from college and his future income, Prof. E.D Hirsch, Jr. notes in a recent commentary. Vocabulary is a
relevant proxy for a range of educational attainments ― not just skill in reading, writing, listening, and speaking,
but knowledge of science, history, and the arts. “If we want
to reduce economic inequality,” he concludes, “a good place to start is the
language-arts classroom.” A Wealth of Words
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Secondary Thoughts
Not every adult feels the sustained
melancholic presence of their high-school years. Some simply
put in their time, graduate, and move on with their lives. But for many others, the adolescent years occupy a privileged place in their memories. Author and satirist Kurt Vonnegut aptly described high school as “closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of.” Perhaps, that's why some never fully abandon its confines even decades later. Why You Truly Never Truly Leave High School
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Idle Worship
“There is no such thing as not worshipping,” the writer David Forster Wallace once advised college graduates. “Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” He then delineated a litany of false gods that will fail us in the end: money, beauty, power, and intellect. With appreciation to Brain Pickings' Maria Popova for calling his address to our attention. This Is Water
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
What We Read Shapes Who We Are
Since broadband began its rapid expanse at the millennium's start, Internet use has skyrocketed. In 2012, users topped 2.4 billion, more than one in three of Earth's inhabitants. Time spent online averaged 16 hours a week
globally (double that in high-use countries). “We have changed how we interact,” the New York Times confirms. “Are we also changing what we are?” The question was posed to three knowledgeable observers. Their responses raise others. Are We Becoming Cyborgs?
Monday, January 21, 2013
Parsing Punditry
“A bun is the lowest form of
wheat,” my father would say to me as a lad, recalling the general opinion of
the status of the pun as a purported form of wit. As an inveterate punster in
my college days — I'll spare you the painful proof, I defended the art as a literary form, noting the self-evident
fact that puns are crafted to solicit groans, not laughs. But how did the pun
acquire such a dubious reputation? the BBC News Magazine asks and
answers. It's an intriguing analysis, as one might expect from the source, but, caveat emptor, cites
several puns. The Pun
Conundrum
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Tempus Non Fugit
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Word Inflation Drives Devaluation
“If we have a million photos, we tend to value each one less than if we
only had ten,” Yale University computer scientist David Galertner opens his reply to Edge's 2013 question: What should we be worried about? “The Internet forces a general devaluation of the written
word: a global deflation in the average word's value,” he continues. As
each word attracts less time and money from readers, it garners less time and effort from writers. As investment by writers and readers declines, society's ability to communicate decays, delivering what Galertner aptly describes as a “body blow to science, scholarship, the arts—to nearly
everything, in fact, that is distinctively human.” Worry About Internet Drivel
What, Me Worry?
The mission of Edge is succinctly, if self-servingly, stated: "To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most
complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have
them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves." Each year, Edge poses a question to its hand-picked clique of scientists, scholars, writers, artists, and sundry thinkers. This year, the question is: "What should we be worried about?" The essays culled for publication merit our attention, if only for the insights they provide into what the self-proclaimed "Brights" may have in mind for the 99%. Verbum Sapientis will spotlight a few of our selections here. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
From Culture to Kitsch
Monday, January 14, 2013
Of Friends
"The mind's impromptu likes or dislikes, its ecentric detours, are the quirks that cement friendship," contributing editor Edward Hoagland opens his essay "On Friendship" in the latest American Scholar. Love for parents, spouse, children seems "as natural as leaves sprouting," he affirms. Yet, the luxuriance of love continues where no self-replication is involved, no guardianship of clan, and "survival defers to whimsey, grace, and elan, where civilization takes hold." Deo gratias, for even if friendship were unnecesary, like philosophy and art, as C.S. Lewis posits, "it is one of those things that gives value to survival." On Friendship
Sunday, January 13, 2013
A Page Turner
"Lovers of ink and paper, take heart," the astute cyber critic Nicholas Carr writes in the Wall Street Journal. "Reports of the death of the printed book may be exaggerated." In proof of his premise, he notes that 9 out of 10 regular book readers report reading a printed book during the past year, while 70% did not read a single e-book. "There's something
about a crisply printed, tightly bound book that we don't seem eager to
let go of," Carr concludes.
Don't Burn Your Books - Print Is Here To Stay
Don't Burn Your Books - Print Is Here To Stay
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Worth Noting
Friday, January 11, 2013
Editors: An Endangered Species?
At first blush, it may seem somewhat
self-serving for my first reference to be to a commentary ― however cogent ― on
the decline and fall of the professional editor. If the editor's loss of
livelihood concerns me, however, the loss of quality editing concerns me far
more, for it is a death in the family, the familia literatorum of
editors, writers, and readers. As such, it should be mourned.
The Decline and Fall of the American Editor
The Decline and Fall of the American Editor
Thursday, January 10, 2013
A Word of Welcome
Welcome to Verbum Sapienti. This cybernook has been created to serve as a window to a world of words and information for my ESL students and others who share our love for words as germinators and carriers of ideas.
I hope it will stimulate your thoughts on matters worthy of your time and consideration, while enhancing your linguistic skills in sharing them with others. Of course, your ideas and comments are always welcome ― here or offline. ✍
I hope it will stimulate your thoughts on matters worthy of your time and consideration, while enhancing your linguistic skills in sharing them with others. Of course, your ideas and comments are always welcome ― here or offline. ✍
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