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The Aran Islands

John Millington Synge was a great Playwright who died too early, at age 38, of Hodgkin’s disease.  Synge was also a poet and a musician.  W.B. Yeats was a bit of a mentor to him, and Yeats told Synge that, in order to be a fine writer, he needed to expand his understanding of the world around him and then write about the experience. That advice is what led Synge to Galway Bay and the Aran Islands.  That travelogue, written in 1901 and published in 1907, still sings with a Gaelic heart that murmurs with life and mesmerizes today.

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Michael Moore Misquotes Bertolt Brecht

Over the weekend, filmmaker Michael Moore wrote a piece keeping the peace over the Ground Zero Mosque.  However, the most fascinating part of Michael’s argument was found pinned at the end of his article — as if an afterthought — where he tossed in a quote from German Playwright and Grand Thinker, Bertolt Brecht:

The man who speaks of the enemy
Is the enemy himself.

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Reverse Contextual Aural Discrimination: Did You Mean Ass Burger or Asperger?

A while ago, I did a Google search for “ass burger” — and while I can’t remember the why or wherefore, I do remember grabbing this screenshot of the event so we could discuss this later — meaning now.  I wonder how “Asperger” feels being included in a Google search return for “ass burger?”  Is this search return an example of “searching by sound” and not by rational context?  I can’t imagine “ass burger” is a common misspelling for “Asperger.”

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Memory Runoff Review

To live is to remember; and how we choose to consecrate our memories is what gives texture and context to our lives as the Panopticon becomes public.  Google is good at creating the instant now for future recall, but The Wayback Machine is the granddaddy of soliciting who used to be.  Today we have — Memento — a new contender for scrapbooking our online lives.  So who is the king of our remembering?  Wayback or Memento? 

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Cogency without Context

There’s a disturbing move afoot: Removing the vital call and reply learning dyad between instructor and student.  We learn by exchanging ideas in real time, not by filling in choices in an online multiple answer exam.

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Proper Pronunciation to You, Horrid Abomination to Me

I was walking home from the train this evening and I heard a woman speaking with someone on her mobile phone. She was talking about some restaurant and how much she enjoyed their food. She then proclaimed that they had absolutely delicious “fill-ehh mean-yawn.” I shuddered right there on the street. A complete and full ripple through my body. I was completely and utterly disgusted. What is wrong with me?

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Dick Licking: Memeingful Changes

This image of “Dick Licking” was emailed to us for wanton analysis
and mocking — and we are happy to oblige with the usual caveats and
exceptions:

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