OUPblog: Steel Drivin' Man: An Excerpt

OUPblog: Steel Drivin' Man: An Excerpt:

It's not everyday that the true history behind a folk icon is discovered. Scott Reynolds Nelson has done just that in Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry The Untold Story of an American Legend. By using census data, penitentiary reports and railroad company reports Nelson follows the trail of John Henry from jail to the legendary contest with a steam drill. Below we have excerpted the beginning of chapter one.

Mencken, H.L. 1921. The American Language

Mencken, H.L. 1921. The American Language:

"This classic was written to clarify the discrepancies between British and American English and to define the distinguishing characteristics of American English. Mencken’s groundbreaking study was undoubtedly the most scientific linguistic work on the American language to date and continues to serve as a definitive resource in the field."

Why Good Programmers Are Lazy and Dumb

Why Good Programmers Are Lazy and Dumb: "I realized that, paradoxically enough, good programmers need to be both lazy and dumb."

Obviously, not too lazy and dumb...

Wired 14.11: Very Short Stories

Wired 14.11: Very Short Stories: "We'll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ('For sale: baby shoes, never worn.') and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves."

Includes:

Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
- Joss Whedon

rogueclassicism: This Day in Ancient History

rogueclassicism: This Day in Ancient History: "ante diem x kalendas novembres: 4004 B.C. -- according to Bishop Ussher, the universe was created "

headsup: the blog: How not to screw up poll reporting

headsup: the blog: How not to screw up poll reporting: "4a) It ain't that complicated. 'The poll of 600 registered voters was conducted Oct. 18-20 by the Gallup Organization for the Daily Blatt. It has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level' will do. Don't tell me readers won't understand it; you run earned-run averages every day."

How Many of Me - Census Search

How Many of Me - Census Search

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 341 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Enthusiast uses Google to reveal Roman ruins

news @ nature.com - Enthusiast uses Google to reveal Roman ruins - Google Earth programme leads to remains of ancient villa.: "Using satellite images from Google Maps and Google Earth, an Italian computer programmer has stumbled upon the remains of an ancient villa."

h/t: Mirabilis

:: rogerebert.com :: People :: Roger writes from rehab (xhtml)

:: rogerebert.com :: People :: Roger writes from rehab (xhtml): "For 40 years, I didn't miss a single deadline, but since July, I have missed every one. I also, to my intense disappointment, missed the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Having just written my first review since June ('The Queen'), I think an update is in order."

Namespacing your JavaScript

Namespacing your JavaScript: Uses self-invocation to set up a namespace. I prefer the var SCC = new function() { }; notation.

Vinland Map Enthusiast's Site

Vinland Map: By J. Huston McCulloch, who still seems to hold out hope that it is not a forgery.

Timothy Titus to Corinth

The visit of "Timothy" and "Titus" to Corinth: Richard Fellows has the maps.

Безѹмниѥ : Some historical Chinese resources

Безѹмниѥ : Some historical Chinese resources: "Jacques Guillaume’s Introduction to Chinese Historical Phonology is, for all its lecture-note brevity, a fine presentation of the basics of the field."

Language Log: Hangul Day

Language Log: Hangul Day: "Hangul is considered a great achievement for several reasons. First and foremost, it is a perfect alphabet."

Lexicon of Greek Personal Names

Lexicon of Greek Personal Names

Classics-L: Prospects for a Greek grammar

[2006: October] Prospects for a Greek grammar: "Victorian idealists had an influential but very flat-footed reading of Plato. According to them, to put it quite briefly, Plato said truth equals being equals one, and he said this over and over in very simple ways. To argue against such a reading you naturally go to the text and argue against, say, Jowett's translation. But Liddell and Scott cause a problem because they took these idealists as authorities for the translation of Plato."

The writer of the message, Colin McLarty, goes on to discuss Smyth's grammar as well.

PrawfsBlawg: Course materials copyright conundrum

PrawfsBlawg: Course materials copyright conundrum: "But the trickier question and the one that’s been on my mind since class is whether the prof who assembled the materials (or the law school as assignee of the copyright) would have an infringement claim against the student if she did copy it."

That would be the academic question. The practical question, however, is: can the student afford to pay the judgment?

PrawfsBlawg: When is Forthcoming Work "Forthcoming"?

PrawfsBlawg: When is Forthcoming Work "Forthcoming"?

gthomas : Message: New DeConick Commentary

gthomas : Message: New DeConick Commentary: "I received my copy of April DeConick's 'The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation' in yesterday's mail. Obviously, I haven't had a chance to read it from cover to cover, but I am certainly impressed by what I have seen so
far."

Religion Clause: En Banc Review Sought In California Library Use Case

Religion Clause: En Banc Review Sought In California Library Use Case

If the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declines to rehear the appeal "en banc," then the next step is to ask the Supreme Court to take the case.