Word and music by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer, arranged here for four voices.
Friday, July 24, 2009
"How to e-mail a professor" in print
My #1 hit, How to e-mail a professor, appears in the new eighth edition of Barbara Fine Clouse's The Student Writer: Editor and Critic, just published by McGraw-Hill.
Ten good questions follow my piece. I especially like this one:
Explain the reference to Maggie Simpson in paragraphs 10 and 15. Why do you think Leddy includes this reference?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
"[N]o respect without knowledge"
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. talks with CNN.
I wonder: presented with Gates' Harvard ID and driver's license, what did the police officer who went on to arrest Gates make of these items? Was he unable to see the man in front of him as a Harvard professor standing in his own house? (I think I just answered my own questions.)
I like the following passage from Gates for its suggestion that we may come to see one another as we really are:
Ours is a late-twentieth-century world profoundly fissured by nationality, ethnicity, race, class, and gender. And the only way to transcend those divisions — to forge, for once, a civic culture that respects both differences and commonalities — is through education that seeks to comprehend the diversity of human culture. Beyond the hype and the high-flown rhetoric is a pretty homely truth: There is no tolerance without respect — and no respect without knowledge. Any human being sufficiently curious and motivated can fully possess another culture, no matter how "alien" it may appear to be.
From the Introduction to Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), xv.
Raymond Chandler in Double Indemnity
Raymond Chandler wrote the screenplay for Double Indemnity (1944) with director Billy Wilder. But wait: there's more. As Mark Coggins shows us, Chandler appears in the film as an extra.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Firefox 3.5.1 : )
I'm now a happy user of the very fast Firefox 3.5.1, having figured out that my 3.5 problems were the result of the extension Tab Mix Plus. How did I figure it out? I installed 3.5.1, started the browser in Safe Mode, with all extensions disabled, and found that all was well. I quit and restarted and, on a hunch, tried disabling Tab Mix Plus. My guess was that the problems I had encountered with 3.5 were likely caused by an extension that affected the browser's interface. Sure enough — with Tab Mix Plus disabled, everything was fine.
The download on the Mozilla page for Tab Mix Plus isn't compatible with Firefox 3.5.1. But developer Gary Reyes has posted there a link to a new version: Tab Mix Plus for Firefox 3.5.1.
As many Firefox users already know, Tab Mix Plus is an incredibly handy extension: it has close to ten million downloads. Thanks to Gary Reyes for keeping Tab Mix Plus compatible.
A related post
Firefox 3.5 : (
The Right to Quiet Society
The Vancouver-based Right to Quiet Society opposes the use of what it calls "program audio": "canned music, radio, and television soundtrack, particularly when provided as a 'background' in places where people gather":
Program audio is particularly insidious because it encourages passivity and conformity: like so much else in our modern society, it calls on us to be consumers, mere sponges, rather than thinkers and doers with spontaneous responses.I recently learned that the waiting area at my doctor's office now features a television playing FOX News. The next time I'm there — promise — I'll ask someone in "charge" why television — much less cable news, much less the FOX brand — is a good idea for people waiting to see a doctor.
Even when program audio is pushed on us with good intentions, the underlying assumption is an insulting one: that our empty heads need to be kept filled with artificial stimuli so that we do not become insufferably bored.
Elaine recently wrote about the background music — or was it foreground music? — in a nearby bookstore. Or, as she would prefer, book store.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
SCOTUS breaking up
News from Benjo:
The Supreme Court of the United States will break up at the end of the term, allowing front man and Chief Justice John Roberts to pursue a solo career, sources say.Benjo is a very funny guy. Read the (also funny) rest:
"John has felt like the Court has really been holding him back creatively," said Edward Stapleton, a former clerk for Roberts who is close to the Chief Justice. "He does believe there are a lot of strong justices on the Court, don't get me wrong; but he is clearly the most talented. And he's definitely got the star power to make it as a solo justice."
The Supreme Court has been together for 220 years, and has had rotating lineups throughout that time. Indeed, the Court currently includes none of its founding members, but has nonetheless continued to adjudicate under the original Supreme Court name.
Chief Justice Roberts To Break Up Supreme Court, Pursue Solo Career (benjoblog)
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