Saturday, February 16, 2013

A heads-up about comments

I’ve noticed lately that many readers are leaving two or three versions of a comment. The second and third tries don’t seem to be matters of rethinking things: rather, they suggest that the commenter is uncertain about whether a comment has gone through, or stuck, or whatever the appropriate metaphor might be.

I moderate comments to keep spam and other kinds of unpleasantness from appearing on my blog, which means that comments don’t appear immediately. Not long ago, I added a paragraph to my minimalist comment policy (you see it when you click on a link for comments):

Notice the (easy-to-miss) text that appears at the top of the page after you leave a comment: “Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.” Comments don’t disappear; there’s no need to repost them.
I suppose that this paragraph, like Blogger’s message, is also easily missed.

Reader, keep the comments coming, please. But you can save yourself some tedium if you remember: once is enough.

Minimal talking

Strange to attend a concert and be exhorted from the stage to “keep your talking to a minimum.” I was prepared to sit and listen and not talk at all. Which I did anyway.

Friday, February 15, 2013

A few notes



From a page I made to accompany Marianne Moore’s poem “The Mind Is an Enchanting Thing.” I hope you agree that this paragraph is more fun than an anthology’s footnotes.

Other Marianne Moore posts
Marianne Moore magic
Q and A

[Nothing is certain but death and parataxis.]

Recently updated

C+ lawsuit continues It’s over.

Saving the post office Now with a link to a Washington Post piece on social media and the mail.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Saving the post office

“If they don’t find a way to make the postal system more essential to people’s lives, there is only one direction this thing can go”: Tucker Nichols explains why he is campaigning to save the post office.

*

February 15: From the Washington Post: Will social media help save the Postal Service and Saturday delivery?

C+ lawsuit continues

Says the judge, “I remain unconvinced the judiciary should be injecting itself in the academic process.” But the case goes on.

*

February 15: It’s over.

A related post
Suing in academia

An on-screen desk

At Submitted for Your Perusal, Matt Thomas writes about the on-screen representation of “what is often referred to as knowledge work”: Zoe’s Desk.

For Valentine's Day

“Seventy years later I’m still in a daze”: cdza presents Our Wedding Song, four couples and their songs. Take a tissue or two.

[My daughter Rachel deems this “the PERFECT video for Valentine’s day.”]

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

From Naked City

O dialogue of television past:

“All he does when he gets home is drink beer and look at Old Rabbit Ears — that’s what I call his portable TV.”
That’s from the Naked City episode “Go Fight City Hall,” first aired October 31, 1962.

Forty episodes from the series (though not this one) are now available in a ten-DVD set. Amazon has it for $24.99.

Other Naked City posts
Poetry and Naked City
A telephone exchange name: GRamercy
MUrray Hill
Another MUrray Hill
TWilight? TWinbrook? TWinoaks? TWining?

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Suing in academia

A former graduate student is suing the school where she received a C+ in a class. The damages asked: $1.3 million. And here’s more.

In other news, the Edwin Mellen Press and its founder are suing a blogging librarian and the university that employs him. The damages asked: $4.55 million. This news is sure to endear the Edwin Mellen Press to university librarians everywhere.

Thanks, Sara, for the C+ story.