Archive for June, 2006

Skip the newfangled RSS - it’s all about the email list

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006

In preparation for my trip and subsequent study-abroad (eep! leaving in about 15 hours!), I was thinking about how I’m going to let everyone know what I’m up to. A lot of people who’ve gone abroad have created mailing lists to update their friends and family, but since I’ve already got a blog…
AaronBraver.com […]

Blog conversations and pop linguistics

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

A few days ago, I talked about some language podcasts. One of the Word Nerds commented on that post, and I replied.
That whole “conversation” got me thinking about blogs, the internet, and connectivity in general. It amazed me that I was able to write about something, and the creator of that particular something […]

Leavin’ on a jet plane (then a layover, then another jet plane, then a taxi…)

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

(Sorry about the title of this post - I couldn’t help it)
You’ll note that this post is categorized under “Adventures” - that’s because I’m about to take off (agh! I can’t stop the puns!) on what’s bound to be my greatest adventure yet.
I leave this Thursday for 10 days in Barcelona, Paris, and London, […]

I love adverts

Monday, June 19th, 2006

Folgers’ “Happy Mornings”
I really love good advertisements. For a while, I actually thought I might go into advertising (then I realized that I didn’t think I could lie on such a regular basis).
That being said, when I found ‘boards Magazine’s commercials screening room, I knew I’d lost the better part of an evening. […]

→  Awesome teddy-bear USB flash drive - You have to take off its head to use it. :/: No Comments »

Livin’ in a prescriptivist world (but I am not a prescriptivist girl)

Friday, June 16th, 2006

Wanted: a good language podcast that doesn’t just talk from a prescriptivist perspective.

I listen to two language programs - The Word Nerds (”A weekly podcast about words, language, and why we say the things we do) and A Way With Words (”A humorous and instructional joyride through the English language”). They’re both pretty funny, […]

Another reason I love linguistics: there’s active debate

Friday, June 16th, 2006

And that debate is accessible, even to non-linguists.
The internet was a-buzz recently with reports of the Aymara people, and their weird time-space paradigm (the report claims that they see the “future” as “behind” and the “past” as “in front”).
Linguists generally follow the maxim people who say that some language is unique for this or that […]

→  Thing A Week - Jonathan Coulton writes a song a week as "a way for [him] to keep the creative juices flowing as freely as possible...", and they're almost always hilarious. This is the site that gave rise to one of my new favorite songs, Code Monkey (with such hit lyrics as "Code Monkey thing maybe manager wanna write goddamn login page himself"), as well as to this week's bizzare Soft Rocked By Me. Link goes to a FeedBurner page, viewable in a browser or in your favorite RSS reader. :/: No Comments »

→  iPods more “in” than beer - According to a survey by Student Monitor, college students consider iPods more "in" than beer. The only other time beer wasn't listed as number one on the survey was in 1997, when it was ousted by that newfangled "internet" thing. :/: No Comments »

The BBC’s Doctor Who website rocks

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

Doctor Who is a big deal in the UK, and you can really tell from the BBC’s Doctor Who website.
The site is redesigned every week to reflect the most current episode. There are video specials, a photo gallery, an episode guide, character information, news, MP3 commentaries, screensavers, and oh yeah, a new *game* for […]

→  “Download This Song” - The music video for MC Lars' song about the recording industry's unwillingness to change their business model. It's catchy, too! (Via Danny) :/: No Comments »

Oh, the irony

Monday, June 5th, 2006

On 4 July, I’m going to be in the country from which the United States declared its independence.
I think I should have a 4th of July party just for the irony.

→  Roller derby pseudonyms for literature majors - My favorites: The Brothers Tearhisarmsoff and MacDeath. Sometimes the things on McSweeney's Lists just really crack me up. :/: 2 Comments &187;

Free from the cycle of really bad internet (or “How I came to hate Earthlink”)

Thursday, June 1st, 2006

We’ve had Earthlink DSL at home for several years. When we first got it, things were great. We were just coming off of a 56k dialup connection, and DSL felt like heaven. We found out that you could (*omg*) watch movies via the internet! Who woulda thunk it?!
We always had connection […]

Go read The Demolished Man

Thursday, June 1st, 2006

Yes, I know, two posts in a row demanding that you go consume some prescribed media, but too bad.
As per Danny’s (implied) suggestion (he’s not steered me wrong yet), I picked up a copy of Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. The book is a “police procedural” (think CSI, but cool), set in the XXIVth […]




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