Archive for November, 2009

Telephony as example of ’simultaneous discovery’ by similar-looking men

  • November 19th, 2009
  • Posted in culture

So in reading the English Mechanic for an upcoming assignment, sitting in the Thomas Fisher rare books library at U of T, I came across an entry on the telephone, and wanted to confirm its invention date. While perusing wiki, I noticed a funny link, and followed it, to find two intriguing things. [ READ MORE ]

You call that offensive?: reflections on anonymity

What you think of as offensive is hilariously tame by the standards of the Internet. Your standards of decency are positively Victorian to the new generation of people who have grown up with and on the Internet. What am I talking about? If you’re like most average folks, you’ll say ‘fuck’ and ’shit’ from time to time. [ READ MORE ]

Twits and twats: an ethnographic account

Twitter is such a mysterious phenomenon. I mean, here is a site which shamelessly caters to contemporary individuals’ love for the feeling of having a group of friends, without any of the pesky responsibilities commonly associated with having such a group. High-frequency, low-commitment interaction: the ideal type of postmodern sociability, if such a notion is even [ READ MORE ]

More ecclesiastical follies.

Never trust a cut-rate theologian – you’ll end up needing a new foundation on them metaphysics in less than five years! [ READ MORE ]

Cipollini onion and mushroom tart

  • November 1st, 2009
  • Posted in food

Mmmm… [ READ MORE ]

Being critical of animal studies

So-called ‘critical animal studies’ is the kind of disciplinary identification that just seems designed to irritate me from the get-go. I mean you have the usual collision of disciplines (according to Wiki, it includes “scholars from fields as diverse as art history, anthropology, film studies, history, sociology, biology, psychology, literary studies, geography,philosophy and feminism or queer theory“), a collection that could be applied to just about [ READ MORE ]

Lucky moose findings, continued

Like something straight out of homestar runner. I guess this is the opposite of Decemberween, actually. [ READ MORE ]