Miscellanea #16

A continuing series of noteworthy tidbits gleaned from all over.

Thousands flee California fires
Thousands of people flee their homes as firefighters struggle to control wildfires in southern California. (BBC News | WORLD)

and I am in this state, lady, because of you.
It is, alas, the wrong bloody skull. Historians examining the tomb of the great Italian Renaissance poet and scholar, Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch to the rest of the world, have found that although the body is his, the head is someone else’s…. (Ben Hammersley’s Dangerous Precedent)

Warriors’ tongues
Since 1992, a small band of scholars has dedicated itself to the study of an obscure language. They’ve translated Hamlet and the Bible into tlhIngan Hol, their field of study. And although the language is extinct — there are no native speakers of tlhIngan Hol — their efforts and the efforts of a few sympathizers have ensured that millions of people throughout the world have heard at least a few words of it…. (Snarkout)

The weblog as the model for a new type of virtual learning environment?
I’ve not yet, and may never do so, reach any conclusions about what I’m considering currently. The more I look at, and have experience of using or enhancing, weblogs the more educational potential I see in this genre. I’m certainly not going to put them forward (yet) as full-blown Learning Management Systems but as candidate engines for alternative and perhaps more satisfactory virtual learning environments? … probably yes….(del.icio.us/tag/education)

Moka Pot
I just bought one of these Moka Pot stove top espresso maker things. Some people swear by them, others write essays about them not making ‘true’ espresso. I’ll be the judge of that. Going to grind some beans right now…. (seanbonner)

Mo’ Better Blogging With Newton
Moblogs are the latest in cutting-edge personal publishing. To partake, users tend to require a pricey smartphone or fancy handheld, but several are using ancient technology — Apple’s orphaned Newton. By Leander Kahney. (Wired News)

100 days
Follow the countdown to Athens with Olympic facts relevant to the days to go. (BBC Sport | Olympics 2004 | UK Edition)

Athens hit by triple bomb blast
Explosions outside police station unnerve Greek security forces 100 days before the Olympics. (Guardian Unlimited)

Artists for censorship
Reason Unreasonable When It Comes to Censorship. Tim Cavanaugh argues in ReasonOnline that Pat Boone’s recent testimonial in favor of censorship is inaccurate, not because ‘the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market’ but rather because free expression is completely ineffective, and thus harmless. I’ve read this twice, looking for a hint of irony, and if there is any, it is too subtle for me to notice. (Cinemocracy.beta: Cross-pollinating Hollywood and Washington since 2004) (Cinema Minima)

WiFi On Two Wheels
Yury Gitman is not the average cyclist from Brooklyn. His goal is to bring more easily accessible free wireless hotspots to the masses. To do this, he has created what he calls the Magicbike, a bicycle equipped with a laptop, power supply and antenna. Gitman’s bike has allowed people in NYC to browse the internet freely in local parks and gardens. ‘I am like the ice cream man, but with no music and I deliver free wireless access and not ice cream’. (Slashdot)

NPR Senior Correspondent Bob Edwards
Edwards, former host of NPR’s Morning Edition, was reassigned just last week and is now a senior correspondent for NPR. He is the author of the new book Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism. Edwards is also the author of Fridays with Red, about his radio friendship with legendary sportscaster Red Barber. (Fresh Air)

Will Buckley on why he hates football
Fifteen years writing about football have left Will Buckley with a problem: he hates football. He also hates the people who play it, watch it and write about it. So how did a six-year-old boy’s obsession become the object of a 40-year-old’s loathing? (Guardian Unlimited)

British Birds
Bird lovers in the UK might like this one: British Garden Birds. British Garden Birds has evolved from being a winter’s day project to learn about web publishing to a leading and award winning reference for casual and dedicated garden birdwatchers, but also teachers and schoolchildren. (J-Walk Blog)