Category — General

Prof. Roversi from Uni. Bologna passed away. He was a colleague of mine and we exchanged email over the years. I will always remember that he caught a train to come visit me in Milan, his train was delayed because of threats to bomb the tracks, but nonetheless we had a very nice meal and a great discussion. The world will be a lesser place without his presence and insights.

Antonio Roversi, in memoriam

ANTONIO ROVERSI MUORE PREMATURAMENTE…GIÀ

Due lutti colpiscono l’Alma Mater

YouTube – Mika Brzezinski of MNSBC rips Paris report:
Mika Brzezinski of MNSBC rips Paris report

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at least there is one journalist who realizes what is newsworthy and what is not.

life’s big decision: lotto or phd?
:
Subject: Lotto or a Ph.D.?

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lotto is way better:)

History of Science Society | Teaching and Research:

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some of you may find this useful.

The Bitchy Sweetness of Peperoncino Honey:
Just add a cup of a neutral honey to a pot, along with a generous pinch of peperoncino. When just at the point of boiling, pour the honey into a container and let it cool for a few hours. The oils of the chili will have infused into the honey, creating a bottle of bitchy sweetness all your own.
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i think the bitchy sweetness is a bit much, but peppery good honey…. i can see the merits of that.

GOOD COPY BAD COPY:
GOOD COPY BAD COPY
- a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture

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I watched this is in second life, it is a pretty good overview of some of the issues in copyright culture.

Steve Talbott:
Why should I pay a school $160,000 for a vocational education when I can almost certainly find a business or agency or laboratory or nonprofit organization willing to hire me for nothing, assign me some useful chores, and give me an opportunity to start learning my desired vocation?
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The purpose of education, at least in the liberal arts and in the sciences, is not vocation, vocation comes later, you are not prepared for some vocations without an education in the liberal arts and sciences. Oh you can do the job, but you won’t be able to go as far in the job as quickly, and you will have much fewer faculties and tools to adapt to changes in the jobs, to understand what the real job is, beyond the performance of work. we need to be careful here, because there are to few vocations left.

Threat Level – Wired Blogs:
The four librarians under the gag order weren’t allowed to talk to each other by phone. So they e-mailed. Later, they weren’t allowed to e-mail.

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librarians are dangerous folk, they must be hiding something.

Facing Middle Age With No Degree, and No Wife – New York Times:
Beyond the questions of finances and health, there is the issue of how content these men are. All the men interviewed for this article looked younger than their age. All said they were happy with their lives, even Mr. Cunningham, with his clear longing for a family of his own, and Mr. Thomas, of Fort Collins, who said he might move to Denver to meet more women.

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there seems to be an implicit assumption that they would be better off married in this article. I find that problematic.

About:About – Shareideas:
ShareIdeas.org is an online community and a wiki for sharing ideas on how to use mobile communications for social and environmental benefits.
ShareIdeas.org was created with support from Nokia and Vodafone, but belongs to the growing global network of individuals and organizations that use this virtual gathering place to communicate – and collaborate.
The idea for ShareIdeas.org came from Ndidi Nwuneli, founder and CEO of LEAP Africa, a Nigerian NGO dedicated to nurturing a new generation of African leaders.
“Groups like ours would really benefit from a resource that shows us how to use mobile technology to carry out our work more effectively,” said Ndidi at a Nokia stakeholder event of NGO and corporate leaders.

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this seems like a great project.