http://www.litterarius.com Thoughts and ruminations on writing, reading, medicine, science, technical writing, et cetera Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:57:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In Remix, Lawrence Lessig distinguishes between commercial, sharing, and hybrid economies. The distinction is essential for the thesis of his book: unreasonably criminalizing copyright infringement leads to societal degradation by branding an entire generation of young people "thieves" (or, in Jack Valenti's unsubtle designation, "terrorists"). Following is a useful example ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=177 Torchwood: Children of Earth was something of a disappointment, but that's not worth a blog post (or at least, my opinion of it isn't worth a blog post). What may be worth a blog post (you be the judge) is how uncomfortably British the miniseries is, particularly in portrayal of ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=174 Reading "The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism" is a bit disorienting: Lethem seems to jump around quite a bit, and his prose isn't always smooth. Sometimes the setup—that nearly every sentence is cribbed directly from another source—works against him, so that bits of text don't cohere as they ought. Despite ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=170 My rabbit, Freckles (click on images for video): From 2009 Bunny vids http://www.litterarius.com/?p=168 One of the key turning-points in anthropological scholarship was the shift from voyeuristic accounts of primitive savages to taking native practices seriously (eg, Howard Bell Wright's The Shepherd of the Hills v. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God). I say this because I know it is true, and I want ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=157 Bill Cork, friend and blogfather of "Refuge," was the first on my blogroll to alert me about Fr. Albert Cutie's entry into the Episcopal Church. Then I heard the iMonk, Michael Spenser (3 posts in a row I've mentioned him, I just realized), deliver an inspired rant on the issue. ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=154 I first read Brennan Manning's The Ragamuffin Gospel when I was still a more-or-less devoted-but-frustrated Catholic, unknowingly leaning toward the emergent church. I didn't know then why I liked it so much, and I think the reason I didn't know is because I was an intellectual Catholic or a Catholic intellectual, ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=152 You have received this note because someone thinks you are a literary geek. Copy the questions into your own note, answer the questions. At the end, choose people to be tagged including the person who sent you this.   (To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=147 I've recently had an experience that has led me to some conclusions about something I've pondered for many years: whether we should tell disaffected or socially outcast young people that their day of victory over the bullies and the jocks is coming soon.  That bullies and jocks eventually work for ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=140 I went to a discussion held by a Catholic young adult group recently, and the topic was evangelism.  There were some good insights, but I came away less sure about the topic than I have been in the past. A scene from my past gave me some insight into this subject, ... http://www.litterarius.com/?p=134