Monday, May 21, 2012

Links


  1. Charles Simic in NYRB: Why I Still Write Poetry. Simic had me hooked right in the first paragraph:

    When my mother was very old and in a nursing home, she surprised me one day toward the end of her life by asking me if I still wrote poetry. When I blurted out that I still do, she stared at me with incomprehension. I had to repeat what I said, till she sighed and shook her head, probably thinking to herself this son of mine has always been a little nuts. Now that I’m in my seventies, I’m asked that question now and then by people who don’t know me well. Many of them, I suspect, hope to hear me say that I’ve come my senses and given up that foolish passion of my youth and are visibly surprised to hear me confess that I haven’t yet. They seem to think there is something downright unwholesome and even shocking about it, as if I were dating a high school girl, at my age, and going with her roller-skating that night.

  2. Yoni Appelbaum in The Atlantic: How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit. Worth reading to get some insights into the online culture at two sites that depend totally on contributions from their users.

  3. The Oatmeal (comics): Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived. Warning: Don't click if you are a fan of Edison. [Update: This post attempts a fact-check (Via this comment; thanks, Anirban!) Update 2: A rebuttal from The Oatmeal (thanks, Priyank!)]

4 Comments:

  1. Anirban said...

    Hi Abi,
    a continuation of the Edison-Tesla discussion -- http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/05/18/nikola-tesla-wasnt-god-and-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/

    best

    -anirban

  2. KRK said...

    Dil tho bacha hi ji...
    Thoda kacha hi ji...

  3. PKBang said...

    That "fact-check" article is pretty darn ridiculous. Like 99.99% of all science-related articles on Forbes, guardian of elitist narratives.

    I could go into the details of its fallaciousness but The Oatmeal already covered most of it in this response: http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response

    -Priyank

  4. Nappinnai NC said...

    I loved the article on Tesla-Edison.

    First of all to compare, there has to be some common grounds(like humanitarian or scientific or artistic etc) which do not exist between Tesla & Edison. Edison is a contradiction to humaneness and scientific ingenuity & integrity. Chapter is closed for discussion. How pathetic is that majority of the people are scientifically uninformed and think Edison is a genius.

    Forbes and Tesla have nothing in common!!! Media here reports ridiculously. One guy who gives me the true pleasure of watching TV(HBO) is Bill Maher. An hour spent on him is very rewarding and its absolutely kick-ass humor.