Category Archives: Science & Technology

Little Things

or, The Lives of the Flu Cell

For me, microbiology always communicates a sense of secret revelation - it is so intimate, our very flesh & blood, and yet so intricate and strange. What a wonder to be able to see some small portion of the invisible entities that underlie our physical life! Here's an animation of a flu virus attack, from Zirus, Inc. via NPR.
Posted in Science & Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

RCB Bookmarks, Mid-January, 2009

Links on culture, reading, and the web.
Also posted in Arts & Literature, Margin Notes, Mind & Society, Reading Around | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WordPress 2.8 – Better Widgets?

Widget management is item #1 on the list of priorities for WordPress 2.8 development. I explored the cognitive psychology behind the widget management screen design in an earlier post, WordPress 2.5 Widgets?Taking the Load Off Your Mind. Here are the takeaway design suggestions.
Also posted in Margin Notes | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Infinite Book: The Plastic Logic Reader (and the Real Nature of Books)

A book is essentially whole, unitary -- a little world of human thought, word, & spirit, chosen, shaped, and bound within its covers. Books are bundles; a book is what is bound together. For what makes a book more than it's binding?
Also posted in Arts & Literature, Reading Around | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Gutenberg’s PC: The Espresso Book Machine

The Espresso Book Machine brings the flexibility and ubiquity of digital media to the old medium of printed paper books, extending the transformation that Gutenberg's press began, and putting the final say on publishing a book firmly in the hands of the authors and readers. So what will happen when everybody has one of these?
Also posted in Arts & Literature, Reading Around | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Shiny new software…

Snow outside, snow on Matt's blog, WordPress 2.7 (with a snazzy redesign and full support for child themes!), and Firefox 3.1 Beta 2. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Also posted in Margin Notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Does Your Book Deserve My Vote?

Kids react to books much as they react to their favorite candidates: they like them because everyone else does, adding titles to their favorites list even when they haven't read them. Voting for a Book, part of the Youth Radio series on NPR.
Also posted in Arts & Literature, Margin Notes, Mind & Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

August, 1945

Sixty-three years ago this week, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The enormity of the event, the inhuman scale of both this power and its consequences, is nearly impossible to communicate. How can one understand the power of a thousand suns unleashed upon whole cities? It became one of the defining stories for generations [...]
Also posted in Continuing Stories, Mind & Society, Reading Around | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There’s Something Happening Here…

Nicholas Carr says, This is your brain online. You've been warned. Now go forth and read.
Also posted in Mind & Society, Reading Around | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Civility on the Web (or, If you talk, be polite)

The New York Times explores calls for a Code of Conduct (like this from Jimmy Wales, or this from Tim O’Riley) on the web, as well as the motivations and secret lives of the Trolls Among Us; and Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, explains why A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy.
Also posted in Margin Notes, Mind & Society, Reading Around | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment