Tag Archives: language

The Best Non-Fiction Book I Read This Year…

…was quite possibly a fiction book! I think I’ve mentioned before that I read mostly non-fiction – probably 80-90% NF to 10-20% Fiction.  But a recent Reddit thread on “eye-opening books that have improved the quality of your life” led me to a great fiction find. In the thread, somebody recommended Bill Bryson’s “A Short […]

Music Monday – “I’m putting all my fears down/I can hear the cheers now/See peace signs when I look around”

X-Factor is the new Simon Cowell owned-show he’s imported from the UK to compete with American Idol, the top-rated franchise he left last year.  Although both shows have similar formats, X-Factor allows groups, a wider age range for contestants and holds auditions in front of an audience instead of just the judges’ panel among other […]

The Tribesman Who Facebook Friended Me

A really interesting story about how Facebook has reached into places where you would least expect it. (I sometimes feel like I need to add this to any story I post that I find on MetaFilter but seriously, the MetaFilter comments make the original story 1000x better!)

We are the 99%

Depending on where you live (and where you get your news), the Occupy Wall Street movement, may or may not be on your radar. These protests, which started in New York but have since spread to other cities around the world, are “mainly protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of […]

Reddit, Free Speech and “Child Porn”

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the site, Reddit. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s currently my favourite site on the Internet. One of the reasons I like the site so much (and one of the site’s greatest advantages) is the fact that it literally has an unlimited […]

Cross-Linguistic Onomatopoeia

A discussion of how the song “Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes” is sung with a different melody in Canada then in other parts of the world leads to this awesome Wikipedia article about how a variety of animal sounds and other common noises are conveyed in different languages. (via MetaFilter)

Friday Fun Link – Scientists Create Video From Brain Waves

This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  Scientists have figured out a way to create (blurry, impressionistic) video of what a person is watching by scanning their brain waves! This was accomplished by the researchers watching a bunch of YouTube videos and creating a database of which parts of their brain “lit […]

“Rome Sweet Rome” – A Very Cool Web-Generated Novella

A Redditor asks if a modern battalion of a couple thousand Marines could beat the hundreds of thousands of men in the Roman Legion to take over the entire Roman Empire? That leads to one Redditor writing it up the idea as a very engaging novella, a dedicated sub-Reddit for further discussion of the idea and even […]

The New Generation Of Leadership: Jaime Garcia Hosts Rathika Sitsabaiesan in Regina

Unfortunately, I’m out of town this weekend but I really wish I could take in a couple events happening this Saturday where my local provincial NDP candidate is hosting one of the dynamic new NDP MP’s, Rathika Sitsabaiesan. This video of Ms. Sitsabaiesan’s inaugural speech in the House of Commons sends a tingle down my […]

The Art of Effortless Decision-Making

This article speaks to me. I think we probably all have that experience where decisions don’t get made because we’re paralyzed by trying to make the “perfect” choice or not trusting our intuition? The article reminds me of one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received.  I was trying to make one of […]