A writing prof of mine once said this, ``If you can't write, you can't think." It's a bit harsh, but I've come to believe it's true. If you can't put your thoughts into words, there's no evidence to others that you have interesting or worthwhile thoughts. In this way, society's custodians of language references shape the way we think. If our society's custodians of language references start omitting certain families of words (offensive words, words for criticism, etc.) they start affecting the way we think. This effect is much more subtle and insidious than the outright criminalizing of certain types of thoughts (a la 1984, which I don't remember much of, by the way).
So, to anyone who wants to doctor my children's dictionaries, my children's thesauri, my children's encyclopedias, I cry foul. We should absolutely not stand for such things. I hope that legitimate custodians of the English language (Roget, Webster, Oxford, etc.) stand up and shine a spotlight on Micro$oft's unpardonable actions.
I (a Ph.D mathematician) highly recommend viewing the Nova special on Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem. The documentary is engaging, has a wonderful human element (can you imagine realizing your life's dream and then turning to face the rest of your life....what do you do?), and presents the mathematical ideas in a fashion that actually keeps you interested and is faithful to what's actually going on without being confusing (or condescending).
I imagine your local library ought to have a copy. If they don't, tell them to order one. Then go to your local College or University library. They better have a copy!
In the spirit of all those Slashdot conversations on the topic of "why aren't there more women crackers", I want Mr.Malda to reread the first sentence of this post.
Welcome to the new server guys.
Last I heard, "guys" was more exclusive than inclusive. So why not use the underappreciated "y'all"?! It works better than you might think.:)
Slashdot Mirror
So, to anyone who wants to doctor my children's dictionaries, my children's thesauri, my children's encyclopedias, I cry foul. We should absolutely not stand for such things. I hope that legitimate custodians of the English language (Roget, Webster, Oxford, etc.) stand up and shine a spotlight on Micro$oft's unpardonable actions.
I (a Ph.D mathematician) highly recommend viewing the Nova special on Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem. The documentary is engaging, has a wonderful human element (can you imagine realizing your life's dream and then turning to face the rest of your life....what do you do?), and presents the mathematical ideas in a fashion that actually keeps you interested and is faithful to what's actually going on without being confusing (or condescending).
I imagine your local library ought to have a copy. If they don't, tell them to order one. Then go to your local College or University library. They better have a copy!
In the spirit of all those Slashdot conversations on the topic of "why aren't there more women crackers", I want Mr.Malda to reread the first sentence of this post.
Last I heard, "guys" was more exclusive than inclusive. So why not use the underappreciated "y'all"?! It works better than you might think.
I couldn't find a link to an mpeg (maybe I'm blind). Have more mpeg versions been created
or mirrored? If so, where can I find one?