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The SAE Anagrams
Let’s see — how many words and phrases can we find in “Sigma Alpha Epsilon”? It’s a timely question, now that this national college fraternity (SAE for short) is back in the news: It’s taking heat for running its parties on a “White Girls Only” basis. This won’t help it recover from last March’s viral video…
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Supermoon Eclipse: What They’re Not Telling You
Blood moon. Supermoon. Total lunar eclipse. When these effects coincide (as they will Sunday evening, 10:11 p.m. Eastern time), itâs a very Big Deal. For all the scientific reasons youâre already hearing everywhere. And one non-scientific, personal reason youâll hear á´É´ĘĘ from me. First, the science: ⌠Total lunar eclipse: The earth comes directly between the…
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One Word: Vasty
Glendower: âI can call spirits from the vasty deep.â Hotspur: âWhy, so can I, or so can any man. But will they come when you do call for them?â (Shakespeare, Kɪɴɢ Há´É´ĘĘ á´Ęá´ Fá´á´Ęá´Ę, Pá´Ęá´ I, Act 3, Scene 1) This famous passage was my introduction to the word âvastyâ. I came across it while…
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Revisiting the Higgs Boson
Itâs hard to believe my report on the elusive Higgs particle is nearly a year old. If youâre reading these blog posts by email, you may have missed it: My âNotes from Stonehavenâ email newsletter was in recess last September. But the article is still evergreen. Catch it here: http://garymatthews.com/2014/09/still-chasing-god-particle/ Youâve almost certainly heard of…
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Treating Friends Like Enemies
We all naturally want to keep our enemies in the dark. But why should we expect to improve outcomes by keeping our ŇĘÉŞá´É´á´ s á´É´á´ sá´á´á´á´Ęá´á´Ęs in the dark? Even in dealing with enemies, this impulse isnât always smart. But what sense can it ever make in our relations with supposed allies? Sense or nonsense, it happens…
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One Word: Blog
Am I the only person annoyed by the word âblogâ? It reminds me of blob, glob, bog, grog, flog, and other words none of which do much for me either. Simply stated, blog is a word I experience as grating and vaguely unpleasant. That of course is only in terms of the way it sounds.…
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One Word: Disinterested
Disinterested is a word I find most interesting. Not á´É´ĘĘ because itâs so often misused. (Although it is — like âcompriseâ and so many more.) No, âdisinterestedâ fascinates me because it expresses a subtle, absolutely indispensable concept about which we need to think and talk. And because I canât think of any equivalent word we…
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Making My Post Into a Movie?
Did Hollywood make a movie from one of my blog posts? Not really. (Sigh!) In fact, the movie predated my article by two years. But I didn’t know! When I wrote recently about Words and Pictures, I hadn’t heard of the film. Yet there it is, starring Juliette Binoche and Clive Owen, and directed by…
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One Word: Worth a Thousand Pictures
Does anyone else feel oppressed by the âtyranny of picturesâ? I do, and Iâm fighting back with a new series of posts about words I love. Words that interest, fascinate, and delight me; words that (for me) carry depths of meaning mere pictures canât duplicate. One article per word — posted á´ĄÉŞá´Ęá´á´á´ á´ÉŞá´á´á´Ęá´s. Hereâs why…
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Lubuntu: Linux Even Leaner!
Recently I wrote that desktop Linux is now a practical alternative to Windows. Especially Windows XP, for which Microsoft has discontinued support and security updates. I based this suggestion on my delightful experience with Ubuntu Linux — the most popular of many Linux variants. (It has so many because itâs open-source freeware. Anyone can customize…
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Desktop Linux: Ready for Prime Time!
Linux, the free, open-source operating computer operating system, is ready for everyday desktop computing. Desktop Linux has been a long time coming. But at last, you can ditch Microsoft Windows. Or you can run it side by side with Linux, if you aren’t ready to cut the cord. Either way, you no longer are a…
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Real Names Are Highly Overrated!
Google recently reversed its “real names” requirement for members of its Google Plus social network. Good call, Google — and good riddance. It’s about time! In the Internet’s early days, being online was all about anonymity. You could create a mask. You could hide behind it in cyberspace. You could be — or appear to…