New word of the day: tremendomeatatarianism. A tremendomeatatarian is someone who only undertakes to eat meat that is “tremendously delicious”.
The tremendomeatatarian respects the fact that his food came from a living being, which died to provide him with dinner, and which may have suffered or be rare and overfished. Or perhaps it’s bad for [...]
How do you like your tremendomeatatarianism? Rear, medium?
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 8 March, 2010 to the trends subset
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This sucks, fewer people are interested in the work of film critics
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 3 March, 2010 to the trends subset
The short, sharp, and instant “critiques” of movies by film-goers, which often go along the lines of “it sucks”, and delivered by way of blogs or Twitter, are diminishing the relevance of more formal film reviews.
The transfer of film criticism from its print-based platforms (newspapers, magazines, and academic journals) to ectoplasmic Web-page billboards has [...]
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How do I say no when offered plastic shopping bags?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 2 March, 2010 to the trends subset
While there are couple of ways you could go here, I vote for the “I brought my own bag” option.
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David can defeat Goliath when it comes to crowd conformity
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 2 March, 2010 to the trends subset
Have you ever been in a group of, say, ten people who cannot decide on a place to eat, even though there are a dozen restaurants in sight? This indecision is just one example of crowd conformity. The group cannot decide, and no one wants to break ranks with the group’s… will.
However one person, with [...]
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Some guidance as to whether or not to opt out of chain messages
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 1 March, 2010 to the trends subset
I think this leaves little doubt as to what to do.
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What might have happened if the internet was not invented?
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 1 March, 2010 to the trends subset
The other week, an article written in 1995 by Clifford Stoll who – in short – could see no future for the internet, resurfaced.
While events obviously took a different course, Stoll’s words started me wondering about a world without an internet, and what our lives in 2010 might be like in the absence of [...]
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Superman and Batman comics auctioned for superhuman prices
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 25 February, 2010 to the trends subset
A copy of the very first Superman comic sold recently at auction for US$1 million, and now a first edition Batman comic is tipped to fetch almost as much when it goes up for sale.
A rare copy of the first Superman comic book, Action Comics #1, sold for $1 million on February 22, a [...]
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New words are often not so new words making a return visit
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 24 February, 2010 to the trends subset
Words and terms such as “d’oh”, “regift”, and the Wayne’s World-ian use of “not” (this is a new word – not!), rather than being relatively new, have merely emerged from hiatus, according to study of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
“Truthiness” is a great example of a sleeping beauty. Seemingly coined in the debut episode of [...]
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Sydney’s small bars and a small win for local government
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 22 February, 2010 to the trends subset
Gaffe and blunder prone they may be, but local government in NSW has managed to notch up one success, liquour law reform that has facilitated the (much needed) emergence of small hole-in-the-wall bars in and around Sydney
Success is not a word used often by Sydneysiders to describe the efforts of local and state [...]
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Crowdfunding my new book by way of micro-patrons
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 18 February, 2010 to the trends subset
Last year US writer Deanna Zandt took the “unusual approach” of “crowdfunding”, or asking people to make contributions – or donations – so she could take some time out to write a book.
Using the wisdom of the crowd to research a book is nothing new. Clay Shirky based a whole tome around the concept. [...]
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