Harvard Chief, at Commencement, Vows Change. Speaking on Harvard's 352nd commencement day, Lawrence H. Summers, the university's president, pledged to reshape the undergraduate experience, including the core curriculum. By David M. Herszenhorn. [New York Times: Education] If i were he, which i am not, i would propose the following changes. The core curriculum should be […]

Fail while daring greatly. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; […]

Museum of the History of Science. The Museum of the History of Science , Oxford, has an impressive collection of online exhibits – from medieval scientific instruments and the history of cameras to images of Tycho Brahe and 'the geometry of war' – mathematics and the early modern European battlefield. [MetaFilter] lots of interesting work […]

Cheese 'can be as addictive as morphine' [Ananova: Quirkies] this gives new meaning to aardman movies.

Subculture morphology [bOing bOing] ok, this has been an argument that I've made to quite a few people since I've been around 14, subcultures are about normalization to a different aspect of the same thing, it is about changing yourself to be like others, not about being yourself. if you want to be you, strick […]

Intern for the Lafayette Project. Are you in the New York City area and looking for an interesting project? We are looking for an intern here at the Lafayette Project. Job description follows: The Lafayette Project is looking for an intern with geek tendencies and an interest in bringing weblogs to a wider audience. Familiarity […]

Hodgman on food. John Hodgman, former professional literary agent, is now a food columnist (my dream job!) for Men's Journal. In April he went In Search of the Next Big Fish. In May, we discover him Rediscovering the Lost Art of Bitters. And a quick search yields many more results, including an article extoling “the […]

get it while you can. Jed Horovitz has produced an extraordinary film about the “culture wars” which may well not be around for long. You can get Willful Infringement on DVD. Many people should. When the lawyers find this, we'll need archives stored in many places. (Note: the web page says I'm in the film, […]

For poorer and for poorer. For young couples trying to start a new life together, the dismal economy means more fighting, postponed weddings — and less sex. [Salon.com] [A blog doesn't need a clever name] this is increasingly true, espectially given college costs and students loans….

On the virtual, some thoughts on social computing and the value of disciplinary heresy. I need to reflect on the feedback I got on my conference presentation, so I'm just going to think out loud for a bit. If you weren't there (and even if you were) you can take a look at the (829 […]