How video games are changing the economy, the story behind the mythological toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad, and the merits of being grossed out.
On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.
The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.
How Videogames Are Changing the Economy
This fall, the Chinese National University of Defense Technology announced that it had created the world’s fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-1A, which clocks in at 2.5 petaflops (or 2,500 trillion operations) per second. This is the shape of the world to come—but not in the way you might think.
Playboy Mansion Is ‘Squalid Prison’
A key part of the Playboy image involves the Playboy Mansion, the enviable setting of star-studded parties. But some of Hefner’s so-called girlfriends have started talking about the inner workings of the place, revealing it to be more like a prison than a palace of love.
WHY BEING GROSSED OUT IS GOOD FOR YOU
Maggots. Rotten meat. Pus-oozing sores. Grossed out yet? Probably. The emotion of disgust is universal, strong and easy to invoke. But there’s a good reason for instinctive disgust: it can keep us alive.
Vatican Works to Change the Subject
The Catholic Church appears to have concluded that the best way to keep everyone from talking about sex abuse is to change the subject—to demons.
The Elements of Clunk
A whole new strain of bad writing has come to the fore, not only in student work but also on the Internet, that unparalleled source for assessing the state of the language.
Man Busted For Building ‘Vibrator Bomb’
A Minnesota man is facing felony charges after police discovered that he had retrofitted a vibrator, turning the sex toy into a homemade explosive device.
If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.
LL: A whole new strain of bad writing has come to the fore, not only in student work but also on the Internet, that unparalleled source for assessing the state of the language.
Not a joke.
Google has a major project of great importance in this domain. After having indexed various books and documents as far back as the 19th century, they are now doing research into the employment of words and how they may change over time as a result of the frequency of their usage.
For instance, the word “religion”, it appears, showed increasing frequency of usage throughout the 19th century and up to about 1920 when it suddenly leveled off and has remained constant since.
What can one make of such usage behaviour? That it took an insanely brutal war, in terms of casualties, to make people wonder if the belief in God was really worth it?
After Oklahoma Disaster, Give Thanks to Government
Email 
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Newsletter 
Like Us
Follow Us
Get Our Feed
By Lafayette, January 8, 2011 at 2:33 am Link to this comment
Not a joke.
Google has a major project of great importance in this domain. After having indexed various books and documents as far back as the 19th century, they are now doing research into the employment of words and how they may change over time as a result of the frequency of their usage.
For instance, the word “religion”, it appears, showed increasing frequency of usage throughout the 19th century and up to about 1920 when it suddenly leveled off and has remained constant since.
What can one make of such usage behaviour? That it took an insanely brutal war, in terms of casualties, to make people wonder if the belief in God was really worth it?
Go figure ...
Report thisBy Lafayette, January 8, 2011 at 2:25 am Link to this comment
What in heaven’s name does a teraflop computer in China have to do with “videogames” and how they are changing the economy?
This is taking Journalistic License” a bridge too far ... comes from too much time spent keyboarding in front of a screen.
Report this