So Jonah Lehrer plagiarizes himself. How novel. Not.

Artists and authors of all stripes have been re-purposing and re-using their own stuff for millenia. Hell, 2/3 of Picasso’s oeuvre is largely the same. (Well, Paloma, time for Daddy to go to work. Different day, same naked fat chicks on the beach. C’est la vie!) Of course, ‘journalism’ is different. One must not re-use any material without proper attribution, of course. So his crime is one not so much of copying as in not informing people that he was copying.

Now I have really enjoyed Lehrer’s work. He has some great ideas on how humans ‘operate’, including his recent book on ‘creativity.’ I don’t condone this failure, but as Dr. Manhattan might say, “I understand, without condoning or judging.” Ironically, some of his best writing has been about the affects of technology on how we think. And I believe he has been hoisted on his own petard.

Point Number One: Look, it’s a cut n’ paste world. You know that. Even though […]

Today was a weird day. I learned a couple of things that seem small, but feel pretty big to me right now.

First of all: After thirty five years in Amerikay, I still spell like Rudyard Kipling. I fantastise about the Girl From Ipanema. I live in a neighbourhood. Because that’s that was the flavour of culture the Christian Bros. beat into us (that’s a multi-layered joke if ever there was one.) Because that’s what the OED said. And by God if the OED says so? Well there you have it! My friends think it’s crazy that I could so easily adopt a mid-western accent but hold onto the ‘antiquated’ spelling—the exact opposite of every other self-respecting ex-foreigner.

But today I stumbled upon the fact that the OED now considers both ‘ise’ and ‘ize’ are considered correct. And then the final indignity: ‘ize’ is now the preferred rendition. WTF? (Same on both sides of the ocean.) Self-improvement goal #461.

What I find disturbing is that the OED, of all things so stable; so […]