1. Gather round, kids, to hear the story of warez, a word that used to practically set my heart racing.

"Warez is a virtual, global network of people copying, cracking and distributing copyrighted digital artifacts. This paper gives an empirical insider account of the waxing and waning of the Warez music sub-community known as the ‘MP3 scene’. Afforded by the MP3 file format, this playful yet proficient piracy practice grew exponentially from 1995 to 2004–2005, and then withered. Our objective is to explain both the rise and the fall of the MP3 scene. We argue that a self-motivating virtuous cycle of passion in We-mode, supported by technological and organizational factors, was the engine for growth. Unforeseen and unintended side effects of the same factors, however, gradually made this engine of passion come to a halt. The dominant mode of sociality had slowly shifted from a 'We-mode' to an 'I-mode' technoculture. The communal spirit kindling in the early years was replaced by a more market-like form of sociality. Technological and organizational arrangements can connect people, but may also disconnect them." (firstmonday.org)

2. On time.

"It’s possible to live in more than one time, more than one history of the world, without feeling a pressing need to reconcile them. Many people live in a sacred time—what the religious historian Mircea Eliade called 'a primordial mythical time made present'—and a secular time, 'secular' from the Latin saeculum, an age or a generation. Sacred time, 'indefinitely recoverable, indefinitely repeatable,' according to Eliade, 'neither changes nor is exhausted.' In secular time, on the other hand, each year, month, second, is a unique and unrepeatable unit that disappears even as it appears in the infinitesimal present." (laphamsquarterly.org)

3. Virginia Heffernan goes deep into texting.

"Texting appears banal, maybe, to everyone but teenaged girls. Far from it: the reading and writing of texts is in fact so intoxicating and habit-forming that it’s fast replacing alcohol and drugs as the chief catalyst of traffic accidents. Even adults, apparently, will risk our lives to keep texting. Texting also comes with a serious quotient of role-playing. Lower case? Text abbreviations? Emoji? Vulgarities? Punctuation? Sexting? A default to the bygone 160-character limit — or a push-over into multi-paragraph email length? The invention of a texting style — a texting persona, no less — can consume the first year or two of a texter’s practice." (medium.com)

4. A worthy journalistic experiment.

Ebola Deeply is an independent digital media project launched by a team of journalists and technologists, working to improve the state of information around a global crisis. Our goal is to build a better user experience of the story by adding context to content, integrating expertise in science, health, and public policy with a range of voices on the ground. Our team is committed to a collaborative and solutions-driven model of journalism, surfacing new insights and elevating voices with knowledge to share. With time, we hope to add greater clarity, deeper understanding, and more sustained engagement to the global conversation. (eboladeeply.com)

5. A Pew study last year found that the CDC had a 75% favorable rating, highest of all Federal agencies.

"Nine of the 13 federal agencies and institutions included in the survey are viewed favorably by 60% or more of the public. The agencies with the strongest ratings include: The Centers for Disease Control or CDC (75% favorable), NASA (73%), the Defense Department (72%), the Veterans Administration (68%) and the Department of Homeland Security (66%). About six-in-ten (61%) have a favorable view of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is responsible for implementing the 2010 Affordable Care Act. And 54% have a favorable opinion of the National Security Agency (NSA)." (people-press.org)

Today's 1957 American English Language Tip

comptroller, cont-. The first spelling is erroneous, being due to false association with count (Fr. conter from L. computare), but is retained in certain official titles.

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Lower Case? Text Abbreviations? Emoji?