Palimpsests

Occasionally I see a word that just has to be used, somewhere - anywhere. Today's word is palimpsest. According to Wikipedia a palimpsest is a document that has been wiped clean and used again (comes from the Greek to 'wipe clean', roughly speaking). Cicero and his fellow Romans used wax-coated tablets that - you guessed it - could be wiped clean and reused. Sounds like a technology we could (re)use today. Historically speaking palimpsests are especially useful when we are able to decipher what was written before. One 'original' document may have overwritten a previous version, like the Christian churches scrubbing out and writing over pagan beliefs (if not adapting them to suit their needs). It's a window into the past.

Blogs - useful or not?

This Wharton article can be summarised as describing a dichotomy formed from blog-readers (who believe that targeted reading in areas of speciality adds usefully to their own knowledge) and the blog-disbelievers (who don't recognise the credibility of bloggers and prefer the 'verified' accuracy of the established media). Take your pick. I'm biased. I write 'em. But I write because I love writing; and it leverages my personal learning agenda to research a topic and then write about it. That it is publicly accessible is a small yet significant bonus to me. If people read my work and get something out of it, great - I like to help. I also read blogs myself to get insights into other people's lives, interests and passions. I don't believe or embrace everything I read - certainly not in the established media, let alone the blogosphere - and I check the veracity of anything that matters with other sources. It's not rocket science, folks. It's just another channel. If you ignore or disdain that channel, so be it. It's not my loss, it's solely yours.

Yeah yeah I know

Yeah yeah I know - I really should follow my own advice and write more often. Sometimes it just doesn't happen... however I have updated this site!