Category Archives: Media

Robin Williams, suicide, and “getting it”

Posted on August 13, 2014 by nkrishna

Robin Williams, who starred in many formative movies of my childhood and released comedy that had my high-school friends and I in stitches, took his own life this week. He’d struggled with alcohol and drug addition, and severe depression, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Personal | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

On Linguistics and Public Outreach

Posted on March 24, 2014 by nkrishna

Earlier in the week A couple weeks ago, I posted three questions about science communication in the field of linguistics: Who is the Carl Sagan or Neil DeGrasse Tyson of linguistics? In other words, who do we have in linguistics … Continue reading →

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Pet peeve—the YA Literary Love Triangle

Posted on August 8, 2013 by nkrishna

Small rant ahead.

Posted in Media, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Washington Post has a very odd definition of “understandability.”

Posted on May 15, 2013 by nkrishna

Tū, mewom klneudhi! So pūr tosmōi senei manei dō. Negwrias kwṛmis apo bhergod deukdhi, tod mātrei dō. Ne askoisu spyeudhi! That’s a pseudo-Proto-Indo-European version of what the WaPo claims is a sentence that could be understood across 150 centuries. Did … Continue reading →

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Fiction and the Language of Conspiracy

Posted on May 1, 2013 by nkrishna

Maybe it’s getting worse, maybe we’re just hearing about it more. In the wake of the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon and the ensuing manhunt, the weird part of the Internet has been more excitable than usual. In a … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Media, Skepticism | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

An infidel watches the History Channel’s “The Bible”

Posted on March 18, 2013 by nkrishna

Count me among the nonbelievers. Now an atheist, I was raised a kind of vaguely-observant Hindu in a place where Christianity was shoved down your throat nearly 24/7. Needless to say, my sympathy for Christian thought these days is anemic … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Religion | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments