The end of The Wire - SADLY, sadly, sadly, The Wire has come to an end. Jason Kottke wraps it up with a collection of recaps and reviews. Despite the show’s criticisms (and this final season toeing the line between ridiculous and absurd), I would readily argue these 5 seasons have been the best 5 seasons in television history (not counting MacGyver or Wings, of course). And also, *SPOILER ALERT*.

Can Scientists Dance? - A bevy of students, postdocs, and professors perform interpretive dances for their Ph.D. dissertations. Like Simone Recchi performing Dynamical and chemical evolution of blue compact dwarf galaxies a la Daft Punk’s “Around the World”.

Quote, Unquote - There has been a bit of discussion (read: ire) over the widespread use of “dumb quotes” (straight) over “smart quotes” (curved). Straight apostrophes denote inches and degrees and minutes and seconds, while curved apostrophes are used in conjunctions and quoting. There are a number of reasons to purposely use one or the other, but anything else is just laziness. Thankfully, Wordpress has me covered.

10 trends that will define logo design in 2008 - I guess it’s already time for another makeover.

Slide Show - “Are you ready for PowerPoint karaoke?” No.

How do you build a public library in the age of Google? - Slate.com photo essay on the changing architecture and role of public libraries. As digital content becomes more and more pervasive, there’s less need for a stuffy old library filled with nothing but books. Public libraries in major cities around the country are responding to this not only with new offerings (coffee shops, movie rentals, more computers) but with new architecture as well.

The 2008 Tournament of Books

In which we would seed the year’s most celebrated works of fiction in a March Madness-type bracket and pit those novels against each other in a “Battle Royale of Literary Excellence.” In honor of our favorite character in contemporary literature, David Sedaris’s brother, aka “The Rooster,” we decided to present the winning author with a live chicken.

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