“The study investigates the relation between people’s personality and the content and style of their writing…” - email from Washington University in St. Louis.
We Judge, and Hopefully Well
Eminem wasn’t the first person to shrug his shoulders in exasperation and say “I am whoever you say I am”.  Humans have a long history of expressing [...]

Universities in the “Show-Me” state of Missouri seem to like studying blogs and the characters of those who write them.  Last year, the Missouri State University in Springfield asked me to participate in a student study on media ethics and the “Wild West” of the internet. Yesterday, Tal Yakoni and Dr. Simine Vazire of the [...]

Then, in my childhood in the dawn
Of a most stormy life was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still . . .
–Edgar Allan Poe, Alone

1. The Meaning of Things
I’ve never lost my childhood sense of mystification – my ability to be amazed by the intricate puzzles and foggy [...]