tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227945382011-08-16T00:02:00.911-04:00Thoughts and musings on culture, society, rhetoric, and confluences in the digital realm. Some topics: open source software, free speech rhetoric, sociocultural rhetorical constructs, the Constitution, legal rhetoric, media criticism.C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.comBlogger681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-73626105615813598222007-06-28T03:30:00.001-04:002007-06-28T03:33:40.929-04:00

Yes, I'm moving on. You'll still be able to read my rants. I've joined culture-cast.org - my blog will be hosted as a part of that site from now on.The URL: http://rhetortech.culture-cast.org/Thank you.Chris

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-61566724072382828582007-05-01T17:37:00.000-04:002007-05-03T10:49:01.587-04:00

I know - it's been a while. I'm not done yet, either. But, I had to share this. It's a photo of an iPod vending machine that was forwarded to me. Look at the screen.iRonic, no?

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-32693493495601355162007-02-28T15:11:00.000-05:002007-02-28T15:14:42.210-05:00

I think that of the many pages of John Nelson, Allan Megill, and Donald McCloskey's The Rhetoric of the Human Science (University of Wisconsin Press, 1987) that I have read in the past few days, the first few pages of the first chapter are among the most thought-provoking (as introductory essays frequently are). The first sentence, "Scholarship uses argument, and argument uses rhetoric," followed

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-8411187826433945152007-01-22T10:17:00.000-05:002007-01-22T10:40:08.415-05:00

It's been done to death in the news and in the courtroom, and repeated setbacks in both the public eye and the legal sphere have yet to deter proponents of "intelligent design." In case you haven't heard, the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based nonprofit, is claiming that parts of the ruling of Judge John E. Jones III against the inclusion of ID in science classrooms was copied from a series of

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-36485481205166960212007-01-18T15:34:00.000-05:002007-01-18T15:35:49.912-05:00

I'm sure some of you are sorry to hear it, but I'm back from my six-week hiatus and ready to bait you once more. Posts to follow are guaranteed to piss someone off.

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-3876050985833290532006-11-27T15:16:00.000-05:002006-11-27T15:18:56.012-05:00

In case you haven't guessed by the date and my graduate student status, I've been (and will continue to be) taking a hiatus from blogging until after I've handed in all of my final projects (and handed back all of my students' final papers).

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-68707704631653683852006-11-09T13:24:00.000-05:002006-11-09T13:53:52.507-05:00

Last week, in response to my post, I received a comment that, while it didn't address my post directly, did raise a question that is increasingly common (one that, in fact, I read at least twice in letters to the editor this morning): "What reasoning precludes producing a photo ID as a measure to prevent election irregularities?" The simple measure suggested by many, would not be simple to enact

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1162916620557800502006-11-07T11:22:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:12.636-05:00

No matter your political party, your schedule, your personal feelings: cast your vote today.

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1162511936103691472006-11-02T18:55:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:12.576-05:00

I'm placing the religious rhetoric on pause for a moment to discuss an article [link] in the Washington Post today, entitled "MD Democrats say GOP Plans to Block Voters." From the article:A recently distributed guide for Republican poll watchers in Maryland spells out how to aggressively challenge the credentials of voters and urges these volunteers to tell election judges they could face jail

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1162324137794609952006-10-31T14:47:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:12.517-05:00

Ahhh. The joy of acceptance... Of being told (by someone other than one's own arrogance and ego) that you are RIGHT. That's right, kiddies. Yours truly was accepted for a peer-reviewed panel at CCCC. I'm one of 15%. That includes tenured profs.

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1161367058953463312006-10-20T12:45:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.456-05:00

This election has brought the rhetoric of public religiosity to the fore, and with a vengeance. Sadly, socially if at least not legally, our candidates seem to be subjected to a religious litmus test by newspapers as well as voters. I'm fine with voters asking these questions in a public forum: you are bound by conscience to vote with your values, and although I feel that religion is only one

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1160424425575320022006-10-09T15:47:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.393-05:00

"Politics is the struggle for existence" - Wallace Stevens, Opus Posthumous, "Adagia"Although political rhetoric has always been charged, emotional, even brutally competitive, the language used by news outlets reveals a good deal about the way that they deal with politics. The term long-used to describe our current style of coverage - "horse-race" politics - isn't quite as accurate as it once

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1158866341250551162006-09-21T14:25:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.332-05:00

It's time I inserted my own voice into the controversy concerning electronic voting. As an increasing number of states consider moving to electronic voting, industry-leading Diebold continues to try to quell the swelling number of studies and reports of security flaws in its equipment. Meanwhile, a number of websites, including engadget, i-am-bored.com, blackboxvoting.org, and

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1157470690292603092006-09-05T11:22:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.271-05:00

As often as I mention the chickenhawks running the war in Iraq, I am quite pleased to celebrate a politician who will put his money where his mouth is. The New York Times reports that Jonathan L. Paton, an incumbent Arizona Republican seeking his second two-year term in the U.S. House, will be at Ft. Benning, GA, preparing for a five-to-six month tour of duty in Iraq and - perhaps - Afghanistan

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1157042951810249092006-08-31T12:09:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.202-05:00

Ohio. Lovely place. Home of the Cuyahoga River, which has caught fire no less than five times (June 1949, March 1951, November 1952, December 1951, and the "big one" of 1969) [see a picture of the 1969 fire on the NOAA.gov site]. Home, more recently, to the second great American electoral fraud scandal of the 21st century (which is how old, now? Oh, SIX YEARS). Finally, someone's called them

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1156876101492695972006-08-29T13:13:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.143-05:00

First, I'll state the following, which should be obvious to everyone but - apparently - is not: there is no communication, no statement, without bias. From birth, we are conditioned to see and think by our unique individual experiences. I'll give you a basic lesson in semiotics, ripped straight from Saussure's Course in General Linguistics: every utterance is composed of a chain of signs. Each

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1156609205392048522006-08-26T11:55:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.083-05:00

I wouldn't normally plug any books on this blog: I think it's somewhat stupid to advertise for someone for free. However, Richard Lanham's new book, The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance In the Age of Information (University of Chicago Press, 2006), addresses so many of the cultural quirks and rhetorical fallacies that I discuss here that I couldn't avoid it. I'll admit, I read and

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1155228973031830582006-08-10T12:26:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:12.021-05:00

I have no idea how our government thinks we function. It must feel that, in most cases, we're so blindly stupid that we barely have enough brainpower to keep our hearts beating, but a recent article in the Washington Post really takes the cake. Defense attorneys - military officers all, appointed for said purpose by our government - for soldiers accused of raping and murdering a fourteen year

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1155227208276076162006-08-10T11:58:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:11.956-05:00

Yesterday (8/9/2006), in newspapers across the nation, Americans were subjected to yet another announcement in which our government - or agents acting directly on behalf thereof - assumed that our collective intellect was somewhere close to the "mildly retarded" mark (see last posting). In a not-so-stunning announcement, the Bush Administration drafted a proposed amendment to existing war crimes

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1154387599126169332006-07-31T18:57:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:11.877-05:00

On Thursday, July 20, 2006, the President addressed the NAACP for the first time in his six-year tenure in office. The gathered dignitaries were - surprise, surprise - rather lukewarm in their reception of ol' Dubya, whose initial election alone left a bad taste in the mouths of many African Americans, and whose administration has done more to curtail the advances of the Civil Rights movement

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1153576114644317022006-07-22T09:43:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.913-05:00

Negative rumors, ignorant piety, insulting and degrading slurs, and political intrigue have a long history in Native American affairs in the United States. The first instance of germ warfare in the history of the world involved Puritan settlers "charitably" giving blankets to "the savages" to help them stay warm for the winter. Of course, the blankets had been used by smallpox patients - a

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1153435613849462932006-07-20T18:45:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.858-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ken Zagacki for posing the original question from which this brief entry grew.------From a cultural point of view, the rhetoric of contemporary American presidents is isomorphic. Whether they are liberal, conservative, or middle-of-the-road, their discourse stills bears the same, essential cultural marks. You can't be president of the United States unless you accept - at least on

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1153177216431546142006-07-17T18:58:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.801-05:00

Sorry to all readers. I've been off for about a month for a number of reasons: baby, computer issues, vacation, and a birthday. Next time I'll post a brief warning beforehand, but I am back ... whatever that may mean for all of you.

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1153176908600642932006-07-17T18:43:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.738-05:00

Visuals of Epic Proportions:Democratic Heroes and Republican MonstersThe politics of emotion must appearTo be an intellectual structure. The causeCreates a logic not to be distinguishedFrom lunacy-- Esthétique du MalPolitics is the struggle for existence- AdagiaThese two quotes from Wallace Stevens illustrate our political landscape quite well: the lunacy, the emotion disguised as logic,

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1151340731203439232006-06-26T12:46:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.682-05:00

Before continuing with this entry, I suggest you read the introductory entry for the Visual Rhetoric & Digital Politics series, which will provide a good grounding for what I hope to discuss. I should note: this is a nonpartisan sequence of essays, meant to instruct readers who wish to learn more about the challenges facing deliberative discourse and cultural literacy in the digital era.Although

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1150914264614098392006-06-21T14:22:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.622-05:00

To understand politics in the digital age, we must be able to apprehend political rhetoric in textual, auditory, and visual elements, both individually and convergent. The textual and auditory elements of political rhetoric are widely studied; however, critics tend to dismiss much of the visual as textually dependent. When they do encourage the examination of visual elements within websites,

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1150288137129673402006-06-14T07:57:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.566-05:00

Graphic and 3D rendering software is among the most expensive - at least if you want good software - and complex on the market. The price is high for many of the same reasons as office packages: most companies cannot survive without graphic software capability of some sort or another; however, unlike Office software (which has been around for as long as personal computing), which has a number of

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1148877207676323792006-05-29T00:28:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.437-05:00

At 2:27 a.m. on 5/28/2006, my lovely wife gave birth to our beautiful daughter...All are well...

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1147193336176379322006-05-09T12:06:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.363-05:00

Troubling: one of many fitting descriptive terms concerning the Bush nomination of Gen. Michael V. Hayden as the next director of the CIA. The bipartisan congressional outcry - Republicans as well as Democrats hate the idea - especially in our current antagonistic political environment, speaks volumes. Hayden has, as our president states, "vast experience," in intelligence-gathering; however,

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1146668607779275332006-05-03T10:38:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.308-05:00

The nation has by now become completely inundated with news reports about Durham DA Mike Nifong winning the primary election; an election that many consider to be the reason he came after the Duke Lacrosse team so hard and fast in the media in the first place. I think, honestly, that he should be disbarred for violation of the rights of the accused. Regardless of what one thinks of the case

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1146231595738205122006-04-28T09:36:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.247-05:00

Sixteen years. The Hubble Telescope has been functioning for sixteen years - with only periodic maintenance from shuttle technicians. It's still in use. Question: how long do we use our computers without upgrading? I stand amazed.

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1146086891555533672006-04-26T16:18:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.189-05:00

It's always interesting to me to look at political sites (for either party) and think about the visual rhetoric expressed by the content. Not photographic content, which is far more interesting on political parody pages; standard party websites haven't yet stooped to manipulating photography on their main page. I mean backgrounds and minor graphic details such as buttons, banners, and color

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1145686960648162082006-04-22T01:46:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.075-05:00

What exactly constitutes a violation of free speech online? Consider two recent, and very different cases. In one, a group of college students from Harvard, MIT, Swarthmore, and others posted damaging internal documents about Diebold online. Diebold, if you remember, is the company whose electronic polling systems caused such a panic among voters' rights groups - the machines that incorrectly

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1145301356514323472006-04-17T14:59:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:07.018-05:00

First, if you have yet to read my "Screaming into a Box" posts [links below], I recommend that you do so, to avoid calumny and/or misinterpretation in any responses you may send my way. The next post or two will refer to topics covered more in-depth there.Screaming into a box - introScreaming into a box - revisited - IScreaming into a box - revisited - III received a number of invitations in

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1145019252514426802006-04-14T08:51:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:06.901-05:00

Harry PotterHere in the Bible belt, we have a problem. We actually have a number of problems, but this is one that is particularly irksome. Perhaps its just that I’m an outsider looking in, a recent transplant that doesn’t understand the oppressive mentality of enforced moralistic jargon that tells people to believe one way or stand on hot coals for eternity – which can be quite effective when

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1144608511217816122006-04-09T14:16:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:06.839-05:00

In response to one of my recent posts, an intelligent reader gave me a fairly challenging assignment. Paraphrased, it went something like this: "How can we have morality without religion? From whence would such moral or ethical codes derive?" It gave me a headache - so, well done - but I have a response. Please note - this is a theoretical response only, one designed to state a possible

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1144266340887142932006-04-05T15:32:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:06.728-05:00

I hope that someday, flying monsters from outer space will come to earth and eat Bill Gates. It looks like it may take that for the rest of us (read: non-Windoze drones). The justice system sure isn't working on it: despite an antitrust lawsuit (that could never win here in Georgie Porgie Bush's America), Micro$oft continues to engage in the same dirty tricks and deceits that got it to the top

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1144251395945416132006-04-05T10:56:00.000-04:002006-11-07T11:37:06.670-05:00

I suspect that I'm not alone in my claim that it was Tom DeLay who, directly or no, drove me from the Republican Party. Yes, I'm one of the few, the proud, the unheard, the moderates. For years, I considered myself a moderate Republican - a true conservative, unlike the insane neonazis under whose auspices we currently reside. Let me explain: I believe in fiscal responsibility in a

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1143832220012939762006-03-31T14:08:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.584-05:00

First, if you didn't read my last post, about Amendments four through eight (deconstructed for dummies), I encourage you to do so. It will put the following entry in an accurate light. Recently, the Duke University men's lacrosse team has been under heavy fire because of an alleged rape that took place at a party on March 13 [the Raleigh News & Observer has a special section on its website

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1143832039918748922006-03-31T13:39:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.518-05:00

Okay kiddies. This week we're going to talk about the rights of the accused. Amendment IV of the United States Constitution states, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1143468373627425012006-03-27T09:05:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.439-05:00

There is a particular breed of person that has begun to flourish in modern America, one who grates on almost everyone I know: the intelligent fool. This person manifests his existence in several ways, however, he is most likely to appear in one of the two following forms: either the bitchy pseudo-intellectual with a sense of entitlement who works in book stores or coffee shops, or the book

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1143304274931188742006-03-25T11:13:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.383-05:00

In an interesting article on C|Net, we're told that the Federal Election Commission is approaching its relationship with the Internet using kid gloves. Good. In my last post, and God knows how many others, I've talked about Internet regulation as a fact of life. What I've never spelled out explicitly is that the regulations, as with our Constitution, can promote absolute regimentation or a

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1143149915327477242006-03-23T16:09:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.317-05:00

Recently, the AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre remarked that companies such as Google were "nuts" to think that they could use AT&T network "pipelines" for free, a serious challenge to what some feel is the neutral essence of the Internet. FCC Chair Kevin Martin said that his agency could police and enforce any such attacks on the neutrality of the Internet; however, he added, he supports a "tiered Internet

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1143065885497777902006-03-22T17:16:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.263-05:00

Television, as an institution in American society, is rapidly losing appeal to me. Aside from the fact that much of what we watch celebrates the worst in each of us; it is also one of the most repetitive forms of entertainment available. I am not saying that all television is bad. There have been many fine hours of entertainment and a good deal of information that has been disseminated through

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1142952446982984742006-03-21T09:27:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.206-05:00

Part II of my Open Source vs. Shrinkwrapped Boxes review focuses on web page development software. For the same price as Micro$oft Office, web developers can purchase high-end graphical user interface web content development software (roughly $400), in the form of Dreamweaver. For about $100, they can purchase a textually-based content developer - not just a tag insertor, but a whole-site

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1142896495649243102006-03-20T18:13:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.148-05:00

For a society that lauds itself as being one of instant and mass communication, Americans have poor communication skills. We are surrounded by previously unimagined modes of communication: cellular telephones, fax machines, e-mail, express mail, and the Internet are prevalent and each day becoming more dominant. We are seconds away from communicating with other human beings, but for some reason

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1142606468003852922006-03-17T09:26:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.088-05:00

Word processing is among the oldest and most commonly used software groups in the computer industry. Although WordPerfect still has its adherents, and AppleWorks has improved enormously in recent years, Microsoft Word is the dominant word processing package in the industry. It's also enormously expensive: around two hundred bucks. The code is bloated: they seem to have built upon the same

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1142605535627290712006-03-17T08:50:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:06.031-05:00

I've posted comments about the open-source software movement before, but raving about it isn't enough. Software megagiants Microslut, Adobe, and Macromedia (macro says it all, don't you think?) have far too many advertising dollars to attract users, to tempt them into paying six hundred dollars for the newest update of clunky, bloated codeware, and their user bases believe that in order to read

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1142437566953379872006-03-15T10:26:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.977-05:00

This article from the Washington Post is the reason I avoided Law School. Ask most undergraduates in the humanities what their career choices include, and the top two answers will be "Law" and "Public Service" (PS in the form of social work, writing, or government-related grub labor). I applied, jumped through all the hoops, and talked to lawyers. Most of the lawyers I respected as people told

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1142258428050075902006-03-13T08:51:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.920-05:00

I am ready to move, once more. Remember my last entries about the first amendment? Well, kiddies, the Washington Post has recently written an article about a piece of shit legislation proposed by Senator Mike "WINO" DeWine of Ohio. Old WINO's bill will make it a crime to report that the President and his administration are committing crimes. The summary paragraph from the Post states:

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141933700140109212006-03-09T14:11:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.865-05:00

As a relative newcomer to Nawf Cackalacky (that's "North Carolina" to all you furriners (that's "non-southerners," or "foreigners")), I'm astounded by the disgusting obsession with the goddam ACC and basketball. I'm not surprised that the local yokels are fans of college basketball: the teams along Tobacco Road (from west to east: Wake Forest, UNC, Duke, and NC State) have a history of pounding

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141928495468842482006-03-09T12:46:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.807-05:00

The state of baseball - "America's Pastime" - often seems to reflect the image of the nation itself. In the 20's, baseball was rough - cigar chomping tough guys who were hard drinkers (think Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Co.). In the fifties and early sixties, baseball was idyllic - Gods of the game played at temples of Americana. Joe DiMaggio retired in 1951, the same year that Willie Mays was

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141856272047238762006-03-08T17:16:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.753-05:00

FINALLY! I've been waiting for this since Lost Dogs. The new single from Pearl Jam's upcoming self-titled album is available - "Worldwide Suicide" - and you can download it for FREE! This pleases me.

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141836237942607462006-03-08T10:44:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.676-05:00

Of late, I've had the strong feeling that the majority of my fellow citizens are ignorant as hell, and what's worse, they have no clue. People bitch and moan on cue when informed by "The Media," or any organization that presents itself as distributing newsworthy facts and information (whether it does so or not), that someone, somewhere, is trampling their "rights;" however, more of them can name

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141664847131991262006-03-06T12:03:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.589-05:00

I have it! My topic for a CRD 703 (a course) - final project: I'm analyzing networked texts and authorship. In our culture, people who create/edit/compose networked texts - brief databases with blurbs of practical knowledge for the quickseeker - the guy who fills in gaps in his own understanding - are the *new* authors. Their process - what they choose to excise/retain within the text, what

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141664027372420462006-03-06T11:39:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.532-05:00

Car dealers are the greatest assholes on the planet. Yesterday, lured in by an ad - most likely a scam ad - that promised cheap-o cars from ought five, my wife and I decided to do a little car shopping. We were lied to from the beginning - and this should be a warning to all people who plan to do any shopping in the Raleigh-Durham area in the future: NEVER GO TO MILLENIUM MAZDA, HYUNDAI, KIA in

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141651861299238972006-03-06T08:23:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.479-05:00

So - last night's Oscar quote of the night? Host Jon Stewart's quip, "For those of you keeping score, that's Martin Scorcese zero [Oscars], 3-6 Mafia, one [for the song from Hustle & Flow]." The song was an exercise in mediocrity, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," a crappy rap song whining and complaining about the difficulty of life as a pimp. It also serves as a prime example of genre: take

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141322267438698242006-03-02T12:50:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.421-05:00

My incipient fatherhood is always in the back of my mind. My wife, increasingly ungainly and subjected to attacks from within by our very active daughter, is concerned primarily with the Littlest Berg's physical wellbeing; constant reminders of the growing presence inside her must keep her focus here. I also suspect that this is an evolutionary development: keeping the offspring alive is almost

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141253691897202142006-03-01T17:54:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.369-05:00

I've been increasingly bored lately - indeed, never as bored with so much to do as I am now. I will, therefore, write the following "humorous" bit for my fellow grad students:You Know you're in Grad School When:You look forward to Spring Break so that you can work on school things without classes or students interfering.You walk into an examination session and understand the laughter (even if

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141134313484527992006-02-28T07:57:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.315-05:00

Distributed Cognition is probably one of the most important concepts related to network culture and information architecture. I've been doing a good bit of reading & note-taking on the subject for class & research, so I think it's past time for me to type out some musings on DC. Maybe this will even receive some feedback... nah. Nobody reads these things, at least not mine.1. D. C. is an old

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141076602936592212006-02-27T16:35:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.263-05:00

II. Free Speech "Screaming into a Box" -Pope Foundation. Two words that I've grown to loathe. Stanley Fish was right when he claimed in There's No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It's a Good Thing, Too (Duke UP, 1994): "In our legal culture as it is now constituted, if one yells 'free speech' in a crowded courtroom and makes it stick, the case is over" (105). The Pope Foundation loves to

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141076078218424722006-02-27T15:53:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.207-05:00

Screaming into a box... The title, I'm sure, was unclear. It referred to the feeling I receive when I argue a point or state a claim. It also refers to the "Free Speech" folks who seem to feel that speech has no consequences. I'll discuss both below.I. ME screaming into a box. I seem to receive this feeling far more often after moving to the Bible Belt. It's not a religion thing, although

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1141073517011180062006-02-27T15:41:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.154-05:00

I am increasingly distraught over what to choose as the topic for a rhetorical criticism for my COM/ENG 516 course, "Rhetorical Criticism, Theory and Practice." There is no dearth of subject matter; however, I would like to choose a web-based artifact, straight politics or political parody website, for my analysis. Textual artifacts are fine - I enjoy text analysis and I've had a good deal of

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1140970074258218262006-02-26T11:07:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.099-05:00

At times, when I speak about certain topics, certain issues that have a contemporary political currency, I feel as though listeners or readers in our current climate have developed the tendency to hear one or two statements and turn off, dismissing my commentary as ideologically driven from an opposing point of view. The oddity, it seems, is that my views are "ideological" and "opposite" to

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1140814646068074922006-02-24T15:32:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:05.045-05:00

Libertarianism = Misguided & WrongAhhh... The cure for apathy - ranting about policy and politics, particularly as they pertain to the digital realm...In the mid 1990's, Wired Magazine led the charge that the Internet, that newborn frontier, would run in a stateless, deregulated manner evoking old-guard libertarianism. The key to this belief was the lack of any emerging control mechanism:

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1140807544630279502006-02-24T13:53:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:04.991-05:00

Apathy. Midterm boredom. I hate when I get this way - it's always a bad sign for things to come. The semester is only halfway complete, I feel like I have a ton to do, and I keep trying to find ways to put it all off (like posting here). The worst way to deal with this problem - for nerds like me - is to think. I'll start with the word, "Apathy," and then begin to break it down, hoping that

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1140645736063471742006-02-22T16:58:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:04.940-05:00

The Poem of the Moment is by my MA thesis advisor, Dr. Thomas D. Lisk, of North Carolina State University. Dr. Lisk is one of the finest people I've ever known, and his work with me on developing and completing my thesis was invaluable. He's also a hell of a poet. This piece first appeared in the Valparaiso Review of Poetry, and is entitled "Metaphors and Sausage"Metaphors and Sausageby Thomas

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22794538.post-1140550238765522902006-02-21T14:29:00.000-05:002006-11-07T11:37:04.880-05:00

So Slate claims that blogging is dead - of course, just in time for me to begin nattering away upon mine own humble addition to the blogosphere. The trouble with their claim, it seems to me, is that in focusing all of their attention upon the corporate presence of blogging, they fail to realize that the human desire for communication extends much farther back in time than the (comparatively)

C.Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01428748769620647787noreply@blogger.com0