This is a sure sign of the apocalypse!

[Tall One In Black]

from slashdot:

LONDON (Reuters) - Woe un2mnkind! The text message is trying to summarise the great poet John Milton and a respected academic thinks this may be a smart new way to teach literature.
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A company offering mobile phones to students has hired Professor John Sutherland, professor emeritus of English Literature at University College London, to offer subscribers text message summaries and quotes from literary classics.

The hope is that messages in the truncated shorthand of mobile phones will help make great literature more accessible.

"We are confident that our version of 'text' books will genuinely help thousands of students remember key plots and quotes, and raise up educational standards rather than decrease levels of literacy," the company, Dot Mobile, said in a press release.

Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy is rendered: "2B? NT2B?=???". At the end of Romeo and Juliet, "bothLuvrs kill Emselves," while Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice concludes when "Evry1GtsMaryd."

"Woe un2mnkind," is part of its summary of Milton's Paradise Lost. Milton actually wrote "Woe to the inhabitants on Earth."

"Dot mobile's unique service amply demonstrates text's ability to fillet out the important elements in a plot. Take for example the ending to Jane Eyre -- 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus'. Was ever a climax better compressed?" said Sutherland, this year's chairman of the judges for the Man Booker literature prize.

That's "mad wife sets fire to house" in English -- the climactic event in Charlotte Bronte's Romantic classic.



.


"Make great literature more accessible" by mutating it into some twisted, sick form of pseudo-English? The thought makes me sick to my stomach. STOP THE INSANITY!

[Disfunction]

*sighs*

No words to express my dismay.

[rockandrose]

Education gone wrong and lazy!

*sigh*

PATHETIC!

[Tall One In Black]

Originally Posted by Santarea

1) Sub teaching art history 101, I had a student honestly say that "The Greeks and Romans had such an innate and thorough understanding of the human anatomy in their sculpture, that I don't understand why they did not sculpt heads, hands, or feet".. *blink*

That would be hilarious if it weren't so sad. :P

Education is a favorite soapbox topic of mine.

The public schools in most states/areas in the U.S. are completely pathetic. They are especially bad in the south. Georgia, where I grew up, is one of the worst states. (Sometimes Mississippi is in last place, sometimes Georgia.) My parents worked to the point of exhaustion so they could afford to send me to private school. For that, I am immensely and eternally grateful.

I get so frustrated with people who seem stupid to me... but I try not to judge because I know many of them had no chance for a half-decent education. On the other hand, some of them are so stupid I'm surprised they remember to breathe.

[Teardrop]

*sigh* This makes me hate the world.

[snapdragon]

I would mostly like to say... nothing. there is nothing to say, o no what's the world really coming to? hah... they're destroying such beautiful things and making them into incomprehensible jibberish? Why would they let this happen?? They need to have their insides rearranged or something.

[readmycomics]

I've given up on the world and everyone in it.

[winged_dreams]

Originally Posted by Tall One In Black

I get so frustrated with people who seem stupid to me... but I try not to judge because I know many of them had no chance for a half-decent education. On the other hand, some of them are so stupid I'm surprised they remember to breathe.

I think I had a pretty decent education. I must admit that most of it came from reading. As soon as I could read, I found myself devouring books. I blame that for most of my smarts. It's sad that people are too glued to their tvs and computers to find the time to read a book. Books are very good and help you to get smarter. And I'm sure the respective authors are rolling over in their graves right now.

[rockandrose]

I used to obsessively read numerous books but I stopped about three years ago, and only read once in while. My mind doesn't have the same stamina to read excessively anymore as opposed to when I was younger.

[winged_dreams]

I used to carry books around with me everywhere. I still do. I can't shake that habbit. I feel odd without a book nearby. I still read quite a bit but video games, the internet, work, and school detract from reading time.

[rockandrose]

I love reading a book that interest me to the point where I need to finish the book in one sitting. But when I finish the book, sometimes I don't want the book to end so soon and other times I'm disappointed with the ending.

Reading can be so satisfying as if takes your mind off everything around you.

[winged_dreams]

Some books that I really enjoy would take much longer then one sitting to read them. Although I could read the Redwall series books in a day or so. And there are some other books that I'm sure I could read in one sitting if I really tried.

[rockandrose]

In my experience, the only problem when reading in one sitting is that your eyes are prone to temporary blurriness, irritating eyes or/and a headache! Similarly, if you engage your eyes to the computer screen long enough, eventually you will get a headache or your eyes burry.

[Scythan]

I read whenever I have spare time. Sometimes, I sit at the computer and read while waiting for replies on forums... I usually end up forgetting about the forums for a few hours. I think I read about two books a week, depending on how busy I am.

My entire family loves reading, and from a young age I was reading books much more advanced than others read at that age. I also believe that if people read more, there would be advantages such as speaking English correctly and having a longer attention span.

[Tall One In Black]

I devoured books from a young age. My mom went to the grocery store once a week, and she stopped by the library each time. The usual limit was 5 books, but the librarian allowed me to take 20 at a time. And I'd have 3 of them read before we got home! I used to check out encyclopedias and read them from cover to cover.

I have a good attention span and excellent concentration, and I attribute that partly to reading. Watching a lot of TV shortens one's attention span. And I can't tolerate the commercials.

In general, I hate television. I watch movies or the occasional Science Channel show... maybe three or four hours a week total. I think TV makes people stupid. :P

[angleangel_doom]

This is just one of several steps to take place in the last few years that signal God to bring down his iron fist made of sugar, spice and everything bad for you, make us all fat and then eat us...wait, i'm reading from a cook book here, not the bible...
...my bad...
*ahem*
*condensed*
"Demons shall rain down upon and I shall judge forth those acceptant of God and the sinners shall be cursed down to an eternity of pain and woe."
Intese.
I think I saw a subliminal message that says "mobile phones are evil" and "Professor John Sutherland is a demon 666112005666" in there somewhere...or maybe it was my imagination...
who knows.

[polished_wolf_claws]

Ah.... the Interweb..... the double bladed sword of our Generations......

[polished_wolf_claws]

Ah yes...... Here it is...


I don't think Anthropomorhpic Cat's have ever summed it up better....

Oh yea... this stuff is Copywritten stuff.... To http://www.vgcats.com
just so I dont gets in trouble^^

[Midnight_Terror]

aha well here is another sure sign of the apocalypse...a bit off topic, but not really

I give you a conversation I had in I.T today
Teacher: we're going to watch clueless, it's based on Emma.
Student A: What's Emma?
Student B: It's an old story written by shakespeare.
Me: WHAT!? It was written by Jane Austen.
Student B: Oh well, they're the same.
Student A: Don't be so stupid, Jane Austen is a movie.
Me: Jane Austen is an author, you know Sense and Sensibility? Mansfield park? Pride and predjudice? Emma?
Students A and B: Oh

I could have died, it was horrifying. NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING! GAH...that conversation hurt to relive *cries*

[Blushing Heliophobe]

I definitely agree with R&R and Winged's point of views about reading.

Nobody reads anymore, in fact - you're regarded as some weird nutso if you do.

True story...a few years ago when I lived in FL a coworker of mine accidently said something embarrassing. I commented, "Freudian slip!". He did not know what I was talking about.

Freud.

Come on, even Looney Tunes has the characters mocking Freud!

Why has it become fashionable to be a damn idiot that cannot a)speak b) write, and/or c) read English nowadays?!?

[anti]

Aaahahahahahahahahaha!

Hahahahahaha!

Aaaaahah... hah.

Wait, they're serious with this?

[Jane13]

AAAAAAAAHHH!!! IT'S NEWSPEAK! How many references to 1984 am I going to make tonight? Oh, and VG cats is hilarious. I love the DnD one. I'm actaully reading Paradise Lost now... I agree with some of what Milton has to say, but not all of it. Like, the idea that devotion is worthless if it is forced. Anywho....

I ph33r 4 mi sons few73r

damn it took me forever to write that gibberish - I was going to be serious in a mocking manner but I can't figure it out.

I do fear for my sons future though. I wish I could afford private school although I have a gut feeling that all I'd get is a false sense of security and a very empty bank account.

I was raised by the TV myself... not that my parents were bad but they were busy and the tv was easy. I'm determined to not let that happen to my son. There are days that I give in but generally every night before any games or tv we practice reading and writing while I cook dinner or whatever other chores need doing. He also helps me with the work around the house without reward. I am resolved to not raise a drone. I guess we'll find out in about 20 years eh?

[Auriane]

This is a joke, right? I mean, this can't be serious. A university professor is going along with this?
I refuse to believe it.

And now I think I'm going to start reading my 6-year old godson bedtime stories. Annie M. G. Schmidt. Roald Dahl. Tolstoj.

[Jane13]

Manimal, you sound like a wonderful father. We're studying education at scool, and it seems the only way you can ever learn anything for understanding rather than coverage is to learn OUTSIDE of school- that means parents have to teach their kids, or kids have to teah themselves, pretty much anything that's not on a standardised test. I find it hard to imagine your son turning out to be a drone... unless it's the cool cyborg kind of drone

I've some to beleive that the public school system hates children, but I'm sure private schools aren't much better.