Archive | January, 2018

An Indian computer science student talks about his research and life in New Zealand

22 Jan

Renoh Johnson Chalakkal is a doctoral student from India, doing his PhD in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He moved from India to New Zealand in 2015. His PhD research project is on retinal image processing. He says, “Basically we are trying to develop an automatic system […]

Word Nerd: 6 magical English words from Greco-Roman mythology

17 Jan

Since ancient times, mythology has helped form a bridge between abstraction and personification, between imagination and belief, and mind and speech. Myth is a feature of every culture. In fundamental ways, it helps explain the world to us. The means of that explanation is language. Naturally, myths are embedded in our vocabulary. Often, we use […]

Word Nerd: 5 words banished from the Queen’s English in 2018

8 Jan

Every year since 1976, the Lake Superior State University publishes an annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use, and General Uselessness. Although the first list was inspired by the pet peeves of LSSU’s late public relations W.T. Rabe and his friends, the list is now culled from thousands of international […]