I’ve been wondering why so many of my students have been stretching out their papers by adding an extra line between the paragraphs of their essays.  Turns out, it hasn’t been their fault at all:

In Microsoft Office Word 2007, the default line spacing for most Quick Styles sets is 1.15, with slightly more space following each paragraph. The default line spacing for Office Word 2003 documents is 1.0.

Why, for the love of small innocent puppies–WHY?

Microsoft will surely reap a Kama whirlwind for this one.  Sheesh.

Doing some marathon grading today, sitting in Merry Ann’s. Some good fellow just put “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on the jukebox.  Too cool.

See also: The Barefoot Contessa!  And: etc.

Stanley Fish has his opinions.  But Regina Spektor and Pele beg to differ.

The Why Democracy project seems to be asking the right questions, and others are too.  It’s no Global Parliament, but Avaaz.org (whose backers include Moveon.org and SEIU) is up and running, doing its best to whisper in the voice of the multitude.