January 2002 Archive Page

Yahoo recently ran a story about a man suffocated by a stripper's breasts... but it was a hoax first published in a tabloid. You may have heard recent reports about the airliner passenger stuck to a toilet seat. (MSNBC, BBC, CNN)  Note that no names or dates are given. It's a hoax. (Unless it's a cover-up.)More reasons not to trust the Internet

I recently received an e-mail from "YellaGirl". There was no subject line, and the entire message was: "I need a 500 word example of a narrative essay." When I asked her why I should do her homework for her, she replied: "I need an example of one so I can get a good grade on it. I'm in college and I need a good grade on this paper." YellaGirl needs to learn about e-mail etiquette and the goals of a university education.

 
What is life like for a person who has trouble recognizing human faces? --Face-blindness

"[T]he search and directory firms have put their futures in question by flouting time-tested business practices that require an absolutely clear separation between editorial content and advertising." Hal Plotkin --Doom Ahead for Search Engines That ChargeSF Gate)

When congressional Web sites are good, they're really good. But most aren't, says a nonprofit group that rated more than 600 of them. --Congressional Web Sites: Not So GoodCNN)

found after 165 years. The watercolors were prototypes for engravings that the impoverished poet hoped would pay his bills. (Daily Telegraph) --Watercolors by William Blake

, creator of Pippi Longstocking, dies at 94. (Guardian) --Astrid Lindgren

"The Web has decentralized the control of ideas, as A&LD proves. A few years ago the exchange of opinions and theories had to be managed by people living in great metropolitan centres, the intellectual world's version of imperialism. But with the Web it can be done anywhere." Robert Fulford --I Want my Arts & Letters Dailyb> (National Post)

"Don't let anyone tell you that as a programmer you don't have to make moral or ethical decisions. Every time you decide that making users feel stupid is better than fixing your code, you're making an ethical decision." --Programmers Make Ethical DecisionsJoel on Software)

(CLA) is a fellowship of individuals who share experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem with clutter and help others recover. The only requirement for membership is a desire to eliminate clutter and bring order into our lives. (via Remarked Bookmarks) --Clutterers Anonymous

The Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Booster problem began with the faulty design of its joint and increased as both NASA and contractor management first failed to recognize it as a problem, then failed to fix it and finally treated it as an acceptable flight risk."
--An Accident Rooted in HistoryNASA)

The link above goes to the web version of a powerpoint presentation. Dennis G. Jerz --I Found it On the Internet: Teaching Students to Locate, Evaluate and Cite Online Sources

"Most weblogs are drivel, banal sh*t written by angst-ridden teenagers and adults sharing feelings, thoughts, and mind-numbing details about their daily lives that provide little insight into anything or anyone. But the gems can be found amongst the long-since abandoned or forgotten sites." John M. Grohol --Psychology of Weblogs

A prayer before surfing: "Almighty and eternal God, we beseech thee that, through the example of Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the Internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Amen." --Searchin' for the Surfer SaintWired)

While Westerners may be surprised by the notion that poetry is an effective way to convey a political message, Bassam Frangieh says it is an integral part of Arab culture. --Of Poets, Prophets and PoliticsHumanities)

"Whilst it is obviously the case that the main reason subscription now represents 30% of Salon’s revenue is because overall revenue has fallen so dramatically, that doesn’t stop [CEO] Michael [O’Donnel] portraying it as a triumph. That is talent."

(22 Jan) Dictionary of the Future [Review]: "'Words are artifacts of culture,' says Hanft, and in writing the book he was 'looking at ways that forces in culture shape language.' Just as the mores and social forces of the day subtly influence the painter's strokes or the carver's gouges, so too they inform the words and phrases we use." --0.8% of Readers think Salon Premium content is worth the price of a lattedotcomscoop)

Think twice before sending a tartly worded e-mail or prepare for a battle of near-biblical proportions like the one being waged on Chicago computer consultant Bernard Shifman. --Resume Vaults [Chicago] Techie into Spam BattlefieldChicago Trib)

Yes, that's 1889. --History of Video Games since 1889b> (GameSpot)

"What venerated 'alpha geeks' and lowly 'smurfs' share is a tendency to talk about people as if they were machines. To be 'uninstalled' means being fired or dismissed, whereas a 'plug-and-play' refers to a new employee who fits in without any additional training."  (Rebuttal: Don't Tweak the Geeks) --When the Geeks get SnideNY Times; requires free registration)

"They may love capitalism. They may have no interest whatsoever in political theory. But they believe that Marx was always right and always good." English professors? Hardly. --Marx, Money, and Mysticism after MaoPartisan Review)

"This bridge will be a massive undertaking: the Rhine is a wide, deep, and fast-moving river. My engineers and I have devised a way to build the bridge in such a way that the stronger the current, the more secure the bridge will be." --Bloggus Caesari (Julius Caesar's Weblog)

; trendy young dot-com refugees come begging. (WashPost) --Boring, grey-haired government contractors are hot

"i was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work the counter at  mcdonald's" [scott heiferman didn't cut it as a dot-com CEO, and apparently doesn't know how to use the shift key, either.]

"Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same colour as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated..." wrote Hemingway in his 1952 novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Gregorio Fuentes was Hemingway's friend, and probably the inspiration for the story. --Hemingway's "Old Man"Dies at 104BBC)

"Once ejected into space, wouldn't the flattened, living-room-sized, and extremely solid panes of trash that result from such a primitive, unidirectional trash compactor pose serious hazards for Empire starships in the vicinity?" --On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash CompactorMcSweeney's)

A teenager has attracted international attention for developing a glove that can translate sign language into printed text. --Glove Lends the Deaf a HandUSA Today)

"The practice of using the secret Word format for interchange impedes the growth of our community and the spread of freedom. While we notice the occasional annoyance of receiving a Word document, this steady and persistent harm to our community usually doesn't come to our attention." Richard Stallman --We Can Put an End to Word AttachmentsNewsForge)

This is the time of year that college departments hiring new faculty members whittle down to two or three promising candidates, from the dozens or even hundreds of applicants. (A candidate for a UWEC English department job is interviewed towards the end of the article.) --The Tightening [Adacemic] Job Marketb> (Chronicle)

Everybody sing along with the lit-crit Ph.D. applicant rap:
"Heidegger and Derrida, Foucault and Baudrillard / Kristeva, Irigaray, Harraway and Lyotard..." (Juliette O'Keefe)

: "Nowadays, art that prompts 'controversy' usually has one thing in common: it’s bad. Bad in conception or bad in execution, and frequently bad in both." Lileks --Does the Pope S-- In the Woods?

"If Einstein had died as a child, someone else would have discovered General Relativity; if Beethoven had died as a child, the Opus 111 Sonata would never have been written." Dennis Dutton --What is Genius?Philosophy & Literature)

"With the rise of search tools that unerringly bring you to the page you want, the need for a highly specific domain name -- one that a casual Web user would be able to guess -- has practically disappeared." Dan Gillmor --"'Google Effect' Reduces Need for Many Domains"b> (SiliconValley.com)

(Abstracts due Feb 7) "We're looking for essays that shed light on the history of interactive fiction, especially if they discuss how IF has evolved technologically and in its conventions; essays that teach and illuminate the craft of IF, including but not limited to puzzle design, world building, characters, prose style, and atmosphere; and essays about the underpinning theory of what IF is (as literature, as game) and how it works." (BTW, I'm editing the section on theory. --DGJ) --Interactive Fiction Theory Book

A student project on why Microsoft is evil includes this parody of the Alcoholics Anonymous "12 step" program. Sammy Carranza  --12 Steps to Stop Using Microsoft

A clueless fellow looking for a job in information technology sends out his resume in a mass mailing. Bernard Shifman, an unrepentant spammer, then threatens to sue practically anyone who even mentions the incident. Pete Moss documents what is most likely the end of Mr. Shifman's career. --Bernard Shifman is a Moron Spammer

Jan Carroll's weblog offers a substantial amount of collected poems written in response to September 11; articles on poetry and politics; interviews with poets about September 11; and musings on the role of art and aesthetics in times of tragedy."

An experiment in which group members could pay for the privilege of fining free-loaders suggests that the threat of being punished by angry peers helps to check selfish behavior. (Consider this in light of the "Bernie Shifman" article.) --Anger Plays Key Role in Human Cooperationb> (New Scientist)