: “Every report you ever write from this day until the day you die should start out by saying something nice about the product or service you are reviewing. Then you can get down to business.” Tog —How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched Similar:MS-Word's helpful "View -> Focus" mode delays stress-related breakdowns.You won’t…
. Painfully funny small-town satire from The Onion. —Wal-Mart Opens Store in Winesburg, Ohio Similar:I’m still teaching journalism and my usual courses, but after 21 years I’ve stepped aside …I’m still teaching journalism and my usu…AcademiaEco-critical Code Studies: Reconfigurations of nature in the born-digital artifact “Coloss… Video game history is colliding:…AcademiaBooks vs. Kindles: The Choice…
“If anything, the recent expansion of literacy and educational opportunities has increased our access to literature and our enjoyment of it.” J. Peder Zane —What Good is Literature? Similar:'History has treated her badly': Hamnet and the 400-year-old mystery around Shakespeare's …Anyone seen “Hamnet”? I was not too i…CultureBloopers from my monologue for @pictclassictheatre 's Shakespeare…
“Today, I’m one of the world’s leading anthropologists, an accomplished archaeologist, and an award-winning novelist. And, at 41, I’m only now becoming aware of the globetrotting rut I’ve been in my entire life. Looking back on everything I’ve seen and done, I can’t help but ask, ‘Is that all there is?’” more satire from The…
Microsoft Word requires at least 30% more keystrokes and 100% more mouse moves to accomplish certain editing tasks than would an optimal word processor. Forbes —Bad Design Can Be Costly Similar:Kitchen utensils for my steampunk villain's hideout. #Blender3D. There’s nothing particularly steampu…AestheticsA Merry Look at Journalism in "The Year Without a Santa Claus"In the classic…
“We are the Gist Generation. We have acquired a taste for hit-and-run, cut-and-paste knowledge. We expect a home page or e-mail correspondence to give us the gist and only the gist—time is money and you’re a click away from an iconographic trash can, so get to the point.” Jeff Barbian Similar:In September, 2001 I was…
This computer game tries something new. “If a character tells you he’ll call you tomorrow, he’s not kidding. You’ll have to wait a day to get his information. Faxes may arrive without warning, and instant messages may pop up onscreen when you least expect them — maybe even while you’re at work.” Wired.com —“Majestic” Invades…
“Organized religion was a primary target of every one of the twentieth century’s regimes of terror. But as is evident in Nazi and Communist terrors alike, organized irreligion (to put it in Royal’s sharp formulation) has proved far more dangerous than organized religion ever was.” Alicia Mosier Similar:2001: A Space Odyssey – Discerning Themes through…
You might assume there could not be a worse time for a field calling itself “Internet studies.” You would be wrong. The Chronicle of Higher Education Similar:It's a Didactic Day in the Neighborhood: Mister Rogers and Educational IdeologyI recently lamented that my kids are gro…AestheticsBlood & Laurels : Emily Short's Versu launches iPad GameEmily Short…
“Lambert received the e-mail in December, a piece of scrap in the vast electronic junkyard that is the World Wide Web. Regrettably, she says now, she removed the letter’s forwarding markers and unintentionally put her name at the bottom, making it appear that she was the author.” Washington Post —Don’t forward that e-mail just yet!…
“[W]hat could be more scholarly than a nice, authoritative statistic, quoted from a professional journal in the student’s field?” The Chronicle of Higher Education —Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics Similar:That 'Useless' Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest TicketWhat kind of boss hires a thwarted actre…AcademiaHow journalists should handle racist words, images…
The longer the company’s annual report, the less successful the company. This isn’t really a technical writing issue — usually companies with bad news to report need a lot of words to explaining themselves. But if this is what it takes to get some pinhead CEOs to appreciate brevity, so be it. Wired Similar:7 web…
Danielle Preston —You Know You’re a Technical Writer When… Similar:Parallels (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 11) Worf gets technobabbled into a ti… Rewatching ST:TNG After returning…AmusingMisSpelled: Premiering Oct 1In this podcast series, I voice a mage w…AmusingJournalism is now the second draft of historyThe unavoidable truth is that first draf…CultureWired and Business Insider remove…
A student of mine makes comments on interactive fiction, garish colors, and dancing text. Jan Carroll —Just For the Record Similar:Multimodal News Packages (for Student Journalists)A multimodal news package simply means “…AcademiaAnd so it begins: the unmarked assignments counterThis little icon will control my life fo…AcademiaWhat Does Children’s “Obsession” With Technology Tell Us About What…
learns something from my freshman comp students. On March 13, 2000, I e-mailed web guru Jakob Nielsen to tell him that six of my freshmen spent 8-30 minutes on his site without finding a plain-text “search” link on the home page. A week or so later, I noticed that Nielsen changed his page, making the…
“[W]hen it comes to writing, whether you’re a seventh grader, a college student, a professor, a beginning copywriter, or an accomplished novelist, a B isn’t good enough.” Kathy Henning —For Writers, Writing Is Never a Waste of Time: Part 2 Similar:Story Pitch: How writers present an article idea to a busy editor I hoped this…
“[A] society without literature, or a society in which literature has been relegated–like some hidden vice–to the margins of social and personal life, and transformed into something like a sectarian cult, is a society condemned to become spiritually barbaric, and even to jeopardize its freedom.” Mario Vargas Llosa Similar:Indiscretion #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode…
The creator of Cliffs Notes has died. Here’s his obituary — although I know you probably won’t bother to read the whole thing. Similar:Death to high school English”There’s such an emphasis on keeping stu…AcademiaSperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack informationFrom whaling and sealing stations to mis…AwesomeStop trying to figure out if screentime is…
On the tasteless side, but still very funny: “Some Features You May Need on Your Computer“ Similar:By the way, humans sent a robot to another planet, and the robot sent us the sound of a du… Mars rover captures first sound of d…AwesomeBlade Runner | Typeset In The FutureThis is nerd heaven — a deep…
“It is our duty, as responsible citizens, to stop the rot. Next time someone touches base with you or moves your goal posts, punch them in the face.” Clint Witchalls —Business and the English Language Similar:Two decades of Alzheimer's research may be based on deliberate fraud that has cost million… Over the last two decades,…