I hated Clippy, not because it looked like it was leering at me, but because it was so intrusive. [T]he engineers in the room were willing to throw out the focus-group-provided data—data which they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for—because it didn’t cohere to their expectations. The software shipped with 10 male assistants and…
Source: Cyanide & Happiness (Explosm.net) Similar:RIP Flash: Why HTML5 Will Finally Take Over Video and Web in 2014I am not a fan of Adobe Flash, which is …BusinessGoogle Favors Good Reporting, Not Liberal Views: StudyIt’s a logical fallacy to suggest that w…CultureBlender 3D Flyover of Fantasy Steampunk Spacecraft When my kids were small, at bedtime…
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. An opportune time, then, to revisit R. Sikoryak’s “Good ol’ Gregor Brown,” which first appeared in Russ Kick’s The Graphic Canon, from Seven Stories Press. —Literary Hub Similar:Desiderata (Nerdy Inspiration)This is a little story about an inspirat…CultureThe girl as Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn and Thorin.…
A clever little stunt, getting a little publicity for the robot and the dance troupe. A robot has taken the first step towards becoming a working actor by applying for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card.The robot, whose acting style could be considered stiff, is named IRB 2400. It made its screen debut recently by costarring…
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That moment when you see a dozen or more of your own journalism students guiltily ignoring the “no electronic devices” note in the program so that they can livetweet Honors Convocation. Similar:Kids Whose Parents Limit Screen Time Do Worse in College, New Study Shows “Parents normally set these ru…AcademiaHow Humans Respond to RobotsThe play that…
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Similar:Worked a short day today, and it shows. Tomorrow is another day!PersonalA merry look at journalism in the classic "The Year without a Santa Claus"PersonalThe other day I did a socialize with some of my Humanities colleagues. (I am proud of myse…PersonalAs Twinkle Twinkle is to Suzuki musicians, so is a wooden shipping crate to…
Pretty sure you can’t do this to a Kindle. Posted by Tenth + Fourth on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 Similar:Reading a Classic American Play to My Daughter BooksThe school mocked. I turtled.Draft: “As my classmates tormented, I sh…AcademiaNASA's Perseverance lander brought some Easter eggs with it to MarsIt’s a bit of a stretch to call…
Get the brand of the beer, the make, model and year of the car and the name and breed of the dog. Here’s a great story that suggests journalists also “get the brand of the bra.” Similar:Americans grapple with recognizing facts in news stories: Pew surveyThe more you identify with a particular …CultureC.S. Lewis: "On…
What other accessory ensures the safety of your essentials, with easy access, while also liberating your hands? The fanny pack, when used properly, enables a whole host of activities that other bags render awkward: a deep embrace, a dance party, the ability to quickly find and swipe and secure your MetroCard. Through its rare combination…
In order to provide some context for a blog post on a blinking lights prop we’ve all seen in dozens of different TV shows and movies, I opened different tabs for compilations of the Wilhelm scream, the castle thunder sound cue, and the Amen break drum solo. All three of those sound effects are now playing at once, and I am…
The new logo retains the rainbow of colors but sheds the grownup curlicues: it now evokes children’s refrigerator magnets, McDonald’s French fries, Comic Sans. Google took something we trusted and filed off its dignity. Now, in its place, we have an insipid “G,” an owl-eyed “oo,” a schoolroom “g,” a ho-hum “l,” and a demented,…
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I guess Monkey Island turns 25 this month. It’s hard to tell. Unlike today, you didn’t push a button and unleash your game to billions of people. It was a slow process of sending “gold master” floppies off to manufacturing, which was often overseas, then waiting for them to be shipped to stores and the…
“The Love Bug” was one of the movies that the kids asked for over and over. I didn’t mind watching it with them, becuase Dean Jones, Buddy Hackett, Michelle Lee, and David Tomlinson did such a good job carrying the story. Dean Jones, the affable actor who starred in such classic Disney family comedies as…
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Fan theories are no substitute for critical analysis, yet they have quickly become inseparable for so many readers online. On one hand, it’s (sadly) a small encouragement that there’s any discussion about a movie that already exists, instead of a movie that will open in two years and only has a slew of set photos…
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is usually academics’ first go-to for all things linguistic, and it cites the first occurrence of “you all” in print in 1824, from Arthur Singleton’s Letters from the South and West:“Children learn from the slaves some odd phrases;..as..will you all do this?”This example is important for understanding not only the…
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