The Most Epic Demo in Computer History Is Now an Opera

This is nice, but what I really want to see is an Elizabethan-style revenge play featuring Clippy. December 9, 1968… in an underground convention center in the heart of San Francisco, Doug Engelbart gave The Mother Of All Demos, introducing the world to an astonishing slew of technologies including word processing, video conferencing, windows, links,…

Creationism dismissed as ‘a kind of paganism’ by Vatican’s astronomer

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a “destructive myth” had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies. He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a “kind of paganism” because it…

The Life and Times of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But, in addition to symbolizing despair, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ can be wielded as a Zen-like tool to accept the chaos of universe. Meditate on its wide eyes and upturned mouth; that’s not the expression of a quitter, it’s the carefree face of #blessed, radical openness. —The Awl. Similar:Star Trek TOS Main Theme but it never gets to…

Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote.

Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote. But lazy bloggers, fill you not your posts With words transpos’d, poetic more to seem. Like this, who speaks? Like Yoda will you sound. Nor stuff your limping lines with pointless words And really wasteful phrases filling space And stretching points so thin across each line In order to fulfill the ten-beat rule. Yet rhymeless…

Joyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s catalog

Looks like the quality control process at this school needs a little refinement.“The image was not representative of UNG’s commitment to diversity, and this will serve as an opportunity for increased dialogue about diversity issues and we expect that to better inform our processes and publications,” said Kate Maine, the university official. —Raw Story Similar:Point…

Leonard in Slow Motion (9min video)

Leonard exists in slow motion but lives in a regular speed world. When he discovers his office crush is getting transferred to Florida, Leonard decides he must somehow become regular speed to win her heart before she leaves town for good. Similar:A Few Good Men at the Pittsburgh Public TheatreFantastic performances, powerful writing…CultureSurprise: Humanities Degrees…

National Science Foundation announces plan for comprehensive public access to research results

This is good news. It’s unfair that government-funded studies get published in private databases that make money off of the public’s desire to access results of studies paid for by our taxes. NSF will require that articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and papers in juried conference proceedings or transactions be deposited in a public access…

The Teen Brain “Shuts Down” When It Hears Mom’s Criticism

Wired summarizes an egghead study for the rest of us. Parents may benefit from understanding that when they criticize their adolescents, adolescents may experience strong negative emotional reaction, may have difficulty cognitively controlling this emotion and may also find it challenging to understand the parent’s perspective or mental state. (From a study summarized in Wired.) Similar:York…

9 Photography Tips (Steve McCurry)

9 Photography Tips Similar:Google 1407Philipp Lenssen and I had a bit of fun i…AestheticsOne of the Sadder Lost and Found Messages You'll Probably See TodayNot my item, but the pathos caught my ey…DesignThe Myth of ‘Learning Styles’The discourse around “learning styles” (…AcademiaInmates in a Brazil prison shorten their sentences by writing book reviewsAn amazing story…

Lighten Up (an illustrator explores the racial politics of skin color in comics)

Lighten Up — The Nib — Medium. Similar:It's reckless and dangerous for a leader with a habit of doubling down in the face of crit…Today my Facebook feed featured memes th…Current_EventsPlans for the Little Known Confederate HelicopterThe possibilities of combining Civil War…Designcopyranter: New Milwaukee Public Library ads mock facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.      copyra…AmusingIn…

My copy of Plotkin’s Hadean Lands arrived today. 

 Similar:Journalism Isn't Dying. It's Returning to Its Roots.An important reminder that “objective” j…CultureBREAKING: All ITT Campuses Will CloseAll ITT Tech campuses will be shut down,…AcademiaBuzzFeed plagiarism, deleted posts: Jonah Peretti explains.In 2012 my former Slate colleague Farhad…BusinessFinal grades are due tomorrow. My Fall 2020 is almost over. I survived.Final grades are due tomorrow. My…

DCNF, TV Upfront Presenters Need to Understand That Content’s Kingdom is Changing

Today’s viewers don’t differentiate between "traditional" and "digital." Today’s viewers watch what they want, when they want. The average consumer is not thinking about whether it’s scripted or unscripted, user-generated or premium. They care that it’s funny, interesting, gripping or cool. Brands need to recognize the power of those four adjectives, and take risks alongside…