I got a text message a couple days ago.. would I be available Saturday night to play a judge in a one-act play based (very loosely) on local history? Sure, why not? Similar:The world's oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about 'seven sisters' stars may rea…In cultures around the world, myths abou…CultureEpilogue to Rossum's Universal…
Forced Google+ integration in Google Reader and YouTube, both of which had strong communities of their own beforehand, are prime examples of how Google+ fostered hostility rather than goodwill. The time is right for Google to rethink its approach. I still like the idea of Circles as a way of controlling who sees what, but…
“After 112 years as The Daily Emerald, they saw the tidal wave of change,” he said. “They re-branded themselves from a daily student newspaper into a multiplatform student media company.” It was not financial worries alone that prompted Ryan Frank, its publisher, to announce the decision in 2012 to print two instead of five days…
The iPad market is saturated. Tablets are gadgets for a largish, elite niche. So, as a technology, the iPad adoption curve might look more like a bicycle’s than a mobile phone’s. Some people have and love them, but not everyone needs one. Tablets are “tweeners,” not as robust as a computer nor as convenient as…
The show was awash in quick, smart wisecracks, not to mention cultural references that ran the gamut from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Miles Davis to Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. Watching MST3K was like hanging out with a trio of underachieving-genius best friends. At a time when depictions of geekery were limited mostly to Urkel and…
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Someone is regretting this PR move. The official @NYPDnews Twitter account made an attempt at social media outreach today only to get promptly torn to shreds by users resisting the PR push. Hijacked hashtags are a common Twitter phenomenon, but tend to be played more for giggles (“trolling,” some call it) than to make a…
Fantastic data visualization. How Americans Die. Similar:Princess of Wales photo furore underlines sensitivity around image doctoring Catherine’s attempts to adjust a famil…Culture'Robot Journalist' Out-Writes Human Sports ReporterSports journalism is full of colorful fi…GamesSuch A Good Feeling: The Affectionate Documentary 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?'My son and I saw “Won’t You Be Ny Neighb…CultureLanguage Log »…
My wife and I in Biblical costumes for Children of Eden. (We played Storytellers and had walk-on parts as Seth (third son of Adam and Eve) and his wife.) Oh, and she was a polar bear and I was a giraffe on the ark. Dennis G. Jerz. Similar:Don’t Want to Fall for Fake News? Don’t…
It’s one thing to be able use a service like Facebook or Instagram, and to use it well; it’s quite another thing to code a web page by hand, tweak a CSS file, or design the navigation for a large website. While I don’t expect my English students to be professional programmers, I do aim…
Grail to the Thief stars a thief from the future named Hank Krang, who “recently had a self-aware time machine called the Time Excursion Digital Interface, or TEDI, fall into his lap after a poker game. He has decided to use this technology to go throughout time, stealing priceless artifacts.” His first destination? Arthurian times,…
I am not a fan of Adobe Flash, which is a closed, proprietary system that requires your users to install a specific, resource-intensive player. Don’t build your business on someone else’s property. Long live HTML5. Cassette tapes, 8-tracks, and … Flash. All three of these mediums need a player to work, and all three mediums…
“We have about 850 graduates, and we have a professional photographer snapping their picture when they shake my hand and get their diploma,” said Ronald Machtley, the president of Bryant. “I don’t think their mom and dad and grandma want to get a picture of them holding up their cellphone.” —Go Forth and Conquer, but…
Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert who run The Sunday Times investigative Insight team placed an advert in a Bulgarian paper. The reporters from a Bastion of British investigative journalism pretended to be a UK-based couple wanting to circumvent the adoption process and buy a Bulgarian baby. A sharp-eyed Bulgarian reporter saw the advert and was…
Users are now able to create audio and video playlists with WordPress 3.9. They work as a shortcode, just like the image galleries do currently. Uploading audio and video is handled through the usual media uploader, with images and everything else. From there, you have the option to add them to a playlist. —Smashing Magazine.…
The eighties, at least, were drenched in cocaine and neon, slick cars and yacht parties, a real debauched reaction. But nineties white culture was all earnest yearning: the sorrow of Kurt Cobain and handwringing over selling out, crooning boy-bands and innocent pop starlets, the Contract With America and the Starr Report. It was all so…
A first draft gives you something to go on in the future. Because you will rewrite this draft. And you’ll rewrite it again after the first time. So, don’t rush the process. (And I’m talking to myself as much as to you.) At the same time, I think its important to acknowledge that writing “masterful…
Data visualization is one of the most important tools we have to analyze data. But it’s just as easy to mislead as it is to educate using charts and graphs. In this article we’ll take a look at 3 of the most common ways in which visualizations can be misleading. —Heap Data Blog. Similar:Steampunk officer…
INCIDENTAL COMICS: Understanding Poetry. Similar:Peter Thiel Just Got His Wish: Gawker Is Shutting DownAFTER A 14-YEAR run, Gawker.com is shutt…BusinessMLA-Style Bibliography Builder– updated to handle web sources Choose…AcademiaTweaking yesterday's #steampunk workstations. Now with darker wood (better contrast with c…AestheticsPrepare for the Ultimate GaslightingThoughtful essay from Julio Vincent Gamb…BusinessStephen Greenblatt's The Swerve racked up prizes —…
I’ve blogged a bit as part of today’s Day of Digital Humanities. Day of Digital Humanities on Twitter. Similar:Kirby Delauter SagaLet’s hope many, many more journalism st…HomeTolkien v. Orwell: Who understood modern surveillance best?Interesting set of observations explorin…CultureTake that, grass! Eat rotary analog steel.HomeWriting That Demonstrates Thinking Ability While reflecting on my semester for …HomeInfinite…