Back in my grad school days, I was called a “run-of-the-mill programmer” by a brilliant IT genius. For a guy whose only computer coursework consists of a Pascal class in high school (“taught” by a math teacher who didn’t know the language, and checked my answers against those in the teacher’s manual), I still consider…
King Henry rallies his troops just before the decisive Battle of Agincourt. From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,…
RT @textfiles: Hi internet. In another few minutes I go onstage to point everyone to archive.org/details/histor… and hopefully computer history … Similar:I asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few…
Not my item, but the pathos caught my eye. Similar:Thank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting this low-resolution (the background image was 640x…Thank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting …AestheticsA week of nonstop breaking political news stumps AI chatbotsChatbots are designed to give conversati…CybercultureThose mean fake news people at the Washington Post are at it again, this…
Seriously: What is Amazon? A retail company? A media company? A logistics machine? The mystery of its strategy is deepened by two factors. First is the company’s communications department, which famously excels at not communicating. Three requests to speak with Amazon officials for this article were delayed and, inevitably, declined. This moves discussions of the…
Tween: “My friends say Bieber’s a jerk now.” Me: “It’s hard when your idols fall.” Tween: “That’s why I don’t have any. Except for you.” Similar:Proto iPads and Paper Coexist in Classic Star TrekRewatching the classic Trek episode “The…CybercultureIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureMaybe I'll just delete…
A new Emily Dickinson archive is online. Here is the opening of one of her most famous poems. Reading View for Fascicle 23. Similar:Rehearsing 'Fiddler on the Roof' is like trying to herd cats onto a grid and make them wal…I’m really enjoying the experience. I’ve…CultureNASA Releases New Earthrise ImageNASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO…AestheticsEmpty InboxMy to-do do…
My wonderfully geeky tween made these Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde pendants with her Rainbow Loom. Next on her list: making Pac-Man. Similar:What if Generative AI turned out to be a Dud?I’m sad thinking of all the students who…BusinessHumans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy The illustrations clients bring to her…ArtThis…
Have you heard the story about the lady who spilled coffee on herself and won millions of dollars from McDonald’s? Have you looked up the details on the story, or do you just know the story as a TV show punch line? Stella became a symbol for frivolous lawsuits and fodder for talk show hosts,…
Reporters have been sometimes fired for willful misconduct, such as repeated instances of plagiarism or fabrication. Reporters who’ve suffered that fate, such as the New York Times’ Jayson Blair and The Washington Post’s Janet Cooke, were guilty of gross journalistic malpractice. But firing a reporter over an unintentional mistake is “extremely rare,” said Scott Maier,…
I’m getting ready to introduce my freshman writing students to college-level research, so I found it helpful to read this brief introduction to the internal problems Wikipedia creates for itself. When a major news event takes place, such as the Boston Marathon bombings, complex, widely sourced entries spring up within hours and evolve by the…
“Does size matter?” — student journalist, making a person-on-the street video interview about the new iPad. Similar:Classroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with the whole …BusinessParallel structure in writing: Use it!These comic panels cover the issue well….HumanitiesJudge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksDesert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever…
RT @joningold: Thing is, the freedom of the parser is a sham – not because it *doesn’t* understand everything but because no-one plays as t… Similar:In Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureI asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingLoved…
In the Nightly Noodle Monthly, former North Adams Transcript journalist Isaac Avilucea posts this passage, which he says was removed from a sports feature that got him fired. But there’s a reason she’s not at MountGreylock anymore, choosing to transfer to a school with somewhat inferior academics and athletics. Part of it has to do with the stuffy social atmosphere that…
I just did the thing where you look everywhere for your glasses but you can’t find them because you are already wearing them. Similar:Classroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with the whole …Business10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on…
Inside Higher Ed Similar:The daughter (giving the piggyback ride in pic 2) doing a thing that starts tomorrow. Tribune ReviewAmusingOpen Source College Math BookOne day last year, David Lippman got an …AcademiaSpot of sunlight seems to be sliding down an escalator. View t…AestheticsNo, this photo of people wearing coats standing in front of bare…
I can’t quite understand a world in which people will pay $4 for a cup of coffee… So I have no particular interest in coffee-shop culture, but the unrelenting advance of automation is worth noting. But note the word “could” in the headline. The Briggo coffee kiosk knows how to make a perfect coffee because…
EL231 “Digital Storytelling” (Dec 18-Jan 22) Unit 1 (Dec 18-22) mostly experiencing digital stories (reading, watching, listening, playing, whatever), and reading articles & discussing them online. (We take a break Dec 23-Jan 1: no classes, no homework.) Unit 2 (Jan 2-7) trying out 4-5 tools for creating digital stories, and learning two in a little…
First of all, I’m always wary about any news article with “could” in the headline. Second, Wired produces a lot of paragraphs without actually giving away anything about the radical new teaching method (which is simply a motion from the “sage on the stage” model to the “guide on the side” — the current state…
Neil Gaiman tells us why books matter: When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and…