Unexpected consequences, when a developer slims the size (in terms of data) of the YouTube video-watching page from 1.2M down to under 100kb. Having just finished writing the HTML5 video player, I decided to plug it in instead of the far heavier Flash player. Bam! 98KB and only 14 requests. I threaded the code with…
Reaction to the cover: – Newsweek’s last print issue has just a hashtag on the cover. Like using your final breath to ID the killer. @sacca – Newsweek’s last cover: one more flippant stunt. Ooh! A Hashtag! I’m proud to have worked there 1985-93. @jswatz – Glad to see @Newsweek going all digital! Love the…
My 10yo daughter Carolyn played Annie in a Stage Right! Greensburg production Sunday. I was delighted to play President FDR. Here is a clip from our longest scene together, the Annie Cabinet Scene. Similar:‘Because’ has become a preposition, because grammarThe construction is more versatile than …AmusingOk, never mind Dusgcxms2… buddy, you can keep your first…
Similar:We are cruel. We always have been. The Internet did not make us soWe didn’t start the flame war. Scandalou…CultureHow We ReadI feel a little nerdier than usual when …AestheticsAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dartAestheticsThe Most Lamentable and Excellent Text Adventure of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkUpdate, July 2015 — the…
Creative Bloq. Similar:Darmok (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 2) Picard of the Federation, His Metapho…Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…CultureIf You Check the Source of an Inspirational Prayer You Shared on Social Media, You Might B…I needed this prayer yesterday. I checke…AmusingWet Book Rescuehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9_fwmdC…BooksSet design for a virtual production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots).…
Nearly everyone reported so many things wrong in the first 24 hours after the Sandy Hook shootings that it’s hard to single out any one news organization or reporter for criticism. Among the news outlets that wrongly reported major parts of the journalistic building blocks of “who, what, where, when, why and how,” were CBS, The Associated…
With so many unanswered questions, TV correspondents were left to set the scene and to convey the impact in words that continually failed them. However apt, the phrase “parents’ worst nightmare” became an instant cliche. And the word “unimaginable” was used countless times. But “imagine” was exactly what the horrified audience was helpless not to…
I have no patience for TV news, and feel my blood pressure rise when I see the fear-mongering (“What was the chemical spilled on Route 66 that 10,000 motorists drove over on their way home from work? Will it cause you and your family to die a horrible death? Janice will have that story after…
Historically it’s been nearly impossible for a new Christmas song to break the impenetrable monopoly of “Away in a Manger” (1885); “The First Noel” (1823); “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful” (1743); “Silent Night” (1818); “Deck the Halls” (1862); “Jingle Bells” (1857); “We Three Kings” (1857); “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (17th century); “Hark! The Herald…
What we know: The package contained an incredibly detailed replica of “University of Chicago Professor” Abner Ravenwood’s journal from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It looks only sort of like this one, but almost exactly like this one, so much so that we thought it might have been the one that was…
Leapin‘ Lizards! There are four versions of the adorable little orphan with the big voice in Stage Right‘s holiday production of everybody‘s favorite musical, “Annie.” They‘re not on stage at the same time, and John Noble, who plays the one-and-only Daddy Warbucks, says each of the girls adds a little something different to her performance…
“Reality TV” star is shocked — shocked — that his own show is faked. Storage Wars Sued By Its Star; Show Is Faked And Execs Were Confronted By Cast, Court Papers Charge | Radar Online. Similar:Understanding Anti-SLAPP laws – The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the PressShort for strategic lawsuits against pub…EthicsThe Rise of Curiosity JournalismKatz…
A Quick and Comprehensive Guide to Type Similar:Skin of Evil (TNG Rewatch, Season 1 Episode 23)My rewatch reflection on the Star Trek:T…DesignForward is the officers' wardroom. To the right is an airlock. Left leads to the on-call o… AestheticsOut of the Zuckersphere, (back) into the BlogosphereThis is why I still blog. While commerci…AcademiaDan Rather reflects…
Face it—eBook sales are up, analog eBook sales are down. Pretty soon collectors are going to realize that normal people no longer share their bourgeois fascination with things like the bittersweet aroma of ink on paper, or the satisfying heft of a classic hardcover, or the fact that books don’t randomly turn off when you…
If you’re a veteran gamer you’ll remember the golden era of text-based adventures. The Hobbit, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Zork… titles that conjured whole worlds out of narrative descriptions and two-word player inputs. That genre never went away, of course – interactive fiction communities still thrive on the web (a good place to look is…
Bad Doggy — practicing “Tomorrow” with a human Sandy – YouTube. Similar:Checkmate. Crushed again.GamesA picture of puffy white clouds floating in a blue skyAestheticsEnjoy the showmanship as a 94yo woman performs in a dance competition.https://youtu.be/8LOdmka4_90AestheticsMicrophowned .AmusingThat moment when you're logging into a table read of #RUR (Rossum's Universal Robo…PersonalDeus Ex MemoriesI’ve just finished my final…
As the typewriter become popular, it was sometimes referred to it as a “literary piano,” or “the sewing machine of thought.” But the piano and the sewing machine both require a more complex interaction between fingers and machine parts than does the keyboard, which essentially requires you to press whatever button features the letter or…
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…Amherst thinks that there may be long-term gains — both for scholarship and the economics of academic publishing — by publishing books that are subject to traditional peer review, edited with rigor and then published in digital form only, completely free. Some university presses issue some of their works in free digital formats. And Rice…
The headline is provocative — I wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but this anecdote was certainly interesting. [W]hen I asked him about his BA in English, which he had earned about five years earlier, he got nervous. “What was your favorite century of English literature,” I asked. But he hadn’t really focused on any…