Jurors sentenced Carmack to seven years for convictions in March of forgery, identity theft and falsifying business records. He must serve a minimum 3 1/2 years. —Carolyn Thompson —Spammer Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison (AP/MyWay) O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Similar:A ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ Lesson for the Digital AgeIf we were surprised Tuesday night, it…
A student who admits plagiarising his way through his three-year degree course plans to sue his university for negligence after he was caught out on the day before his final exam. Michael Gunn was told by the University of Kent at Canterbury earlier this month that a routine review of his English literature degree coursework…
Should you happen to find yourself captivated watching slender Lara bound lithely through Tomb Raider’s dark, moist-looking caverns, you will do so without quite forgetting that Lara is, in a sense, you. Like the stranded Marine in Doom, the progenitor of first-person shooters, Lara awaits your input before she makes her decisions. Lara and Doom’s…
A social studies office worker said she was fired this week after administrators discovered provocative posts in her online journal, including threats to fellow workers and superiors. —Leon Neyfakh —Online Weblog Leads To Firing (Harvard Crimson) An online weblog… as opposed to some other kind of weblog, such as an offline weblog, which, according to the…
She now has 81 grandchildren and great-grandchildren to hear her schoolgirl tales, but the end of the story always troubled her. So after outliving three husbands and letting seven decades pass since her last high school class, Babson decided it was time to go back to school. —Jill Barton —Fla. Woman, 90, Receives H.S. Diploma (MyWay/AP)…
As Peter Rojas points out in Engadget, it was not actually a mainstream news source which first reported Rumsfeld as saying: “To protect the Iraqi prisoners from any future abuses; any digital cameras, camcorders, or cell phones with cameras are strictly prohibited anywhere in any military compound in Iraq.” That statement was actually a satirical…
In a society devoted to “reality shows” and rampant commodification, it had to happen some time. Late last month an independent scientist auctioned off his services as a co-author on eBay, with the promise of helping the highest bidder write a scientific paper for publication. The offer even had the added allure of a linkage…
The perception and use of an avatar – as the primary means of agency in online environments – might be expected to be shaped by the motivations for participating in the environment. In particular, goal-oriented users may be more likely to treat avatars as tools/pawns to achieve goals, thereby encouraging a preference for 3PP that…
Neckties worn by doctors can and do carry dangerous pathogens, a clever new study released yesterday reveals. It suggests a bedside visit by a well-dressed physician could dole out disease along with comfort and care. —Helen Branswell —MDs’ neckties ‘a health hazard’ (Toronto Star) Similar:Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreamingNeil Gaiman tells us…
“Most writers are not getting published in magazines or literary journals,” Lee said the other day, clicking through her Internet Explorer favorites in her cluttered cubicle at the I.C.M. office on West Fifty-seventh Street. “For some more unconventional voices, for people that don’t have connections, blogs can be an entryway into the game.” —Daniel Radosh…
Students might be surprised to know how nervous some experienced teachers can be at the prospect of a new class. I have taught at least 40 classes, but I still find teaching stressful, particularly after the summer break or a sabbatical. As the first day approaches, I’ll begin to worry: Will my voice tremble? Will…
Since I started using computers, they’ve become almost a million times more powerful. Although big computers can be alienating, their evolution generally leads to a better user experience…. Although the bigger, newer mainframe had an actual CRT screen, it also had obscure commands and horrible usability. Worst of all, it was highly alienating because you…
At the bottom of each entry in this site’s blog, I use </30> to designated the end of the it. In my own way, it’s a nod to the tradition of ending newspaper stories (and occasionally broadcast and magazine pieces) with – 30 -. While no one’s sure why 30 was used as an end sign, there…
3.5 million for heaven. 3.9 million for hell. 9.4 million for Florida. —Bruce Stockler —On the Web, in the Heart (New York Times) An extremely interesting example of using rhetoric to organize data. Similar:How Television Covered the Kennedy Assassination – a 1964 TV Guide ArticleIt was a new, shocking, traumatic thing …CultureThis class has been everything…
The artists will reverse engineer Mystery House, the first graphical adventure game; reimplement it in a modern, free language for interactive fiction development; and make a kit freely available to the public so that others may modify Mystery House Taken Over as they see fit. The artists will create their own modified versions and commission…
The Associated Press story from January this year breathlessly reports that: “U.S. soldiers in Iraq are killing themselves at an unusually high rate, despite the work of special teams sent to help troops deal with combat stress.” You have to scan a lot lower in the story to read the following: “[T]he military has documented…
A Requiem for the Bookmark: Refresh That, Favor This From time to time, when teaching students about the Internet, I catch myself telling students to “hit reload” or suggesting that they “bookmark that.” These are Netscape-era terms, and while Internet Explorer is dominant now, I can’t seem to unlearn those terms. It’s a simple matter…
If you?re curious about how much you think like a leader versus thinking like a manager, answer the following fifteen True or False questions. Then follow the link at the bottom of the page to see the answers and a brief discussion of each question. —Are You A Leader? Part I: The Leadership Self Test (Schuler…
You can choose to fight evil alone, or you can join a gang of good guys. As humiliating as it might be, you could become a sidekick apprentice to characters with more developed skills. So far, the player community is welcoming; there aren’t many foul-mouthed teens and crabby veterans. Newbie-friendly areas exist, and subscribers so…
Flames shot up around a 21-year-old college student whose cell phone rang while he was pumping gas. —Phone Ignites Gas Station Fire (http://www.cbsnews.com) I’m glad the guy wasn’t hurt. If we could rig up something similar in classrooms and theatres, I bet people would remember to shut off their ringers. The graphic shows what looks like…