The Drake equation cannot be tested and therefore SETI is not science. SETI is unquestionably a religion. Faith is defined as the firm belief in something for which there is no proof. The belief that the Koran is the word of God is a matter of faith. The belief that God created the universe in…
This afternoon, I took my son to our local Borders for a talk on the Johnstown Flood documentary. The flood was caused by the 1889 collapse of a dam originally built for Pennsylvania’s canal system, then abandoned when rails came along. The presenter, Richard Burkert, a museum director whose commentary is included on the DVD…
From email messages and front-page news in the New York Times to published books and magazine articles, the 10 ouchies listed here crop up everywhere. They’re so pernicious that even respected Internet columnists are not immune. | The list also could be called, “10 COMMON PROBLEMS THAT DISMISS YOU AS AN AMATEUR,” because these mistakes…
From pictograms to pixel fonts, written language has evolved over time, changing in response to communication methods and printing technology. This overview is presented as an introduction to the origins, evolution, and applications of modern letterforms. —The Evolution of Type (Medium Bold) The ubiquity of the word processor has changed what it means to write. I…
Jerz Course Books — Spring 2004Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) For those who are interested, here are links to the required purchase books for my classes; in a few days I’ll post the full syllabi: Seminar in Thinking and Writing II (no new books) EL 150: Introduction to Literary Study EL 267: American Literature 1915-Present EL 309:…
This paper addresses the evolution of metaphors for the Internet and shows how they have constrained and determined the development of cyberlaw. | Within the law, metaphors mold the framework of discourse, determining the scope of appropriate questions about and answers to various social and legal problems. Courts and commentators employ metaphors as heuristics to…
Instead of being dollars or euros or kroner, links seem a lot more like the major prison currency, cigarettes, in the hands of a heavy smoker who cares more about smoking than about any other prison commodity. First of all, you can do something with them; as an afterthought, you also use them to get…
I went into the office for about an hour and a half tonight. When I came back, my wife was writing busily at the kitchen table. “I’ve got a blog entry for you,” she said. This is rather momentous — she has very little interest in cyberculture. But here’s what she wrote. (Let this be…
The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has been awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. —Web’s Inventor Gets a Knighthood (BBC) Definitely one of the good guys. If he had tried to keep control over his invention, of course it wouldn’t have worked, since the web depends upon the contributions of thousands and…
Patrice Moore, 43, had apparently been standing up when the books, catalogs, mail and newspapers swamped him on Saturday. Firefighters and neighbors rescued Moore on Monday afternoon and he was hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday morning with leg injuries. —Man Trapped Under Mountain of Books, Papers (CNN/AP) Note to self: find a sturdy box and insert…
—WebWord Returning Soon! (WebWord) John S. Rhodes, whose WebWord.com has been down for several months, is planning to bring it back early in 2004. Hurrah! Similar:Your Frustration Is the Product (Intrusive marketing on publisher websites)You read two paragraphs and there’s a bo…BusinessAdding details to a clip-art silhouette, for a project that will be released in a…
I thought I was busy as a graduate student, and I was…. As long as I showed up at the right place — the library, the classroom, the data-entry warehouse — I got through. Being a faculty member lumps the hours and the tasks all together, and there is little immediate feedback on what’s important…
—Blogging Changing Journalism (New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University) A small number of my students noted in their end-of-term reflection that they weren’t all that comfortable with blogging because they expected a course in traditional journalism, not all this cyberspace stuff… Similar:Why No One Clicked on the Great Hypertext StoryIt’s not that hypertext went on…
Roland Barthes famously announced the death of the author. This weekend, as thousands of professors and their apprentices mill about the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association in San Diego, one might ask: Has theory succumbed to the same fate? … [T]heory’s promised political liberation never happened. Cultural theory, he argues, instead mutated into…
‘The fakir drew from under his knee a ball of grey twine. Taking the loose end between his teeth, he, with a quick upward motion, tossed the ball into the air. Instead of coming back to him, it kept on going up and up until out of sight and there remained only the long swaying…
The Return of the King (but only after 25 minutes of infernal movie trailers)Jerz’s LIteracy Weblog) My parents came to visit for a few days, so Leigh and I skipped out to see The Return of the King at a matinee. (We saw The Two Towers separately last year.) (*Spoilers*) Of course any cuts are…
—Virtual Punchcard Server (Facade.com) I found this and a great Tongue Twister Database (if by “database” you mean “long list”) via J-Walk Weblog. Similar:''The Balloon Hoax'' by Edgar Allan PoeWhen steampunk was speculative fiction, …AmusingCoding Sucks: Why a Job in Programming Is Absolute HellI enjoyed the essay, but the truths it i…CultureGoodbye, Google Search. I've switched…
PETA: Mad Cow with a Side of Green OnionsJerz’s Literacy Weblog) I notice that PETA has lost no time in capitalizing on the mad cow disease to advocate its vegetarian position… but I don’t recall PETA having much to say about the green onion scare! (Google turns up plenty of PETA recipies that use green…
Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show. —Jakob Nielsen —Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 (Alertbox) Usually Nielsen’s blurbs are more informative… the “summary” on his site reads more like a marketing tease.…
His full-time job is to keep software-loving scientists and engineers from burying their “whats” in their “hows.” It’s not easy, because PowerPoint’s “hows” get more numerous and distracting with each new release. MORE, the original presentation software, was a 300k program that turned outlines into “bullet charts,” its two-word noun for slides. The latest versions…