“As most people know by now, dictionary makers today merely record how the language is used, not how the language ought to be used. That is, lexicographers are descriptivists, language liberals. People using “disinterested” when they mean “uninterested” does not displease a descriptivist. | A prescriptivist, by contrast, is a language conservative, a person interested…
Be warned; this is a (strictly hypothetic) Google fan’s nightmare. 2014: Google, using its Geolocation feature, starts to heavily censor content for certain countries. Entering “Hitler” at Google.de returns zero results. 2015: Google buys the Yahoo! Directory and removes the DMOZ Open Directory Project. 2016: Google is successfully sued by Microsoft for spidering Windows Servers.…
Fully 80% of adult Internet users, or about 93 million Americans, have searched for at least one of 16 major health topics online. This makes the act of looking for health or medical information one of the most popular activities online, after email (93%) and researching a product or service before buying it (83%). |…
“After a user selects ?print? from the browser, the page is formatted before it is sent to the printer. The width of the layout is reduced to about 650 pixels for 8.5″ x 11″ paper, or 630 pixels for A4, assuming normal margins.|If all the elements of a page can’t wrap around to fit within…
“Information pollution is a worldwide scourge that afflicts not just travelers but everyone. In the United States, for example, you can’t buy a lawnmower without a label saying that you’re not supposed to mow your feet. |Most instruction manuals are littered with “important” warnings that caution against obvious stupidities, burying actual dangers amid a mass…
“I couldn’t help reflecting on the connection between hypertext and napalm, via Vannevar Bush…” Jonathan Delacour —As We May Incinerate (Jonathan Delacour) A fascinating exercise in connecting the dots, and a glimpse into Vannevar Bush’s “war guilt”. Similar:Dear Google: You Should Have Talked to Me FirstTeacher Jen Marten responds to Google’s …BooksThe Host (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch,…
John Scalzi writes: So basically, my job: Demystify the journaling and blogging process for AOL members so they can jump in and start doing it. Encourage the writing, reading, and linking of blogs and journals on AOL and in the blogoverse. Write a kick-ass blog worth reading. Why me? Well, why not? —AOL Hires Blogger (Whatever)…
“Textual history teaches us that authors have been taking back their words for a long, long time (in the form of variants and revisions and new editions), and that ‘their’ words, as we read them on the page, might or might not originate with the person named on the title sheet. In other words (so…
“The Forever Flashlight uses no batteries or bulbs. Instead it uses Faraday’s Principle of Induction and a bright LED to produce light without batteries. The light is shaken for about 30 seconds to recharge a capacitor and it will then provide about 5 minutes of light. As the light is shaken, a magnet passes through…
I can’t remember if I cried When he cut me from his blogroll side But something touched me deep inside The day the blogging died —The Day the Blogging Died (Radio Free Blogistan) The thing about oral composition is that the oral performances aren’t archived, so people who repeat the performances for new audiences tend to…
“I still have strong reservations about removing entries but I’ve changed my mind about pretty much everything else. And while I can understand the impulse to encourage ‘accountability’, I find I’ve crossed over to Dave Winer’s side of the fence as regards ‘substantially editing (although not removing) content after having posted it to the web.’…
“I consider my using weblogs in class this summer to be, for the most part, a failure. I’m glad I tried it, but my students didn’t enjoy blogging. I even thought to myself, at some points in the semester, that maybe blogging is something someone should do because he or she wants to do it;…
“Academics are already seeking to study early games as the awakening of a potent new art form. Future developers will want to see how earlier designers approached play and mechanics — and solved complex problems using limited technology.” Suneel Ratan —Arcade Addicts Joust with Past (Wired) There was a time not too long ago when cinema…
“Rush is almost always armed for his shows with reams of data and analysis from a wide variety of news and information sources. His commentaries indicate that he has actually read his sources, thought about their meaning, and prepared his own in-depth analyses before trying to persuade audience members during his three on-air hours each…
—Merely OK — Usability Testing: What is It? (EServer TC Library) Of the 15 or so of my resources included in the EServer TC Library, my handout on Usability Testing is ranked the worst. Does anyone out there have any suggestions to make it better? Write a review, and post it on the page. The rest…
“When small independent online publications and collaborative news sites with an amateur staff perform original reporting on community affairs, few would contest that they’re engaged in journalism.|When citizens contribute photos, video and news updates to mainstream news outlets, many would argue they’re doing journalism.|But when bloggers comment on and link to news stories, is that…
“University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty member dangled from his parachute on a wire 150 feet above the Seattle area for more than two hours Monday after his jump off a radio tower went awry.” Nahal Toosi —Professor Arrested after Jump from Tower (Journal Setntinel) So… was the tower ivory? Found via Incoming Signals, who files the…
—Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky (Cowles Gallery) Rosemary Frezza first suggested the Washington Post’s current article on Burtynsky, but since that will expire soon she did a little hunting and found the Cowles Gallery link. There is really no quotable text in the gallery press release (“BURTYNSKY’s photographs, monumental both in scale and subject,…
“Why is it, a growing number of people are asking, that anyone can download medical nonsense from the Web for free, but citizens must pay to see the results of carefully conducted biomedical research that was financed by their taxes? | The Public Library of Science aims to change that. The organization, founded by a…
“For years, researchers have worked to improve gloves that can translate American Sign Language into spoken and written speech…. Some members of the deaf community are ambivalent about the technology, which aims to ‘fix’ deafness, a trait they accept and even embrace as culturally unique. Many also are wary of a machine that can translate…