“Like any successful scam, the hoax worked for two reasons: it seemed believable, and it was beautifully executed. Metallica are well known (and frequently vilified) on the net for their legal tactics, and the story was posted on a perfect copy of MTV’s news page. Because it looked like a genuine story and was written…
“The National Council of Teachers of English, recommending the use of hip-hop lyrics in urban public school classrooms (as already happens in schools in Oakland, Los Angeles, and other cities), enthuses that ?hip-hop can be used as a bridge linking the seemingly vast span between the streets and the world of academics.?|But we?re sorely lacking…
“[I]t should come as little surprise that a technology behind blogs–online chronicles of personal, creative and organizational life–has manifested the kind of bitter fight for control that is inevitable in any truly democratic institution….The dispute offers a glimpse into the byzantine and highly politicized world of industry standards, where individuals without legal authority over a…
“One of the great tales of World War II concerns an American fighter pilot named Marcus McDilda who was shot down on Aug. 8 and brutally interrogated about the atomic bombs. He knew nothing, but under torture he ‘confessed’ that the U.S. had 100 more nuclear weapons and planned to destroy Tokyo ‘in the next…
—New Google Operator: ~synonyms Google has added a new operator — type “~word” to search for what Google calls synonyms (though sometimes it just appears to be different forms of the same word). An interesting detail… if you search Google for “~blog”, one of the words added is “blogger”, while if you search Google for…
“The folks running media outlets — who tend to be even more establishment-oriented than front-line journalists — don’t complain much about the way in which officials control the news because it reduces labor costs. If news managers encouraged reporters routinely to go beyond the canned press releases, briefings, and insider interviews, those reporters would not…
“The show is called, ‘PhD Island.’|Ten or so (somewhat attractive) men and women in their early twenties, maybe with a token older contestant, endure a numbingly drawn-out series of trials and humiliations. These include hostile dissertation-committee meetings, labyrinthine statistical methodologies, and ramen. Some contestants are eliminated along the way — we watch their tearful exits…
“On 27th August, Mars will be at its closest to Earth for almost 60,000 years. On that date, the Red Planet will approach to within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 km) — 145 times the distance of the Moon. The last time the two planets were so close our ancestors were living in caves and struggling to…
“Superintendent of Schools Wilfredo T. Laboy, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has flunked a required literacy test three times… Laboy, who receives a 3 percent pay hike this month that will raise his salary to $156,560, recently put 24 teachers on unpaid administrative leave…
“As an investor, are you Mr. Spock, a rational, unemotional decision-maker who weighs all the options, or Captain Kirk, who is likely to respond with his feelings in making a decision?|At first glance, Mr. Spock would seem to have the advantage and make the best judgments about which stocks to buy.|Not necessarily, say a trio…
have you guys ever seen gummi octopi before? they are so much fun to eat! gummi octopus gummi hectopus gummi hexapus gummi pentapus gummi quadrapus gummi tripus gummi bipus gummi monopus gummi oedipus! mmm “stacey” —have you guys ever seen gummi octopi before? (it makes sense that it should happen this way) Where the author…
“Video games offer worlds for players to explore. Parents and politicians aren’t always happy with what goes on in digital realms, but now universities want to use gaming technology to build better teaching tools for schools.” — Wired’s blurb for an article by Brad King —Educators Turn to Games for Help (Wired) Similar:A Man Alone (#StarTrek…
Hotel minibars are technological marvels. Nowadays they have sensors, so that when someone removes, say, a can of Sprite, the computer at the front desk automatically adds it to the room’s bill. And when the can is restocked, the sensor tells the computer to reset its database. A toddler is also a marvel, of a…
“A bright feature story on 16-year-old ‘Mary’ might refer to her by first name throughout. A straight news story on how she was charged with a crime might use her last name instead.|Youth can be a big factor in how we report the news. In the case above, the tone of the stories would be…
“How can you boost your web site’s credibility?|We have compiled 10 guidelines for building the credibility of a web site. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included over 4,500 people.” —Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility (Web Credibility) My former student Anne Wendt, who suggested the site, did a project for me on…
“Surveys show that about half of 20 to 29 year olds read the newspaper every day in 1972; by 1998, just 20 percent of twenty somethings read the paper every day.|’The younger audience is not subscribing to the newspapers. This is a major concern for us,’ said Noe. ‘But we also know where they are…
PDF’s are a Pain in the ButtLiteracy Weblog) On WebWord, I found a link to a PDF advocate’s lame critique of Jakob Nielsen. It’s an attempt to sidestep Nielsen’s usabilty observations by mounting an ad hominem attack. It’s becoming fashionable to pick on Jakob Nielsen these days, due to his visibility and the shift in…
“Although it does make a reasonable anecdotal case for investing in usability, the report methodology is so fundamentally flawed that any financial analyst worth her salt would immediately question its findings. Very simply, the authors do not make a strong business case for usability?a requirement for passing the muster with the accountants and senior managers…
“In the visual-effects community, ILM’s Hulk was seen as a major achievement: the life in the creature’s eyes, the way light played naturally off its skin, its synthesis into its surroundings, all were deemed first-rate. Film critics, however, panned not only the movie but ILM’s work. The monster didn’t look real. Case closed.” Devin Gordon…
“Is the skeleton still hiding in the closet as it should, Is the needle in the haystack, are the trees still in the wood? Is the worm still in the apple, are you merrier if more, Are the birds still in the bushes and the wolf yet at the door?” Jim Eccleston —Face It (The Electric…