“Set to gather at 7 p.m. at Grand Central Station for what promised to be an elaborate ‘mob ballet,’ the crowd of about 250 was greeted by a ‘huge’ police presence, according to the Mob Project’s anonymous organizer known only as Bill. | Bill said the mob moved to the Grand Hyatt next door instead.…
Power OutageLiteracy Weblog) A storm went through the area a few hours ago, and shortly after that the power went out. My laptop has about an hour of battery left, and the power company expects to have service restored by noon tomorrow. I’ll have to ration my blogging time. Update: Oh, good.. the power went…
My daughter Carolyn looked at me from her high chair and, impatient for the jar of food I was opening, said “Blee blee blee!” As I gave her the first spoon I said, “That was a little extravagant, sweetheart. You made your point with ‘blee blee’.” She looked at me for about fifteen seconds, not…
“The weapons you are looking for are currently unavailable. The country might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your weapons inspectors mandate.” —These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed Thanks for the suggestion, Will. Similar:Clever Modernization of Hamlet: Polonius with an iPhoneI teach Shakespeare in a literature clas…CultureIn August, 2001…
“Over the years I’ve met a diverse collection of writers who have never been published or earned any academic credentials, yet whose claim to the title of artist is genuine. These invisible writers are soldiers and bakers, convicts and salesmen, winos, hairdressers, firefighters, farmers and waitresses. Their only qualifications to literary authenticity are their writings…
Steven Johnson describes the emotional interface over There. The software translates common emoticons and other abbreviations (such as LOL for “laughing out loud”) into gestures and expressions. It also automatically parses a small subset of words: If you type yes, your avatar will nod its head. Most of the time users convey emotion by typing…
“Because everything in her home is waterproof, the housewife of 2000 can do her daily cleaning with a hose.” Waldemar Kaemepffert —Miracles of the Next Fifty Years [2000 as predicted in 1950] I love retrofuture. This article is reproduced on the MIT Architecture website, but the page doesn’t give full source information, and hacking the…
NEW YORK (AP) — Writers of parody news were saddened to learn Monday that merely writing their stories in the clipped, authoritative style of the Associated Press does not make them funny. —AP Style Fake News No Longer Funny (Kuro5hin) Similar:My Dad Is a Right-Wing Asshole (Village Voice)A closed-minded liberal writing a letter…CultureMy Latest Classic Tales…
“Graphic designers were often heavily involved in early web development. The role of the graphic designer is greatly diminished today. The Web is about standardized design. Text dominates. Thus, editors and writers are in far greater demand.” Gerry McGovern —Web Team Roles and Responsibilities are Changing (Gerry McGovern) Similar:Robot Dramas: Autonomous Machines in the Limelight on…
“Simplicity and intuitive appeal are also the main reasons why scientific language has never succeeded in “cleansing” itself from metaphorical “impurities,” despite several attempts to do so. Indeed, metaphors appear to be essential to all forms of language and understanding (4). But if scientific language is by necessity to some extent metaphorical, then interpretation of…
“The ink we print with can cost more than vintage champagne.” —Raw Deal on Printer Ink (BBC) The above is from 2003. In 2013, the situation was much the same: It’s enough that printer ink might be the most expensive liquid you buy. Even the cheapest ink, at about $13 an ounce, costs more than, say,…
“Television, news papers, books, magazines, and other media perform a task of educating, informing, editorializing, advertising and marketing. In each of those domains, the individual is checked, editorialized, authorized and managed to repress what is truly individual and express a view acceptable for that medium at that time. This new medium is a unique medium,…
Clancy Ratliff links to three articles on blogging in the current issue of The Technology Source. —Blogging in Technology Source (KairosNews) Similar:For God's sake John, sit down!CultureFaculty lining up for #SetonHill's "Go Orientation" — new ceremony hands students from th…AcademiaAfter Halloween where do all the pumpkins go? Now we knowIn the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jonathan…AmusingThe Other 21st…
“The alien system is just 90 light years away in the constellation Puppis. The star is at a similar stage of life as our sun and has no companion star, Jones said. It also is in the same galactic neighborhood, so background radiation levels should be about as low as in our solar system.” Erik…
“What no one imagined — least of all The Sims’ designers — was that thousands of players would quickly bypass the album’s intended use and instead use it to create dozens of staged snapshots, crafting what can be complex, scripted, multi-episode social commentaries, graphic novels or even movies, as it were, with the Sims starring…
“The main concept behind Eon of Tears is that the player will get a shot at the biggest events in the Bible: unleashing the ten plagues of Egypt, seeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, leading the conquest of Canaan, or performing some of the miracles as Jesus-Christ. Basically we are taking a look at…
“For years, Hormel Foods Corp. has watched as the name of its famous product has come to mean junk e-mail, a source of heartburn for computer users. | Now Hormel is asserting its trademark rights, filing complaints against Spam Arrest LLC, a Seattle technology company that provides spam-blocking software.” Jonathan Krim —Hormel’s pique e-rupts over…
“I think he more closely resembles a very clever script, which writes personal emails and funny comments to its blogposts, but has as its main function to scoure the web searching for things to link to from its blog. It is an extremely clever script that grades papers and applies for jobs, and convinces undergraduate…
“Though it may seem like a more recent creation, the pixel first appeared in New Jersey in 1954, the same year that Elvis cut his first record and the transistor radio was invented. At Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, mathematicians and engineers created the first computer graphic–and the first instance of digital typography–on a computer…
“I say only three types of people claim they don’t like Krispy Kremes: nutritionists (your basic glazed has 200 calories and 12 grams of fat), Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees, and compulsive liars….It was Mack who came up with the concept of “doughnut theater.” They put the doughnut-making equipment in stores so that people could see the…