“PBS has provided enough funding to keep Reading Rainbow alive for one more season. I have seen firsthand how the ability to read can transform a life, and that’s why I have worked for literacy for the past 20 years.” LeVar Burton —Near the End of ‘Rainbow,’ but Does Anyone Care? (Houston Chronicle) Burton notes that…
“Koppel’s group found that the single biggest difference is that women are far more likely than men to use personal pronouns-‘I’, ‘you’, ‘she’, ‘myself’, or ‘yourself’ and the like. Men, in contrast, are more likely to use determiners-‘a,’ ‘the,’ ‘that,’ and ‘these’-as well as cardinal numbers and quantifiers like ‘more’ or ‘some.’ As one of…
“Next to the table is our water dispenser, which has a tap for warm water and hot water. That’s right, no cold water. If you want a cold drink, you need to prepare the drink, then leave it for a while in one of the colder locations on ISS. It will never get really cold,…
“The industrial show had its humble beginnings during the post-WWII boom. Two types of industries began experimenting with the idea: the retail industry and the automobile industry. As far as show collectors know, a department store was the first to jump into the fray – Marshall Field’s with Give the Lady What She Wants, a…
“Speech integration technology is nothing new, as any telephone caller who has ever barked back responses to a seemingly endless series of voice prompts can testify. But an improved generation of speech integration software, based on more powerful processors and emerging Internet-focused standards, promises to make the technology more useful and cost-effective.” John Edwards —Smooth…
“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:Margaret Atwood: English lessons teach us to miss the true meaning of literatureEvery time I teach…
“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:Research Poetry (communicating research results and expressing their significance through …For an article on communicating research…AcademiaMy…
“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:Boston Bombing Survivor Dances Onstage for First TimeTechnology…
“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:What Is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-GeeksI’ve been following the frustrating slow…Current_EventsHiggs Boson VideoGreat video about subatomic particles, f…AcademiaI had a grand time recording this little story about a misunderstood genius who just…
“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…