—Don’t Click this Link: Extremely Annoying AdsWired) There are some extremely annoying ads on this Wired article about “machinima” — a genre of digital storytelling created by people who use the monster-and-dungeon-creation tools supplied by game designers (or hacked by fans, probably). I didn’t get very far in the article because of the hovering ads…
“I joined organizations, attended conferences religiously, subscribed to journals, and made every attempt to connect to and garner the attention of those in the ‘inner circle’ — the members of steering committees, working groups, and editorial boards, as well as the chairs of leading University departments. But, while I still maintain those ties, I now…
“Looking at this, perhaps having all that fresh new blood from AOL — all without their little weblogging heros and talk about weblogging and this conference and that and all with little or no interest in the politics of weblogging — will be a good thing. A very good thing. | Here’s hoping for complete…
“It is vitally important that we all realize this and move on. People (eg Bloggers) go on and on about how wonderful it is. About how much information is out there in cyberspace. About the way that everything is within reach in just a few clicks of their mice.” —The Internet Is Shit Eh. This…
“I do understand both of their frustration with empty trackback pages and currently do not have an answer as to why those appear higher in rankings (or at all for that matter). At the same time, I am unsure what either one of them means by ?mindless links? — that does not help bloggers (like…
“For many of us, creative life goes beyond machines — creativity is built in at a very low level of our personalities, and the joy of building things from imagination, then sharing those experiences with others and watching their reactions — that’s what drives us.” Richard “Lord British” Garriott, inventor of Ultima Online, in an…
“About a month after publication, I received a postcard from an Ohio professor. In my textbook on college writing, I had narrated an anecdote Abraham Lincoln told, in which he referred to a tightrope walker named Blondin. I had spelled it ‘Bloudin.’ The professor corrected me and added, ‘Such egregious errors mar an otherwise fine…
College gamers are not necessarily male — or antisocial hermits. And while about one-third of those surveyed admitted playing computer games during class, the games generally don’t conflict with their studies, says the researcher who conducted the survey for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. —Study: Gamers Not Reculsive Nerds (Wired) The full report is…
” Having lost its sense of being a rather oversized living room, the student center has assumed something of the impersonal quality of a visitors’ center at a national park, or a bus terminal — buildings whose task it is to orient strangers. And, in truth, the student center is designed in large measure for…
“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:Face of The Enemy (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 14) Troi role-plays as a fear…Rewatching…
“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…