“One of the first scientists I spoke to, a highly decorated nanochemist, confessed in the most forthright way that he felt he had been duped. It turned out that his candor was typical.|But these physicists were more than helpful. They were downright friendly. They often had to stop to explain concepts that were elementary to…
“To an amazing degree, the Baghdad-based press corps avoids writing about or filming the friendly dealings between U.S. forces here and the local population–most likely because to do so would require them to report the extravagant expressions of gratitude that accompany every such encounter. Instead you read story after story about the supposed fury of…
“The Baltimore Sun essentially accused me of pretending to witness an incident of friendly fire in Kandahar, Afghanistan. When I explained that I had made an honest mistake in the heat of combat confusing that incident with another we videotaped in Tora Bora, the paper countered that there was no friendly fire incident in Tora…
“The decision to make the cafeterias into ‘no pay zones’ spread through the 40-acre complex like wildfire. Soon, the hungry patrons came running. ‘It was chaos, wild, something out of a war scene,’ said one Aramark executive who was present. ‘They took everything, even the silverware,’ she said. Another witness from U.N. security said the…
“What can one say to a writer who thinks he’s arguing for the existence of our very essence? Thanks, but, uh, your timing is bad? That you have the misfortune of living in a time of exponential technological growth, where miniaturization is colliding head-on with genetics, where technologies may so on have the potential to…
“What the heck is Jakob Nielsen doing goofing around with a lightsaber? Or is he conducting a useability [sic] study of it, perhaps?” filmgoerjuan —Star Wars KidMetaFilter) Be sure you watch the original first, and then the remix. Similar:I just had some fun spotting a possible source of the word "dongle" (the plug-in security …The…
“Thanks to the forthcoming changes to the law on marriage, you will soon be able to ‘tie the knot’ wherever you wish……….YOU decide, we will provide a church for you !!” —Inflatable ChurchInflatableChurch.com) Words fail me. Similar:Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales wants new Facebook feature to burst 'filter bubble'It’s extremely important to understand w…CybercultureLEGO turned itself…
First, take the survey; then read the results. —Roper Geographic Survey 2002National Geographic) An intersting tidbit: “Americans who reported that they accessed the Internet within the last 30 days scored 65 percent higher than those who did not.” Similar:Small Changes in Teaching: The Last 5 Minutes of ClassI just ordered the book Lang mentions in…AcademiaI was…
“It’s about making sure an employee is doing the job he was hired to do, not getting caught up in some overgrown, overly opinionated diary/hobby that unfairly treads on his association with his employer and has the potential to damage his employer’s reputation.” Eric Meyer —Meyer: Employers have Right to Ban Blogging (CyberJournalist) Similar:Kimmel's Jab at…
“To suggest, then, that a newspaper has the right to force a newsroom staffer to kill his weblog is tantamount to saying the newspaper has the right to prevent newsroom staffers from publishing any personal website, or perhaps even from posting comments to an online-news mailing list. Woe to ye who enters a newsroom —…
[An article I wrote on Vannevar Bush is second on the list of 23,800 hits. It’s just a fluke, really — the word “George” is in there because of hypertext theorist George Landow. But that’s part of what makes it so amusing. Thanks for the chuckle, Elwyn. –DGJ Update: Added vidcap.] —Who Blogs Better Than…
“We studied several of the best bloggers and their styles. The best blogs, we found, are not those that actually get the most page views in a day, or that get the most links. In fact, the blogs that get the most links are the ones who find the best blogs and then point the…
“The first federal antispam bill was introduced in 1997, and after six years of closed-door wrangling and repeated delays, Congress still has not acted. But consumer outrage and complaints from legitimate businesses have been keeping pace with the growth of bulk e-mail. Now it’s open season on spam in Washington.”Dellan McCullagh —Lawmakers: It’s Open Season…
The Digital Revolution Oh my goodness gracious, What you can buy off the Internet In terms of overhead photography! A trained ape can know an awful lot Of what is going on in this world, Just by punching on his mouse For a relatively modest cost! — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld —The Poetry of…
“One could spend less time and money and gain employable skills in other ways. Too many people who do not really value learning or respect academic accomplishments are in college classrooms, and this cheapens the experience for everyone…. [O]nly go to college if you really want to become an educated person.|That means learning to use…
“Online advertising software vendor Unicast is introducing a new kind of Internet ad that doesn’t just pop up over a portion of the browser but rather fills the entire screen of the computer user.|The New York-based company described the new unit as a ‘full-screen, 15-second, 300k online ad.’ Unicast promotional materials suggest the new format…
Play the part of the famous lovers with this customized version of the classic Shakespearean drama. Relive the thrill of classic lines with you in them. “Oh Brad, Brad. Wherefore art thou Brad?”“But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Helen is the sun.” What’s more, if you choose the…
“Trainee teachers are being told to avoid the word for fear of offending pupils with epilepsy. Instead they are being advised to use ‘word storm’ or ‘thought shower’.” Liz Lightfoot —Talk of Brainstorming ‘May Offend Epileptics’ (Telegraph) Who or what is telling these teachers not to use “brainstorming”? The reporter quotes a charity that says some…
“Say you were trying to find instances of when Bill Gates testified between May 15 and June 1. Using existing tools like full-text search engines, natural language query or speech recognition, you’d have to transcribe the audio into a text file, then index it with a lexicon of terms that included ‘Gates.’ Such an undertaking…
“I bet Hector would be more fun if we dipped him in gasoline. But, most toys are…….” Chad —Hector the Hectopus (Catch.com) My (completely pointless and out-of-date) Rainbow Hector Weblog has been metablogged by Catch.com. I don’t know why, and the Catch.com folks don’t seem to know either. Life goes on, and Hector keeps smiling.…