“Prompted by a complaint from the Liberty Legal Institute, a group of Christian lawyers, the [Justice] department is investigating whether Michael L. Dini, an associate professor of biology at Texas Tech University here, discriminated against students on the basis of religion when he posted a demand on his Web site that students wanting a letter…
“Andy Serkis’ computer-aided performance was one of the best things about ‘The Two Towers.’… Is Hollywood ready to acknowledge and honor digital performances, or even human-digital hybrids? This year, the answer seems to be a resounding no.” Ivan Askwith —Gollum: Dissed by the Oscars?Salon) Similar:Facebook Should Pay All of UsThe trick is that most people…
“[A]cademics are throwing themselves into the study of emotion with the rapturous intensity of a love affair. In a sense, emotion has always been at the core of the humanities: Without the passions, there would not be much history, and even less literature. Indeed the very word ‘philosophy’ begins with philos (love).” Scott McLemee —Getting…
“Unfortunately, most will just view the team projects, class presentations, software life cycles, and ambiguous problem statements as ‘hoops they have to jump through’ to graduate. I recall a meeting with a student who was having trouble working with her project team in a recent class. She actually asserted with some confidence that the problem…
Jesica Santillam, 17, suffers from a heart deformity…|After a three-year wait, she received a transplant on February 7 with organs flown from Boston to the Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina….The organs were sent with paperwork correctly listing the donor’s blood type, says Sean Fitzpatrick of the New England Organ Bank.|But somehow, no one…
“The dot-com economy is long gone, but that hasn’t curbed the public’s appetite for shopping, banking and generally amusing themselves on the World Wide Web, according to a recent study.|Significantly more people are using the Web to send pictures and videos, shop, download music, play games and do their banking, according a study that compares…
—Google Blogging Right AlongWired) There’s nothing new in this Wired story that wasn’t already covered by blogs over the weekend. Similar:Literature Is Not Data: Against Digital HumanitiesMean technology. Mean, mean technology. …BooksA comic about Seagulls. If you feel like this… A comic about Seagulls. If…CultureSeton Hill University's New Media Journalism Program Named One of Pittsburgh…
“Vatsim allows virtual pilots (but real people) and virtual air traffic controllers (also real people) to see each other and communicate. The result is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game patterned after the government’s dullest bureaucracy.” —Always a Dull Moment: The hottest game in the sky is simulating a holding pattern. Fasten your seat belt.Wired)…
“In the autumn of their careers, they are in a mood to dispense the wisdom that comes of decades of slugging it out with editors, critics, other writers and, roughest of all, their own restless egos….Let us summon in spirit some of these authors of literary guides and memoirs and hear what they have to…
“We use music as a vehicle to engage, inspire and reinforce the magic of literature and the power of reading. We have launched an awareness and outreach campaign for one of this country’s most critical problems: adults who cannot read or write.” From the Chapter One benefit CD for “Artists for Literacy”: Bruce Springsteen –…
Dan Gillmor’s column reports that Google has purchased Blogging Company Pyra, which means that Google is becoming the AOLTimeWarner of the Internet. So far, I’ve been happy with whatever Google has done… but think about it — I search the web with Google, I search Usenet with Google, I read the news with Google, and…
We all know that technology makes it easier for some students who are tempted by academic dishonesty. I just recently used a little-known feature of MS-Word to cast doubt on a fairly standard — and fairly lame — student excuse. Fifteen minutes before an assignment is due, I get an e-mail from a student who…
“‘The Internet allows us to do all kinds of things quickly and efficiently, and that includes hoaxing,’ Jerz says.|Jerz, an assistant professor of English at UW-Eau Claire, learned of the Olsen hoax when a skeptical student emailed him the fake CNN story….News hoaxes aren’t the only ones that spread by e-mail, says Jerz, who often…
“Once you’ve got her, the next step is keeping her. To do this, just remember that your geek girl has a few special things about her that distinguish her from other women. All women like gifts, but the geek girl’s tastes are different. The average woman likes flowers, but the geek girl is not average,…
“All the scenester dudes are either dating a series of interchangeable high-school riot grrrls in baby doll dresses and an overdose of manic panic, or permanently shacked up with some bitter old lady who pays all the bills. Which will it be, a wifely prison or a humiliating one night stand? Into this void of…
“There are two types of people — those who prefer to communicate via e-mail, and those who prefer the phone. What the phone people don’t realize is that their need for information means that they’re going to interrupt someone else’s day to get that information. E-mail, on the other hand, is just as quick and…
“If recent rumours are to be believed, AOL is getting ready in the next month or so to add blogging to the home-page services it offers users.|It is a sign of how far these regularly updated pages of web links with personal comment have come in the past five years.” —Blogging for DollarsThe Age) Hrmm.…
“Google adds fresh pages to its database everyday. You can search these fresh pages to find new information from today, yesterday or over the last 7 days if you wish. The only thing is, do not head to Google.” —Search the Fresh Internet in Google with GooFresh!Smoogle) A description of GooFresh, a website that lets…
“Things like the Back and forward button, we never intended that to be a permanent part of the interface. But people get locked into metaphors. You have to be careful with the metaphors you put in front of people because once they click onto one, that’s it.” An interview with Netscape creator Marc Andreessen —Web…
“Your task is to write the first line of an imaginary novel. Your goal is to make it hilariously bad…. Maximum sentence length: 25 words.” (Deadline: 14 April 2003) —Jennifer Stood There, Quietly OvulatingAdam Cadre) Adam Cadre, who started the Lyttle Lytton contest as a reaction against what he sees as the increasingly lengthy and…