“Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) members in Nacogdoches, Texas, have been assisting local emergency management officials and NASA to locate and catalog debris from the Columbia shuttle.” —Texas Amateurs Aid in Shuttle Debris Recovery, CataloguingNat’l Assoc. for Amataur Radio) My wife and I were married in Dallas and honeymooned in south Texas, which included visits…
“The year is around 1952, the dead of winter in Chicago. I’m 18 years old, bucking the fierce winds off Lake Michigan and the below-zero temperature as I head across the parking lot to attend classes at the University of Illinois at Navy Pier. I wait freezing while a Cadillac approaches, a yellow convertible with…
“It baffles me that so many people would believe that the page is true, enough to be on TV 13, TV 18, I-94, and the Carp. I thought that in college we are supposed to learn to question what we see and read, and this page have proved to me that we don’t.” Benjamin Williams…
“The Geezer loves film noir. These dark, taut, black and white films give the lie to the illusion that the forties and fifties were upbeat, positive decades. I like that.” The Geezer —The Geezer Speaks WeblogGeezerSpeaks.com) An amusing personal website… and by a Geezer, too. Similar:Dr Jerz I think your microphone glitchedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPqnXF7A…Academia100 Word ChallengeIt is…
Your name is Masakati, which means “White Queen” in the language of the Scorpion People. You were named this before you were hatched, when the serpent witches foretold to your mother Essekunit, the Tangeri Queen, that her child would be as great a ruler as had been not seen in this Age: that you would…
“It has been confirmed that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, two of the richest teens in America, have decided to attend University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, WI beginning in the Fall of the 2003-2004 academic year.” —Olsen Twins Set to Attend University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, WICNN?) Why the awkward passive that conceals who…
Interesting discussion of grade inflation, party skewed by early comments that claimed that engineering and other technical majors are immune from the pressures that cause humanities professors to inflate student grades. Sparked by a Washington Post article that few people on Slashdot seem to have read (that’s fine with me — most are drawing on…
“The chocolate-making capabilities of Wonka’s heavily fortified compound have long been a source of speculation. Wonka, defying international calls for full disclosure, has maintained his silence regarding his factory’s suspected capacity to manufacture confections of mass deliciousness….’Without full inspections, there’s no earthly way of knowing which direction Wonka’s going. Not a speck of light is…
“Leonardo figured things out by looking at them, thinking about them and taking them apart. That compulsion to tinker has led many modern hackers to claim Leonardo retroactively as one of their own.” —Da Vinci: The Pith Behind the ManWired) Nice backgrounder for the Da Vinci exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Similar:George Stone…
“Since most blogging tools are both free and addictive, it’s no surprise that the sales cycle has been eliminated. Better yet, point and click blog designs mean that there’s minimal consulting – either customization or configuration – required to set up your blog. The result? Weblogs are spreading like wildfire – by some accounts, the…
“About one-fourth of university-based medical researchers receive funding from drug companies — ties that sometimes distort study results, according to a review done by two researchers with industry connections of their own.” —Review finds Pervasive Medical Research-Industry TiesAssociated Press) Ohmigosh ohmigosh oh…my…gosh! Scientific research isn’t completely objective? Scientists aren’t lofty supreme beings of pure intellect,…
“My mother used to say that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing; the Internet demonstrates this point beautifully. Oh sure, these days everyone is concerned about the proliferation of porn, but the medical information on the Net is also widespread, disturbing and… — for those prone to, shall we say, extreme concern…
Wired has published an article about the open source encyclopedia Wikipedia reaching its 100,000th article. This item first started appearing in weblogs last week. Once it’s made its way to Wired, it will be read by the editors of more mainstream publications, who may want to feature it in articles for the general public. (Blogdex…
“It might seem like a stretch to compare scientists to, say, African Americans and Latinos, who have historically been targets of often viciously stereotypical portrayals in film and on TV. But Weber thinks the media has a blind spot when it comes to scientists.” Jason Silverman —Film Scientists Not All Mad, BadWired) Similar:As part of…
“Only cranks, mystics, revolutionaries and wealthy dilettantes wrote without some form of pecuniary support, whether patronage, salary, direct sales, residuals, or the penny-a-word piecework compensation offered by pulp-magazine editors…. The Internet changed all that.” —Independent Content Providerv-2 Organisation) Similar:How PatrioticAmusingI’m still teaching journalism and my usual courses, but after 21 years I’ve stepped aside …I’m…
“Hear me now: Jim Henson was Kermit. Steve Whitmire is a Henson impersonator. Admittedly, a damn talented one — his Ernie, in particular, nearly captures the affability and innocence of the original — but the equal of Henson? Step back from the brink, Dennis.” —I Appreciate The Muppets on a Much Deeper Level Than YouThe…
“The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and the users of MS-DOS-compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the “ratio studiorum” of the Jesuits. It is cheerful,…
If you’ve ever gotten a “CONFIDENTIAL” e-mail from a Nigerian official whose shift key seems to be stuck, you’ll appreciate this spoof. —Spoof of “Nigerian E-mail Scam”Palnatoke) Similar:Short Stories: Developing Ideas for Short FictionI just supervised a teaching demonstrati…EducationInfinite Scrolling: XKCD's Creative Insight on a Common Interface IndignityAmusingMy Student Calls Out a Mental Health Stigma…
“The problem may be that they are simply bored with the conventional curriculum, says the study, titled Morphing Literacy: Boys Reshaping Their Literacy. The study found it is a myth that boys do not read. While they are less interested in fiction or traditional literature than girls are, they read more on the Internet and…
“Nurses quickly learned how to hack the system to save time. For example, if a patient’s bar code didn’t scan correctly on the first try, nurses often entered the seven-digit bar code number manually rather than rescanning it. “Nurses also felt that the computer system’s demands forced them to focus on pill-pushing. If meds weren’t…