“By processing information sent from physiological sensors the human counterpart wears, the Vanderbilt robot can detect when its master is having a bad day and approach with the query: ‘I sense that you are anxious. Is there anything I can do to help?’” —Feeling Blue? This Robot Knows It.Wired) The story includes an amusing opposing…
“Mr. Serkis is the human actor behind the computer-generated (CG) character Gollum, a wizened Hobbit who’s part manlike, part evil beast. More than just giving voice to the character, Serkis provided all its movements and facial expressions, which were later ‘painted over’ by animators.” Gregory M. Lamb —The Rise of “Synthespians” (CS Monitor) Gollum is…
“The 2000 handwritten pages include Tolkien’s translation and appraisal of Beowulf, the epic 8th century Anglo-Saxon poem of bravery, friendship and monster-slaying that is thought to have inspired The Lord of the Rings.” —Tolkien’s Translation of “Beowulf” Discoverednews.com.au) Grendel-riffic! Similar:Desert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksBehold this…
I’ve worked hard on this document; can you help me meet my deadline? Please tell me what you like about it — I’ll feel so affirmed and flattered. If you get stuck, or hesitate, I will tell you what to do, so we can get through this testing faster. If you start making any serious…
“The look ‘n’ feel of your website is important. However, it is less important than your text-based content. In most commercial websites, the role of the traditional graphic designer is relatively minor. The role of the information architect is central. The role of the editor and author is critical.” Gerry McGovern —How important is the…
“EverQuest has a decidedly constructive and cooperative tone to it. There is no blood in the game. No disemboweled intestines splatter on your screen. Instead, players often find themselves chatting while waiting for a mob to spawn. The ranger may be fletching as he recounts a particularly close battle. The warrior chugs some Dwarven Ale.…
“There were no pilgrims this chill, rainy Christmas in the little West Bank town where Jesus Christ was born, no decorated tree, no foreign choirs carolling in Manger Square.” Eric Silver —No pilgrims, just fury and frustration in the deserted town of BethlehemIndependent) An extremely sad quote from a Bethlehem merchant: “The only people we…
Anthropologists have long looted the gravesites of native peoples in the name of science — and profit. But the recent trend to return those remains for reburial is not always welcomed by the cultures involved. “Far from being led by Native communities, the trend towards repatriation is driven by intellectuals on the cultural left, and…
From the FAQ page: “7. Does Rock crush Scissors or is Scissors dulled by Rock?There is no clear answer to that question. Younger and aggressive (or American) players tend to favour the Rock crushing Scissors view. More liberal-minded players take the view that scissors are dulled by the Rock. The World RPS Society created a…
“In May, when pro-Palestinian activists attacked a group of Hillel students at San Francisco State University, the national press took no notice; there was a small mention in the May 12 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, nothing more. But bloggers — led by Richmond, Virginia, freelance writer Meryl Yourish — piled on the story….…
“As the Web grows, websites continue to come up with ways to annoy users. Following are ten design mistakes that were particularly good at punishing users and costing site owners business in 2002.” Jakob Nielsen —Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2002UseIT) Quibble: Stating that “websites continue to come up with ways to annoy users”…
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Dark Lord in possession of a desire to rule the world must be in want of a ring.” —Austen writes Lord of the RingsPemberly.com) Hmm… that’s a bit of a stretch… “a Dark Lord in possession of The Ring must be in want of the world.” But…
“On September 23rd, 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter, after travelling from earth to mars, missed its re-entry to the atmosphere by 143 kilometers, and burned to a crisp. Why? One engineering group used english units, the other used metric. 3 years of labor. Toast. They’d made a big mistake. They’d screwed up. Email to engineering:…
“We love these programmes not only because they show us how curious the products of evolution are, but also because they remove us to a parallel planet, the Garden of Eden before the sixth day of creation, when God went and messed it up by making man…. Today, conservation officials in Kenya often concede that…
“[M]y first reaction was to abdicate and let the editor wield the knife. But that impulse quickly passed. If anyone was going to cut my story, it was going to be me, as painful as I knew it was going to be.” Chip Scanlan learns about brevity. —Surgery Without Pain: A Tale of RevisionPoynter Online)…
Trent Lott comes to mind, when we consider the permanence of a celebrity/politician’s statements, of course. Few of us who were alive in 1980 have to be concerned that any of our statements from that year will come back to haunt us, let alone some of our more obscure comments, aimed at audiences that we…
“But since many bloggers have no background in publishing, they often come to the medium unaware of the rules that apply, and complaints are becoming more common. Many people publish [weblogs] as if they were untouchable, assuming that because what they write appears in a virtual world, it won’t come back to burn them in…
“In the real world, everything you put into space is going to be visible to visitors by default. The designer of the space has to choose to hide something. With an information space, everything is hidden by default. The only parts of the space visitors can see are those the designer has chosen to reveal.”…
Charley XWell-punished laughter,Token of a child’s longing:Beehive disappoints. —Star Trek HaikuWeasel Breweries) This page presents every episode of classic Star Trek, reduced to a single haiku. Thanks for the link, Rosemary. Hey… there’s no haiku for “Turnabout Intruder”. I’ll fix that… His gold-tunic’d bodEnraptures Dr. JaniceShe swaps hers for his Similar:Facebook Fallen Angel « AwkwardFamilyPhotos.c…AmusingHuge…
“Freshman Bobby Berg says he sought out UW-Stout this year because he knew he would be assigned a laptop computer. What he didn’t know is that most of his freshman classes aren’t structured around the computers as Berg initially thought. ‘We don’t use them hardly at all,’ Berg said.” —UW-Stout students find laptops helpful, but…