“The book describes a bizarre situation in American universities in which academics in various (mostly new-minted) fields such as Cultural Studies, Literary Theory, and Science Studies, plus a few more familiar ones such as Sociology, Comparative Literature and the like, make a career of writing about science without taking the trouble to know anything about…
“Two Columbia University undergraduate students were arrested Monday for allegedly using high-tech transmitters and walkie-talkies to cheat on the Graduate Record Examination.” —2 Students Arrested for Alleged High-Tech Cheating on GREChronicle) Similar:This is fine. Really.Thanks(?) to social media, it’s very eas…CultureDCNF, TV Upfront Presenters Need to Understand That Content's Kingdom is ChangingToday’s viewers don’t differentiate…
“[O]nly about one in seven — 13 percent — of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor.” That’s bad enough, but 11% couldn’t even find the United States! —Global Goofs: U.S. Youth Can’t Find IraqCNN)…
Here’s a good introduction to a famous controversy over the discovery of the structure of DNA: “The victors were James Watson and Francis Crick, who together with Maurice Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for crossing the finish line first. The loser was Rosalind Franklin, who produced the x-ray data that most strongly supported the…
“To feed my craving for modern first editions, including my beloved Williams and Jenningses, takes a fifth of my income – more than I spend on food or my children. I have lost entire weekends in a haze of book fairs and pilgrimages to remote bookshops (which typically prove to be closed). Friends and family…
“[W]hen The New Yorker called him out on how he can say that other people’s aging mothers should be put down like old horses but that his own should receive only the very best care in an expensive nursing home, [bioethicist Peter] Singer replied, ‘Perhaps it’s more difficult than I thought before, because it is…
“Only William Shatner, who exists in the strange non-realm of absolute self-importance and constant self-mockery, could impart that marvelous unconscious irony to what would otherwise be a dull-witted, mechanical loser.” Tom Maxwell —Officer Down! A Deconstruction of T.J. HookerMorphizm) Similar:R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) Artistic Prosperity TrailerWe rehearsed and recorded a Zoom recordi…ArtIf You Check the…
You’ve “seen” them. Maybe on a sign at the “grocery” store, maybe in an ad in your “local” newspaper. Perhaps even in a “memo” that circulated throughout your company. They’re quotation marks, and they turn up in the strangest of places. —Gallery of “Misused” Quotation Marks“Found”) Found “on” Jenny Anderson’s link “page”. Similar:12 Mistakes Nearly…
“Americans have had a latent fear of catastrophic computer attack ever since a teenage Matthew Broderick hacked into the Pentagon’s nuclear weapons system and nearly launched World War III in the 1983 movie WarGames. Judging by official alarums and newspaper headlines, such scenarios are all the more likely in today’s wired world. There’s just one…
“A deal struck between Sims publisher Electronic Arts and the fastfood mega-corporation allows Sims players to open up their own McDonald’s kiosk and improve their game stats by consuming McD’s greasy goodies. While news of this groundbreaking sponsorship deal fades quickly from memory, failure to address this latest barrage in the war on ad-free gaming…
“If you’ve recently created your first website and you’re getting ready to submit it for a class assignment, then this page is for you. Follow this checklist before you submit your project, and you’ll avoid many of the simple technical issues that might prevent your instructor from accessing or fully appreciating your content.” —Newbie Web…
“A Tablet PC is about the size of a legal pad and includes a digital pen for handwritten data entry and navigation. Its advocates say it will be just the thing for the most mobile workers, including those who work standing up and those who just don’t like to type. But naysayers point out that…
“Ever since Martel won Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize last month for ‘The Life of Pi,’ charges of plagiarism and intellectual theft have swirled around him. But as damning as the accusations may sound, the controversy reflects more poorly on those who have propagated it than on Martel. The brouhaha provides less insight into the…
“The overriding principles were of simplicity and speed, oft-expressed in the maxim ”the story is the star.’ Anything that would distract from that, either in terms of the attention a member of editorial staff would be able to give it, or the attention a user would give it, was pretty ruthlessly discarded. The other thing…
“What books should every young woman read? We put this question to a distinguished group of writers and intellectuals. We asked them to name four books they consider essential for the educated woman. If you’re curious, Jane Austen won the pageant with the most mentions. Tied for second place: two dead white males, Aristotle and…
“Harry Potter is no braver than his best friend, Ron Weasley, just richer and better-connected. Harry’s other good friend, Hermione Granger, is smarter and a better student. The one thing Harry excels at is the sport of Quidditch, and his pampered-jock status allows him to slide in his studies, as long as he brings the…
“We thought it would be a great idea to hook up two instances of the A.L.I.C.E chat bot to each other, despite pleb’s pleas that it would have a catastrophic effect on the universe. The results are amusing, you can see them below.” Alice1: You can download me for free!Alice2: No I don’t think I…
“[A] tenured professor of history sent a young Air Force Academy cadet some e-mail containing inflammatory, anti-military comments. Professor Peter N. Kirstein, an avowed pacifist, quickly apologized to the cadet and to the Air Force Academy for his e-mail message, but in the meantime thousands of other interested parties have taken offense.” —“Furious” Peter N.…
“To appear on the construction site drinking a beverage that is both calorie- and caffeine-free would be an emasculating blow to my carefully cultivated image as a burly, rough-and-tumble working-class type,” Burdon said. “The sight of me consuming such a soft drink would diminish the respect I enjoy from my professional peer group by casting…
“So far, however, I have not seen a book that explains how to build crummy, dysfunctional Web sites that chase away customers and produce no useful results. Of course, there is no shortage of sites of this kind out there, but until now there has never been a systematic, comprehensive guide to how to create…