(UseIT.com) : “A company’s homepage is its face to the world and the starting point for most user visits. Improving your homepage multiplies the entire website’s business value, so following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment.” Jakob Nielsen —Home Page Usability Guidelines Similar:The Case for Banning Laptops in the ClassroomMaybe the…
“All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.” — Abraham Lincoln —Tribute to Mothers Similar:Brilliant, Troubled Dorothy Parker by Robert GottliebIn 1915, Parker, aged twenty-two, went t…CultureParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesNicholas Winton, “Britain’s Schindler,” Dies at 106Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker…
“FACT: A 1987 survey found that Canadians have the worst handwriting in the whole world. They also frequently misspell the word ‘sauce.’” —The Truth about Canada Similar:Google Pledges $300 Million to Clean Up False NewsThis is a welcome step, but we cannot tr…CultureMy students seem increasingly confused by the difference between journal title vs.…
“What if a dispassionate computer had been making the decisions about [Andrea] Yates’ care, rather than a human doctor sitting across a desk from her? Would a computer have left her on medication? Would her children still be alive?” Ivan Oransky —Robo-docs (Salon) Similar:Gettysburg Address event marks 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s historic speechOn the…
Geek website Slashdot was reporting, as of about 20 minutes ago (6:20 EST), that the actor best known for his role as Chief Engineer Mongomery “Scotty” Scott from the original Star Trek series, was in a coma and not expected to recover. In the time it took for me to post this message, Slashdot posted…
“I have too many books. I have begun to hate their mess and reprimand (“You haven’t read me in a long time,” or even, in the case of Silas Marner, “You have never read me”). Many of them are crap….. And yet…” Ian Jack —Throw Out All My Old Books? I Don’t Have the Spine…
Humans appear to have a hard-wired internal resistance to persuasive arguments. “Scientists are uncovering ways of making messages more persuasive. Politicians and salesmen use such tricks already. Who can afford not to read on?” —Persuasion (The Economist) Similar:Death of NFL inevitable as middle class abandons the gameLike vegan pizzas and secular Christmas …BusinessThis is what…
A National Science Foundation survey reveals that 60% of Americans believe in ESP, and 51% feel that science is a dangerous profession. [The online presentation of the report is an excellent example of the effective use of blurbs.] —Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding Similar:When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby By Its Cover…
When writing Copenhagen, playwright Michael Frayn saw science only as a metaphor. But the play fanned the flames of a smoldering debate among science historians about the events surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb. —Unraveling the Drama of Science (Wired) Similar:NASA Calls It A Mission As Curiosity Rover Fills Up Whole 2-Gigabyte Memory CardMore…
“[H]is predictable language and trite sentiments lend the piece an incredible tedium. Formulaic phrases like ‘the cause of’ and ‘is survived by’ sound like they’re straight out of a Microsoft Word obituary template…” Noam Weinstein [Thanks, Matt!] —Death Critiqued: An Obituary Reviewed (Modern Humorist) Similar:Memory of Wrestler Yukon Eric”The year is around 1952, the dead…
“Bad names have played a tremendously powerful role in the history of the world and in our own individual development. They have ruined reputations, stirred men and women to outstanding accomplishments, sent others to prison cells, and made men mad enough to enter battle and slaughter their fellowmen.” — Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1938) —Propaganda…
See 1,247 vibrant engravings—many in color—from the classic 1918 publication, as well as a subject index with 13,000 entries ranging from the Antrum of Highmore to the Zonule of Zinn. —Gray’s b>Anatomy of the Human Body (Bartleby.com) Similar:Why Study Humanities? What I Tell Engineering FreshmenScience writer Jon Horgan writes: We li…AcademiaIs Google Making Us Stupid?Nicholas…
A follow-as-you-go tutorial, the Inform Beginner’s guide creates three small games of increasing depth. No previous experience of computer programming or interactive fiction design is assumed. This book (available for free as a PDF) concludes with helpful summaries and reference tables. Firth and Kesserich (edited by Jerz). —Learn the Text Adventure Programming Language Inform(IF Library)…
—Blue Moon e-zine is looking for a literary blogger. Similar:Lie to Me: Fiction in the Post-Truth EraI’m trying to remember what it was like,…BooksCave Gave Game: Subterranean Space as Videogame Place | Electronic Book ReviewElectronic Book Review just published an…AcademiaSpring and Fall, by Gerard Manley HopkinsMárgarét, áre you gríeving Over Goldeng…AestheticsThe Nightingale (WAOB Audio Theatre)I…
>open curtains As you part the curtains, you see that it’s a bright morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the meadows are blooming, and a large yellow bulldozer is advancing on your home. —The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (DouglasAdams.com) Similar:Yes, this is my 11yo daughter yodeling on stage.http://youtu.be/reyclH7zuHIAmusingFirst Contact (#StarTrek #TNG…
is — besides being further evidence that the Internet spells the end of society as we know it — a novelty service that allows customers to e-impregnate a person of their choice. The recipient will receive an e-impregnation notice and learn who e-impregnated them, as well as an update on their virtual pregnancy every two…
“Although Internet resources may be freely available, there is a lack of certainty that they will be available for students next month, next semester or next year.” Markwell and Brooks —Broken Links: Just How Rapidly Do Science Education Links Disappear?via Wired) Similar:Reading in the MorningTo qualify for a day at the local water …BooksCovfefe chaos:…
(autistics.org) This web page is a step-by-step set of instructions advising autistic boys how to manage an important social ritual. Janet Villar —Asking a Girl on a Date Similar:College Instructors Don't Require Enough WritingI was surprised a few years ago to learn…AcademiaAwesome 1935 Soviet Movie Deploys Saxophone-Controlled Robots to Crush Tophat- and Bowler-…I wish I…
Women’s magazines regularly fabricate stories about you-know-what: “Many writers, editors and fact-checkers involved with these sex articles (most of whom asked that their identities be protected with the top-secrecy accorded CIA sources) agreed that the editorial standards for them are abysmal.” —Faking It: Sex, Lies, and Women’s Magazines (Columbia Journalism Review) Update, 13 Oct 2005:…
: Is environmentalism a science or a political movement? “The world’s ecosystem is breaking down. We are fast approaching the absolute limit of viability, and the limits of growth are becoming apparent. We know the Litany and have heard it so often that yet another repetition is, well, almost reassuring. There is just one problem:…