“Babies are leaning their native language before birth. This is made possible by the development of hearing as early as 16 weeks gestational age. A mother’s voice reaches the uterus with very little distortion as the sound waves pass directly through her body.” David Chamberlain —Life Before Birth (birthpsychology.com) Similar:BBC News – TS Eliot's widow…
Review of a production of Hamlet told with no dialogue: "like a beautifully choreographed nightmare, it fuses movement, music and light into a haunting series of images that summon the very heartbeat of the story." —Sinetic’s Hamlet: The Rest Is Silence (WashPost) Similar:Toilet paper isn't selling out because the supply chain is collapsing, or because…
"There are two kinds of science-fiction reader, who in their extreme forms constitute disjoint reading populations. A pure Population One reader wants scientific ideas and will be tolerant of other flaws provided those ideas are present. A pure Population Two reader will tolerate (or fail to notice) scientific errors but insist on literary virtues. You…
Don’t let the harsh title turn you off — Gerry McGovern is absolutely right when he points out that the Internet needs simpler design: "[T]here is a much greater need for simple web design today than there was in 1996. Back then we had pioneers and early adopters who tended to hunger for the new…
For a print columnist who writes, oh, say, twice a week to sniff at those who pump out ten tons of spirited commentary for free reminds me of some baggy-pants third-rate vaudevillian rolling his eyes at the people streaming into a nickelodeon. Oh, sure, they have moving pictures of a train robbery, but nothing beats…
"Welcome to Blogistan, the Internet-based journalistic medium where no thought goes unpublished, no long-out-of-print book goes unhawked, and no fellow ”blogger,” no matter how outre, goes unpraised." Alex Beam —In the world of Web logs, talk is cheapb> (Boston Globe) Similar:Close Reading: Introduction to a College English SkillI’ve been meaning to create a screencast…AcademiaLiberal arts…
"’Ah, it was a bunch of boring stuff,’ said a slouching, mumbling Geremek, 17, at a press conference shortly after his return from the future Monday. ‘It totally blew.’" —Sullen Time-traveling Teen Reports 23rd Century Sucks (The Onion) Similar:Replacing Disputed Flags with Related ArticlesInstead of flagging links to questionabl…BusinessRaise It Up! :: Star-Spangled Banner -…
(Wired) Multiplayer online games face a barrier in Europe and Asia: many people who live in the same time zone don’t speak the same language, so it’s hard for them to interact with each other. A universal translator may be the solution. (I linked to this article mostly because I was amused that, this article…
"EthnoQuest takes students to Amopan, a fictional eastern Mexican village… The game starts with students’ assuming the roles of grant-writing ethnographers and follows them as they complete reports detailing their anthropological research." Similar:My Ouya arrived.My Ouya arrived — a Kickstarter-funded …CybercultureHow America fell in love with crazy amounts of air conditioningBy the 1950s, as air conditioners…
“Every now and then, though, pieces like ‘Fun is Hard to Find‘ arrive, like anachronistic throwbacks, to remind us that some writers and editors in the newsrooms of America still can’t get the Web straight, still think it’s a passing fad — and still, in some cases, can’t wait to dig its grave.” Scott Rosenberg…
I spent some time today getting reacquainted with some old friends: the Texas Instruments 99/4a (1979), the Atari 800 (1980), and the Commodore C 64 (that I took to college with me my freshman year, 1986). (Thanks for the link, Bruce.) —OldComputers.com Similar:What a 21st-Century English Major Can Do: Screencast Demo of an Inform 7…
“When all is said and done, what is the role of journalists in breaking news? Are journalists relics of a golden era, now useful only as a conduit to pass along the whispers of the hive-mind to the unplugged masses? Or have we been reduced to Stamps of Approval, as we validate blog-based trends with…
"Storytellers – specialists in the art of conveying human emotions — rule this future. And in this future, everyone is a storyteller. Everyone creates the collective experience. Everyone creates the collective intelligence." Dale Peskin —Preparing for the Coming Era of Participatory News (Online Journalism Review) Similar:Plans for the Little Known Confederate HelicopterThe possibilities of combining…
“Just 11 years after it was born and about 6 years after it became popular, the Web has lost its luster. Many who once raved about surfing from address to address on the Web now lump site-seeing with other online chores, like checking the In box.” —As the Web Matures, Fun is Hard to Find…
“The instructions in this manual explain more about how to get fired than about how to succeed at work…. For instance, employees are asked to follow ‘rules’ that include stealing, disobedience, and excessive absenteeism (or should they have been termed ‘actions that may result in termination’?).” (Suggested by Jason Amdor.) —Worst Manual Contest (Technical Standards,…
(NPR) —100 Best Fictional Characters since 1900 Similar:The daughter (giving the piggyback ride in pic 2) doing a thing that starts tomorrow. Tribune ReviewAmusingCongrats to all the winners at the Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Project! Bit-Sized Productions …Bit-Sized Productions was nominated for …ArtMedia Bias Chart 7.0 (Left vs Right Bias; High vs Low Value and…
"Whether made by the Gap or American Eagle, a pair of khakis with a 32-inch inseam and a 34-inch waist will fit you just about the same. A Panasonic phone will plug into the jacks in your home as easily as a phone from AT&T…. Today, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology,…
2-year-old Morgan was broad-sided by a man who admitted he was distracted by his cell phone. Morgan was killed; the guy on the phone got a $50 fine and 2 tickets. —Don’t talk on the phone while driving. Similar:The Best Halloween Costume Is a Robot Halloween Costume – Atlantic MobileAwesome robot costume is awesome. The…AestheticsTrump…
(PBS) A report on the creators and marketers of popular culture for teenagers (teens talk back). —Merchants of Cool Similar:The case for puns as the most elevated display of wit Geary admits that he often makes pun i…CultureHappy memories of PC games I played with my son (now 19) sitting on my lap.While doing some…
There has always been a gap between those people and communities who can make effective use of information technology and those who cannot. Now, more than ever, unequal adoption of technology excludes many from reaping the fruits of the economy. —Digital Divide Basics Similar:If Google+ Heads to the Grave, at Least It’ll Have DirectionForced Google+…