Don't talk on the phone while driving.

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:Minnesota authorities can't arrest or threaten journalists after judge approves settlement… A federal judge brokers an agreement…

Merchants of Cool

(PBS)  A report on the creators and marketers of popular culture for teenagers (teens talk back). —Merchants of Cool Similar:Invasive Procedures (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 4) A disgruntled Trill stea…Rewatching ST:DS9 The station has bee…EmpathyWould YOU trade a Hank Aaron rookie card for a Roberto Clemente… for her? Full Bloom (Au… In Suzanne…

Digital Divide Basics

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:When is Donald Trump kidding? When is he being sarcastic? When is…

Debunking the Digital Divide

It may turn out that the “digital divide”—one of the most fashionable political slogans of recent years—is largely fiction. —Debunking the Digital Divide Similar:Watching Livestreamed Prime Stage Theatre's "Miracle in Rwanda"A very moving performance. So many chara…DramaTo meme, or not to meme.AestheticsGames Without Frontiers: Victory in VomitWired reviews Mirror’s Edge When you ru…AestheticsEssential Journalists: How…

Gettysburg Address on PowerPoint

"After one too many bad presentations, I decided to see if I could do something about it. Back in my hotel room I decided to show what Abe Lincoln might have done if he had used PowerPoint rather than the power of oratory at Gettysburg." Peter Norvig —Gettysburg Address on PowerPoint Similar:To all these tools…

The Social Life of Paper

“Computer technology was supposed to replace paper. But that hasn’t happened. Every country in the Western world uses more paper today, on a per-capita basis, than it did ten years ago.” —The Social Life of PaperNew Yorker) Similar:Overheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool…

Interactive Fiction Online Gallery

I have a small collection of text-based computer games that you can play via a web browser.  These online versions won’t let you save and restore games, but they ought to get you started. —Interactive Fiction Online Gallery Similar:That's not an argument. (Yes it is.)I spent some time this afternoon sifting…AcademiaBeautiful News Writing: "Rampaging rooster…

Star Trek Chaplains?

The first space colonists will probably take their faiths to the stars. The reference to “Star Trek” in the title of the article is cute, but Star Trek: The Next Generation was almost universally hostile to religious concepts (except when aliens presented them, that is). The more recent TV show Bablylon 5, although created by…

Bush's Orwellian Address

A progressive critique of Bush’s response to the 9-11 attacks, interpreting Bush in terms of George Orwell’s bleak totalitarian novel 1984:  "1984 has arrived. In his address to Congress Thursday, George Bush effectively declared permanent war — war without temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals; war against a vaguely defined and constantly shifting…

You might have a Ph.D. if…

“‘Nigerian Money Offers’ zoomed from the seventh to the third most common type of online fraud last year, and the reason is obvious. In days gone by, the scammers had to canvass potential victims one at a time by fax and snail mail; now they have the speed, cost-effectiveness and anonymity of the Internet at…

The Last Words

"Asked by the firing squad commander if he had a last request, James Roges said, ‘Why yes. A bullet-proof vest!‘" Christopher Orlet —The Last Words (Vocabula Review) Similar:Commonly Misused Words: ITS and IT'S AmusingWhat is a CRT and Why Don't We Use Them Anymore?I remember when I started seeing politic…AestheticsAuschwitz color photo: 'A 14-year-old girl,…

Girls Read Twice as Much as Boys

The survey, published by an organization promoting "World Book Day," probably does not count time spent in chat rooms, reading web pages as "reading", but the news item does not raise that issue. Related question: has feminism harmed boys? —Girls Read Twice as Much as Boys (BBC) Similar:In defense of the Selfie StickI’m sure there…

The Company Therapist

A "collaborative hyperdrama" purports to be the archives of a young psychiatrist offering his services to the employees of a dot-com.  "Through transcripts of therapy sessions, patient diaries and logs, doodles, personnel records, telephone conversations, and other written and graphical materials, the Company Therapist is designed to allow a deep exploration of its characters and…

Fine-Tuned: An Auto-mated Romance

Fine-Tuned is a free, text-based game, playable in many formats. From a review by Adam Cadre: “Not only has the author created an absolutely wonderful world, full of ‘anti-autoists,’ roving herds of goats, and fist-shaking train engineers, but it dares — and manages to pull off — a number of pieces of participatory comedy, which…

Accidental Genius

"In 1044, a Chinese manual on producing gunpowder-based weapons included cannons, bombs for lobbing at invaders, two-stage rockets, and land mines." Chinese researchers stumbled across the formula for gunpowder while researching what they called the "immortality pill".  What forces control the way inventions end up being used? Mark Robinson —Accidental Geniusb> (Wired) Similar:This is what…

Point and Think

The genius of Web sites for accommodating multiple points of view is nowhere better illustrated than in the recent on-line craze for public diaries, or “blogs.” The term is a shortening of Weblog – and also the name of the easy-to-use technology available at www.blogger.com: “Push-Button Publishing for the People.” Jeff Warren —Point and Think…

It's been six months since

September 11, 2001.It’s been six months since Similar:A Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake. #fakenewsDonald Trump has a lot to say about “fak…BusinessThe Drudge Report is pulling no punches as it covers the Trump document sagaThe Drudge Report is pulling no punches …Current_EventsThat gut-wrenching photo of immigrant…

He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night

If they throw this renegade hacker hero in jail, it’ll be the first time he’s had a steady place to stay in five years. —He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night (Wired) Similar:Hero Worship (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 11) Orphaned Boy Idolizes DataRewatching ST:TNG The Enterprise-…AmusingEmployers Will Hire You For: 1) Leadership; 2)…

William Shatner's Weblog

: "No more blog blog blog!" — line not quite spoken by Captain Kirk ("Miri," Star Trek).  —William Shatner’s Weblog Similar:Memory of Wrestler Yukon Eric”The year is around 1952, the dead of wi…HistoryI worked in a video store for 25 years. Here’s what I learned as my industry died.If you’re actually in a video store,…