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"Welcome to Blogistan, the Internet-based journalistic medium where no thought goes unpublished, no long-out-of-print book goes unhawked, and no fellow ”blogger,” no matter how outre, goes unpraised."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:Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?A good feature from the New York Times: …BooksIn…
"’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:SHU Commemoration of September 11 Terrorism Attacks — Looking Back After 10 YearsCome to listen. Come to…
(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:A Simple Plot for a Literature ReviewThere are two things you need any time y…AcademiaGame Design Program for Education & TrainingI haven’t tried…
“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:When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby By Its Cover With a big Hollywood…
“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:Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship EverI’ve…
“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:Yesterday we took advantage of a rare free day.At the Carnegie Museum of Art. AestheticsThe Day I Stopped Saying ‘Hurry Up’Adorable photos help tell this story abo…CultureHow One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s LifeA PR professional should have known bett…BusinessLetter to the editor: Setting record straight on…
"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:Thirty Years Ago, the Challenger Crew Plunged Alive and Aware to Their DeathsThe Challenger made it through…
(PBS) A report on the creators and marketers of popular culture for teenagers (teens talk back). —Merchants of Cool Similar:I know that look.This was my 9yo today. She doesn’…AmusingNASA prepares a Mercury probe for orbitNASA’s Messenger probe is about 10 days …Current_EventsEmergence (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 23) Enterprise-D subsystems exhibit e… Rewatching ST:TNG…
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:The Sentence That Knocked Down the Berlin Wall (But Almost Didn’t)Words that…
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:Finished Reading "Fibble," Book 4 in "Heck: Where Bad Kids Go."I finished reading to my daughter the fo…BooksIs it okay to say clanker?Clanker is a derogatory term used to ins…CybercultureTwitter suspends Trump's…
"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:Surprise: Humanities Degrees Provide…
“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:Writing, Coding and Education: Why They MatterBack in my grad school days, I was calle…AcademiaHow The Language Of…
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:STEM Education Is Vital–But Not at the Expense of the HumanitiesPromoting science and technology educati…AcademiaA Pedestal, A…