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…
September 11, 2001.It’s been six months since Similar:Carolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsHarper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, dies aged 89Harper Lee, whose 1961 novel To Kill a M…BooksA stranger approached me today.A stranger approached me today. I…
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:Valid for any new yearEthicsOn Stephen Hawking, Vader and Being More Machine Than HumanIn one version of Hawking’s eulogistic s…CybercultureWhat Does Children’s “Obsession”…
: "No more blog blog blog!" — line not quite spoken by Captain Kirk ("Miri," Star Trek). —William Shatner’s Weblog Similar:My 13yo and 18yo enthralled by WarGames.Wife likes movies. Son likes military th…CultureThe Mom From The Cat in the Hat Finally SpeaksAs a toddler, my son once methodically s…AmusingFor the Cause #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season…
"Not telling someone where you got your information from is a kind of power stroke, effectively sealing your book off from any possible scrutiny, debate or challenge." Kathryn Hughes —The re-vision thing: Why are contemporary biographers and historians so afraid of footnotes? (Guardian) Similar:The Curtains Were Blue: In Which I Fix Another Meme. Above is…
In 1085, William the Conqueror commissioned the Domesday Book. In 1986, the BBC spent £2.5 million to create an electronic version. While William’s original is still in fine shape, there are no computers capable of reading the laser discs on which the BBC version was published. —Ancient Domesday Book Outlives Electronic Versionb> (Ananova) Similar:I just…
(ZDNet) "The only way to explain Microsoft’s decisions over the past couple of years is to say that they know their packaged software business is doomed," says open-source advocate Eric Raymond. —Cheap PCs will doom Microsoft Similar:Hong Kong: journalist permanently blinded in one eye amid increased police violence A rubber bullet shot by the Hong…
: Plants are psychic. The Russians are interfering with the weather. An early USENET conspiracy theorist from UWEC was once responsible for generating nearly 90% of Internet news traffic. —Robert E. McElwaine from the UWEC is an "Internet Legend" Similar:AI Agents Are Terrible Freelance WorkersAI is getting better at rote tasks, but …BusinessMy project starts…
"…in the past three months, the pent-up thirst for knowledge and modern skills has transformed the capital. Dozens of storefront language and computer skills centers have sprung up, and last week several thousand young people showed up to take entrance exams at the newly revived university." —With War Over, Afghans Battle Ignorance (WashPost) Similar:Parrots learn…
My student Matt Hoy sent me this link. Thanks, Matt! —Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog Similar:Seven Guitars ( #AugustWilson #CenturyCycle, 5 of 10)August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoi…BooksStapler jam during a midterm exam.My years of watching MacGyver definitely…AcademiaThis was a rough term. Still have a winter term course to publish before midnight but time…AcademiaThis is what…
(New Yorker) Manhattan treasure hunt: "Across the street, a writer for ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ and a crossword virtuoso named Ellen Ripstein are scrutinizing graffiti in a phone booth. Catercornered to them, the editor of the Wall Street Journal crossword is standing beside a professional palindromist who is riffling through a bin of…
"The history of teaching teems with machines that have jammed and stained. Who can forget that buried next to the ditto are the old-fashioned 8and 16-millimeter film projectors?" —Jamming Together: Remembering the Dittob> (Chronicle) Similar:Candyland is a masterpiece of game design (John Brieger unpacks the specific cultural cont… AestheticsNYT newsroom integration memoBy integrating the newsrooms…
No, he was not squashed by a falling safe or run over by an Acme Indestructo Steel Ball. Jones created the Road Runner and Coyote cartons. Rules from that series: “No dialogue ever, except ‘beep beep.” “No outside force can harm the Coyote — only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products.”…
A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same backwards and forwards: "Madam, I’m Adam." Nick Montfort & William Gillsepie have written a whole palindrome story. —2002: A Palindrome Story Similar:Watching ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ with 18,000 teenagers was one of the most profound theate…The arts are vital to our lives as human…BooksBeatrix…
“The day I came home for Christmas vacation my parents and I were sitting in the kitchen, I looked at them and said, ‘I’m pregnant. Just kidding, I want to change my major.’” Jeanine Savageau —Changing Majors: Junior Realizes Journalism Isn’t for Her (UWEC Spectator; registration required) Similar:Networks cut away from Trump’s White House addressNEW YORK…
“The year 2002. The 20th day of the 2nd month, 2002. And, on the 24-hour clock, at two minutes after 8 p.m., harmony. 2002.” —2002 2002 2002 (Toronto Star) Similar:50 Years Ago: The World in 1961 – Alan Taylor – In Focus – The AtlanticA fantastic series of photos exploring t…AestheticsItalian journalist to be beatified for…
"Traditional publishers… couldn’t understand his willingness to surrender his ‘authority’ over his own work by letting others participate. Nor could they understand his desire to ‘devalue’ his copyright by posting a whole book online." —A Footnote to E-book History (Wired) Similar:Why typewriters beat computersThe BBC offers a pleasant bit of retroph…AestheticsMultitasking while studying: Divided attention…
“Alongside the boom, however, there have recently been a few faint signs of backlash. As increasing hordes take on the task of trying to keep new sites looking nice, sounding original and free from banalities, more hordes just seem to fail.” —Blah, Blah, Blah and Blog (Wired) Similar:Video games 'teach dyslexic children to read' Playing…
“…I think the wonder of our aesthetic or religious sense, or musicality, is increased by the fact that it depends on three pounds of jelly in our head.” —Interview with Oliver Sacks (neurologist and novelist) Similar:Actors can't play Hamlet as simply mad in world of mental health awareness, actor saysHow does our 21st century understanding…
“I was eight years old when my parents bought these for me, and I can still remember those chewy little peanut butter sticks more vividly than almost anything else from my childhood. I’ve wanted more of them for three decades!” —Space Food Sticks Similar:Babylon 5 redefined TV science fiction, so why isn’t it better known?The…