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:Google: "how can u" vs. "how can an individual" is not really about grammar Yes, I got a chuckle over this, but …CulturePast…
: "No more blog blog blog!" — line not quite spoken by Captain Kirk ("Miri," Star Trek). —William Shatner’s Weblog Similar:Out of the Zuckersphere, (back) into the BlogosphereThis is why I still blog. While commerci…AcademiaRey is not a role model for little girls (major spoilers ahead)The headline is silly clickbait — of co…CultureHippocratic Oath #StarTrek…
"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 future is in interactive storytellingAn interesting piece. Easy-to-learn hype…AestheticsMusician Daryl Davis…
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:Sports writing:…
(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:Confronting the Myth of the 'Digital Native'It’s one thing to be able use a service …AcademiaI Was Fired for…
: 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:Life in Code and Software (Open Humanities Press)This book explores the relationship betw…AcademiaSave our children from…
"…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:Many things…
My student Matt Hoy sent me this link. Thanks, Matt! —Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog Similar:Books Wield a Dangerous PowerWhile we might point to violent video ga…BooksPrime Stage presents ‘Twelfth Night’ as season-ending productionLooking forward to seeing this! Set in …CultureUniversities must stop presuming that all students are tech-savvyAlthough considerable resources have bee…AcademiaWhy We Fall for…
(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:Scientists Trace Society's Myths to Primordial OriginsAncient cultures from Africa to Asia to …CultureHow Humans Respond to RobotsThe play that coined…
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:from “The Poet” by Ralph Waldo EmersonThe poets made all the words, and theref…AestheticsUntil next term, I have zero more unmarked assignments. #fistpumpUntil…
“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:Operation War DiaryOne hundred years ago today, Britain dec…CultureIntroduction…
“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:How to Use the Feynman Technique to Identify PseudoscienceSimon Oxenham quotes physicist Richard F…CultureWho needs the Metaverse? Meet the people still living on Second LifeYears ago I…
"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:Empty InboxMy to-do do list and my “Follow Up” fold…CybercultureReady to teach another set of…
“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:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reducing print edition to 2 days…
“…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:The Tempest, According to My 9yo DaughterShe’s 10 now, but here is her response t…CultureI’m still teaching journalism and my…
“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:How to Annoy Your Parents (Smurfs, Tweety, Jar-Jar and Ewoks) http://www.youtube.com/wat…AmusingDetails…
Kathleen, I wanted to do this in this most potentially embarassing way possible, and I figured doing it here and now, in front of a quarter of a million strangers was as good a way as any. CmdrTaco —Geek in Love (Slashdot) Similar:How journalists can prep for a possible violent eventJournalists face a unique threat…
A short series of philosophical exercises, in a futuristic setting, which asks you to evaluate different definitions of personal identity. (Do you step into a spacecraft that has a 50% chance of killing you, or have your whole body scanned, destroyed, and re-constructed somewhere else three minutes later?) At the end, your choices are analyzed.…