“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:Emergence (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 23) Enterprise-D subsystems exhibit e……
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:Episcopal bishop on President Trump: ‘Everything he has said and done is to…
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.…
“I have lost all touch with reality, and only live to comment on the comments that other bloggers have made in reference to my notes about their comments. Is anybody out there?” —Blog ad Nauseam (The Weekly Standard) Similar:'Jane Austen, Game Theorist' by Michael Suk-Young Chwe Is a Joke When [Chwe] says that Austen was…
“It may sound far-fetched, but a U.S. federal court will hear preliminary arguments next week to determine if this most elemental of Internet activities is the business property of a lone company, protected in the form of a patent.” —British Company Claims Patent on Hyperlinks (Wired) Similar:Girl Moved To Tears By Of Mice And Men…
What’s it like interviewing college students at job fairs? "What a snooze. By the sixth interview of the day I vow that I’ll hire anyone who can make me remember their name, and I’ll sign over my 401(k) to any candidate who can make me laugh." Erin Cronin —Honesty, Shining Throughb> (WashPost) Similar:Wearing A Mask…
(Word Circuits): Hypertext poetry by Stephanie Strickland —The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot Similar:Trying to Tame Huck FinnAdventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of…AcademiaWill ChatGPT Kill the Student Essay? Universities Aren’t Ready for the Answer | The WalrusI’m still grappling with exactly how the…AcademiaMy Latest Classic Tales Online PurchaseJust finished listening to B. J.…
"Calling the theological giant’s stranglehold on the religion industry ‘blatantly anti-competitive,’ a U.S. district judge ruled Monday that God is in violation of anti-monopoly laws and ordered Him to be broken up into several less powerful deities." —Judge Orders God to Break Up into Smaller Deitiesb> (TheOnion) Similar:Disaster (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 5)…
"Write simply. Keep headings, summaries, sentences, paragraphs and documents short. Get to the point. Then stop." Gerry McGovern —The Need for Simple English on the Web Similar:The Period, Our Simplest Punctuation Mark, Has Become a Sign of AngerYou text your girlfriend: “I know we mad…CybercultureI Know How You're Feeling, I Read ChekhovReading Chekhov for a…
"Poor sad Mac, born in a plastic age. / A time when the world still thought in beige. / Crafted and molded just like a piece of art. / An orphan, abandoned. It’s enough to break your heart." [Which column would you put this one in? Sometimes I wonder why I continue to split my…
Kaycee Nicole, an attractive student dying from leukemia, shared her ordeal via on online diary. Her mother started a companion diary. Web surfers became close friends with this family through email, chatroom, and even phone conversations. The New York Times even quoted Kaycee about college life. When she finally died, her online friends grieved like…
Yahoo recently ran a story about a man suffocated by a stripper’s breasts… but it was a hoax first published in a tabloid. You may have heard recent reports about the airliner passenger stuck to a toilet seat. (MSNBC, BBC, CNN) Note that no names or dates are given. It’s a hoax. (Unless it’s a…
What is life like for a person who has trouble recognizing human faces? —Face-blindness Similar:Any pasta can become a pasta salad when the office microwave stops working!CultureHospice/Honeymoon “Hospice.” Once the word is uttered a…CultureIn January 2000, I was blogging about dancing paperclips, the transience of literary judge… In January 2000, I was blogging abou…BooksWhat’s…
"[T]he search and directory firms have put their futures in question by flouting time-tested business practices that require an absolutely clear separation between editorial content and advertising." Hal Plotkin —Doom Ahead for Search Engines That Charge (SF Gate) Similar:Oh, No. YouTube is Deleting Videos.Oh no. First YouTube institutes a “COVI…Current_EventsRefreshing my memory of working with…
When congressional Web sites are good, they’re really good. But most aren’t, says a nonprofit group that rated more than 600 of them. —Congressional Web Sites: Not So GoodCNN) Similar:Google Docs "Writing to Learn" ActivityI created a fresh Google Docs page with …AcademiaTechnology's Impact on Education Technology’s Impact on Education | V…AcademiaHypertext as a Teaching…
found after 165 years. The watercolors were prototypes for engravings that the impoverished poet hoped would pay his bills. (Daily Telegraph) —Watercolors by William Blake Similar:Avoiding Spoilers Gives You a Superficial Appreciation of ArtI very much appreciate that nobody spoil…ArtMelissa Terras Reports Her Success in Making Digital Humanities More InclusiveA pleasant little success story. “TEI”…
, creator of Pippi Longstocking, dies at 94. (Guardian) —Astrid Lindgren Similar:Pict Free Summer Webinar: Shakespeare’s HeroesCultureAt 96, Dr. Heimlich finally uses his life-saving techniqueThe 96-year-old inventor of the eponymou…Current_EventsReading in the MorningTo qualify for a day at the local water …BooksMost Americans have a high opinion of the humanities, and 81% use at least…
“The Web has decentralized the control of ideas, as A&LD proves. A few years ago the exchange of opinions and theories had to be managed by people living in great metropolitan centres, the intellectual world’s version of imperialism. But with the Web it can be done anywhere.” Robert Fulford —I Want my Arts & Letters…
"Don’t let anyone tell you that as a programmer you don’t have to make moral or ethical decisions. Every time you decide that making users feel stupid is better than fixing your code, you’re making an ethical decision." —Programmers Make Ethical DecisionsJoel on Software) Similar:Virtual debates about homelessness in Sim City hold up a mirror…
(CLA) is a fellowship of individuals who share experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem with clutter and help others recover. The only requirement for membership is a desire to eliminate clutter and bring order into our lives. (via Remarked Bookmarks) —Clutterers Anonymous Ironic: when I was an…