"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:Canadian teen's short film captures Spring 2020Not graphic, but emotionally powerful. …CultureThe Scapegoat by Richard Maples (1957 Sci-Fi Short Story)I had a great time narrating and coming …CultureWriting Tips for Critical Thinking Critical Thinking Matters Pers…Academia"Shakespeare in Love" with the…
"[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:Juror's CreedWhile researching my obligations for #ju…CultureWearing A Mask Is A Sign Of Mutual Respect During The…
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:Our Love Affair With Digital Is OverThe other day I found myself very annoye…CultureBetween static hand-coded HTML pages and modern content-management systems, there used to …When…
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:The Printed Word in Peril: The age of Homo virtualis is upon usWho, I thought, besides a multidisciplin…Books3-Year-Old's Birthday Party Theme: 'NewsHour'When a young St. Paul boy got to pick…
, creator of Pippi Longstocking, dies at 94. (Guardian) —Astrid Lindgren Similar:Chipping away at Pygmalion and GalateaPygmalion is a legendary sculptor (whose…ArtMidterm Grades Submitted.AcademiaMultimodal Composition: Every time a student submits a narrated PowerPoint, a puppy cries.AcademiaAnnoyed and Bored by Lazy Anachronisms in The Great Gatsby MovieI just watched the recent Great Gatsby m…AestheticsReflections on Flannery…
“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:Facebook is predicting the end of the written wordFacebook’s video push…
(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…
The Space Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Booster problem began with the faulty design of its joint and increased as both NASA and contractor management first failed to recognize it as a problem, then failed to fix it and finally treated it as an acceptable flight risk.” —An Accident Rooted in HistoryNASA) 28 January, 1986. My senior…
The link above goes to the web version of a powerpoint presentation. Dennis G. Jerz —I Found it On the Internet: Teaching Students to Locate, Evaluate and Cite Online Sources Similar:Spring 2023 Grades: Submitted! (I only had 3 last-minute submissions to mark today.)AcademiaInterpretation and Intellectual Inquiry: A Charge To KeepI took a little break from…
"Most weblogs are drivel, banal sh*t written by angst-ridden teenagers and adults sharing feelings, thoughts, and mind-numbing details about their daily lives that provide little insight into anything or anyone. But the gems can be found amongst the long-since abandoned or forgotten sites." John M. Grohol —Psychology of Weblogs Similar:The world's oldest story? Astronomers say…
A prayer before surfing: “Almighty and eternal God, we beseech thee that, through the example of Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the Internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Amen.”…
While Westerners may be surprised by the notion that poetry is an effective way to convey a political message, Bassam Frangieh says it is an integral part of Arab culture. —Of Poets, Prophets and Politics (Humanities) Similar:Ethics of standardized testingA blogger who had a much worse day than …AcademiaSeton Hill Supports "Man of La Mancha"…
"Whilst it is obviously the case that the main reason subscription now represents 30% of Salon’s revenue is because overall revenue has fallen so dramatically, that doesn’t stop [CEO] Michael [O’Donnel] portraying it as a triumph. That is talent." (22 Jan) Dictionary of the Future [Review]: "’Words are artifacts of culture,’ says Hanft, and in…
Think twice before sending a tartly worded e-mail or prepare for a battle of near-biblical proportions like the one being waged on Chicago computer consultant Bernard Shifman. —Resume Vaults [Chicago] Techie into Spam Battlefield (Chicago Trib) Similar:Journalists should not amplify the ableist biases of untrained sourcesBeing a cop, lawyer, patriot, protestor,…CultureFacebook exec erroneously cites The…
Yes, that’s 1889. —History of Video Games since 1889b> (GameSpot) Similar:Grumpy Gamer – Happy Birthday Monkey IslandI guess Monkey Island turns 25 this mont…CybercultureNews Feed FYI: Click-baitingIt’s hard for me to think of Facebook as…Business'New York Times' considers legal action against OpenAI as copyright tensions swirlBe careful of the parts of news stories …BusinessCreate Joy…
"What venerated ‘alpha geeks’ and lowly ‘smurfs’ share is a tendency to talk about people as if they were machines. To be ‘uninstalled’ means being fired or dismissed, whereas a ‘plug-and-play’ refers to a new employee who fits in without any additional training." (Rebuttal: Don’t Tweak the Geeks) —When the Geeks get Snide (NY Times;…