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:I am not really sure why I have kept it up this long. I have no immediate…
“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:How Zuckerberg’s Facebook is like Gutenberg’s printing pressHistorian Niall…
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:One Does Not…
(Word Circuits): Hypertext poetry by Stephanie Strickland —The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot Similar:WordPress 3.8 “Parker”No time to play with this, but looking f…CybercultureA former student working in SEO shared this. I miss Google classic.Amusing5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math OnlineMy son has finally found a math textbook…CybercultureClever Modernization of Hamlet:…
"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:I Cannot Begin to Tell You How Proficient…
"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:Is There a Santa Claus? (Reading of 1897 editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church)https://youtu.be/qZUEO8zD6EQ CultureWatching ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ with 18,000 teenagers was one of the most profound theate…The arts…
"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:This Is How My Composition & Culture Class Preps an Oral PresentationInstead of delivering a formal speech fo…AcademiaThey called it a "flashlight" because early handheld lights weren't designed to shine stea…A student’s short story featuring a trea…CultureKnee-jerk sharing of memes denigrates…
"[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:Journalists dole out cash to politicians (quietly)Traditionally, many news organizations h…EthicsThe Perfect Mate (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season…
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:Desiderata (Nerdy Inspiration)This is a little story about an inspirat…CultureThe bots are coming. And they have poems. Yet in a circle pallid as it f…CybercultureThe new…
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:Until next term, I have zero more unmarked assignments. #fistpumpUntil next term, I have zero more unmark…AcademiaIs Google Making Us Stupid?Nicholas Carr, in The Atlantic: As the …BooksPLS York Plays…
, creator of Pippi Longstocking, dies at 94. (Guardian) —Astrid Lindgren Similar:The Drudge Report is pulling no punches as it covers the Trump document sagaThe Drudge Report is pulling no punches …Current_EventsLike digging ‘your own professional grave’: The translators grappling with losing work to … While workers worldwide ponder how AI …BusinessPoetry Out Loud :…
“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:Schisms (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 5)Rewatching ST:TNG Riker is…
(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:Perspective | After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the Americ… I have always taken a neutral stan…CultureAssociate Dean of What?The…