“…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:FDR in AnnieI’ve accepted the role of FDR in the upc…CultureStudy confirms that ending your texts with a period is…
“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:When the Bough Breaks (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 16)Rewatching ST:TNG after…
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:All Sheep MatterCultureThe AI Mirror Test: Why Even the Smartest People Keep Falling…
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:PLS York Plays 2025 — Prof. Matthew Sergi's Call for Theatrical ParticipantsVery excited to see this project…
“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:Inmates in a Brazil prison shorten their sentences by…
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:Friday night. What…
(Word Circuits): Hypertext poetry by Stephanie Strickland —The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot Similar:An overnight traffic spike on an older online handout prompted me to touch it up. #techwri… Those are the stats for my entir…AcademiaThe Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure BooksI didn’t realize how involved the childr…AwesomeSam Shepard Giggles, Doesn't GoogleI…
"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:West Side Story (One-Minute Preview)From Mrs. Lovett two…
"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:Unscheduled Disasters in Journalism: Learn to DealIn school, we expect our professors to a…AcademiaThey Should Have Used Another TypefaceHave you ever noticed that the letters “…AestheticsLie to Me: Fiction…
"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:Office Hours Are ObsoleteI have nothing against holding office ho…AcademiaTypeset In The FutureWhile watching classic science fiction f…AestheticsThe Inner Light (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 25) When a probe-zapped Picard …Rewatching ST:TNG When a space probe …CultureThis is How…
"[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:That's it my boy, throw the clickbait into the water, cast it wide.AmusingI let her tend 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:NPR quits Twitter after being falsely labeled as 'state-affiliated media'NPR will no longer post fresh content to…BusinessAn overnight traffic spike on an older online handout prompted…
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:What Causes the Smell of New & Old Books?Generally, it is the chemical breakdown …AestheticsBooks vs. Kindles: The Choice No One Made Ever”I bought a Kindle. I didn’t immediately…BooksThe Great…
, creator of Pippi Longstocking, dies at 94. (Guardian) —Astrid Lindgren Similar:My tween found this creative use for an extra iPad stylus Aestheticsthe history of computer games: from 'pong' to 'pac-man'”in the beginning, there was nothing. we…CybercultureAt Home In Fantasy's Nerd-Built WorldsIn other words, more than the profound l…AestheticsSimon Newman Resigns as President of Mount St.…
“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:n+1: The Stupidity of ComputersComputers are pretty dumb, but they’re d…CybercultureTexture…