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:Mask-wearing cuts Covid incidence by 53%, says global study Globally, Covid cases exceeded 250 mil…CultureNew Voices For The Voiceless:…
"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:Disruptions: Texting Your Feelings, Symbol by SymbolBeing a word-oriented thinker, I don’t h…AestheticsSeton Hill's #CIO @PhilKomarny is moving on…
Yes, that’s 1889. —History of Video Games since 1889b> (GameSpot) Similar:Don’t worry: It’s not just art!Before a school play, a principal worrie…AestheticsLighten Up (an illustrator explores the racial politics of skin color in comics)Lighten Up — The Nib — Medium.AestheticsThe Man Who Photographed GhostsThis review of a book about early photog…AestheticsIn September, 2002, I was…
"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;…
"They may love capitalism. They may have no interest whatsoever in political theory. But they believe that Marx was always right and always good." English professors? Hardly. —Marx, Money, and Mysticism after Mao (Partisan Review) Similar:Text, Speech, Machine: Metaphors for Computer Code in the Law : Computational CultureOn my to-read list once I post midterm…
“This bridge will be a massive undertaking: the Rhine is a wide, deep, and fast-moving river. My engineers and I have devised a way to build the bridge in such a way that the stronger the current, the more secure the bridge will be.” —Bloggus Caesari (Julius Caesar’s Weblog) Similar:Crazy-looking keyboards that never caught on…
; trendy young dot-com refugees come begging. (WashPost) —Boring, grey-haired government contractors are hot Similar:NAVY TO DROP ALL-CAPS COMMUNICATIONSCaps off to the Navy’s plan to drop all-…CultureIn an Unpredictable Job Market, How Should People Think About College Majors?I tell my students that if what they wan…AcademiaIrony in Blakes7 Reboot?RT @Laroquod: @DennisJerz If #Blakes7 tu…BusinessTwittering The…
“i was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work the counter at mcdonald’s” [scott heiferman didn’t cut it as a dot-com CEO, and apparently doesn’t know how to use the shift key, either.] Similar:xkcd: Headlines It: nailed. xkcd: Headlines.AmusingIn June, 2000 I was blogging about anagrams, 1750 Paris, ambiguity, a hyperlink patent cl…In…
"Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same colour as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated…" wrote Hemingway in his 1952 novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Gregorio Fuentes was Hemingway’s friend, and probably the inspiration for the story. —Hemingway’s "Old Man"Dies at 104 (BBC) Similar:UPDATE: BREAKING: 'Star…
“Once ejected into space, wouldn’t the flattened, living-room-sized, and extremely solid panes of trash that result from such a primitive, unidirectional trash compactor pose serious hazards for Empire starships in the vicinity?” —On the Implausibility of the Death Star’s Trash Compactor (McSweeney’s) Similar:Pipe Trouble’s government woes highlight gaming illiteracyInteresting discussion of a political ho…CultureThings may…
A teenager has attracted international attention for developing a glove that can translate sign language into printed text. —Glove Lends the Deaf a Hand (USA Today) The article suggests that a glove that reads finger positions will free deaf teenagers from needing the services of adult interpreters. Yet sign language is a rich and complex…
"The practice of using the secret Word format for interchange impedes the growth of our community and the spread of freedom. While we notice the occasional annoyance of receiving a Word document, this steady and persistent harm to our community usually doesn’t come to our attention." Richard Stallman —We Can Put an End to Word…
This is the time of year that college departments hiring new faculty members whittle down to two or three promising candidates, from the dozens or even hundreds of applicants. (A candidate for a UWEC English department job is interviewed towards the end of the article.) —The Tightening [Adacemic] Job Marketb> (Chronicle) Similar:The Trouble With Online…
: "Nowadays, art that prompts ‘controversy’ usually has one thing in common: it’s bad. Bad in conception or bad in execution, and frequently bad in both." Lileks —Does the Pope S– In the Woods? Similar:F-16 pilot was ready to give her life on Sept. 11She was a rookie in the autumn of 2001, …CultureShen Yun…
"If Einstein had died as a child, someone else would have discovered General Relativity; if Beethoven had died as a child, the Opus 111 Sonata would never have been written." Dennis Dutton —What is Genius? (Philosophy & Literature) Similar:I Set A Trap To Catch Students Cheating With AI. The Result Was DeflatingMy classes are generally…
"With the rise of search tools that unerringly bring you to the page you want, the need for a highly specific domain name — one that a casual Web user would be able to guess — has practically disappeared." Dan Gillmor —"’Google Effect’ Reduces Need for Many Domains"b> (SiliconValley.com) Similar:A Robotic Dog’s MortalityFascinating video journalism…
(Abstracts due Feb 7) "We’re looking for essays that shed light on the history of interactive fiction, especially if they discuss how IF has evolved technologically and in its conventions; essays that teach and illuminate the craft of IF, including but not limited to puzzle design, world building, characters, prose style, and atmosphere; and essays…
A student project on why Microsoft is evil includes this parody of the Alcoholics Anonymous "12 step" program. Sammy Carranza —12 Steps to Stop Using Microsoft Similar:Internet hyperlinks do not infringe on copyright, EU court advisedWhile European Union rules say every act…Current_EventsAmazing McDonald's "Maestro Burger" CommercialJaw-dropping. So creative and joyful. …AestheticsIn August, 2002, I was…