How to Gain the Trust of Your Users

An informal 1998 survey by John Rhodes yielded the following advice: create your content first, then design your website; keep your design simple; use proper grammar. —How to Gain the Trust of Your UsersWebWord) Similar:AI-generated essays are nothing to worry about (opinion)After reviewing 22 AI essays I asked my …AcademiaMy understanding of biased polls is……

Colossal Cave Adventure

“For a game that is so unfair, stylistically inconsistent, and frustrating, it has been tremendously influential.  This was the first of its kind — using words to create a rich simulated world.  Nobody had seen anything like it; it spread quickly across the Internet.” Dennis G. Jerz [Recently updated.] —Colossal Cave Adventure Similar:If you like…

All Your Usenet Are Belong to Wesley Crusher

—All Your Usenet Are Belong to Wesley Crusher Similar:"Look for the helpers" is good for distracting preschoolers from horrors they can't change…”Look for the helpers” is only one part …CultureThe Battle (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 8) A Ferengi plots tricks with Picard's former …A Ferengi set on revenge tricks Picard i…HistoryThe "Monsters, Inc" company…

Google's Gaggle of Discussions

Google has extended its history of newsgroup postings all the way back to 1981. “Most who posted to Usenet back in its glory days were probably unaware that they were creating an archive documenting the most significant moments of the late 20th century.” —Google’s Gaggle of Discussions (Wired) Similar:Where is the comma in "God Rest…

All Your Wesley Crusher Are Belong to Taliban

How many Internet memes can you cram into one weblog posting? —All Your Wesley Crusher Are Belong to Taliban Similar:'We're back': Bushy Run's 2023 battle reenactment will be heldI’m glad to know that this recent contro…CultureShadowplay (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 16) Odo investigates disappearances … Rewatching ST:DS9 Just like last …EthicsFive myths about…

Hearing Aid

“If the poet’s own performance is too perfect—if she seems to get every bit of substance out of the poem—then maybe she didn’t put enough in to begin with.” Adam Hirsch —Hearing Aid : Sometimes poetry should be seen but not heard (Slate) Similar:Don't Like Hamlet? Now's Your Chance To Rewrite It”It’s not really fair…

What does Sept 11 teach us about online journalism?

“The World Trade Center attack inspired a lot of Web-publishing of independent, personal accounts.”  What can weblogs and online diaries teach us about online journalism? —What does Sept 11 teach us about online journalism? (TheMorningNews.org) Similar:Duke stops assigning numeric values to essays, test scoresThis story is about the admissions proce…AcademiaWell-chosen wordsWhy is English spelling such…

"This will be college.com. Contact us."

Uh… no.  That already is college.com. —“This will be college.com. Contact us.” Similar:Times photo staffer's invention: the streaming backpack “From a photographer’s perspective it…AestheticsI Made a Cheerful Maze Game in Scratch Well, it’s cheerful unle…CybercultureWe are the product that Facebook has been testingUp to now, I refrained from posting anyt…BusinessLearn to code? No: Learn a…

Read Your Textbooks!

A medical student was scanning the dense prose on the copyright page of his textbook, when he read the word, “congratulations”.  He now owns a ’65 Thunderbird. —Read Your Textbooks! (Boston Globe) Similar:So, What's in It for Me?All in all, I enjoy my job very much, an…AcademiaTeaching with iPads: Motivation, Inspiration and Alienation in the…

'Goner' Today, and Forgotten

“Why bother to code a clever and long-lived virus when a stupid one that spreads for an hour or two gets just as much attention from antiviral experts and the media?” (Uh-oh! An anti-virus company’s marketing flack warns that Goner is coming back! Better pay big bucks to the anti-virus companies, to protect you from clicking…

Visit the Birthplace of Middle-Earth

“Sitting by the window of his study on a summer day in the early 1930s, a thin-faced Oxford professor let his mind wander from correcting papers and into a world that would become Middle-earth.” Pamela S. Turner —Visit the Birthplace of Middle-Earth (CSM) Similar:My Student Calls Out a Mental Health Stigma in a Biased Headline…

Is the Revolution Over?

A flashback to the Silicon Valley excesses of 1998, before the bubble burst: “There are headhunters who handle only Cobol programmers from Singapore, and headhunters who specialize in luring toy-company executives, and, I’ve recently learned, a headhunting firm that helps other headhunting firms hunt for headhunters.” Po Bronson —Is the Revolution Over?Wired) Similar:I’m fairly satisfied…

Wheaton's Trek to Respectability

Wil Wheaton, the actor whose Star Trek character inspired the newsgroup alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die, has long been geekdom’s favorite whipping boy. “But now, thanks to a self-coded, shamelessly dorky website, many of the same folks who loathed Wheaton on the show are finding out he’s a whole lot like them in real life.” —Wheaton’s Trek to Respectability…

Wild America – a short story by Jayne Loader. Welcome to Wild America! Do you need instructions? YES You are living in the richest kingdom in the world, where others have found fame and fortune, though it is rumored that some who enter here are never heard from again. Where would you like to begin…

The Machine Stops

(short story by E.M. Forster, 1909)      I want to see you not through the Machine,” said Kuno. “I want to speak to you not through the wearisome Machine.”      “Oh, hush!” said his mother, vaguely shocked. “You mustn’t say anything against the Machine.”      “Why not?”      “One mustn’t.”  —The Machine Stops Similar:Seriously, Fuck…

The Near Enemy of the Humanities is Professionalism

English studies after Sept 11: What’s the point? “The theoretical models that have dominated English and the related disciplines in the last two decades are especially effective tools (along with the institutional factors that have always existed) for creating demoralization.” Lisa Ruddick —The Near Enemy of the Humanities is Professionalism (Chronicle) Similar:10 top writing tips…

Dammit, Dave

What if David Mamet rewrote 2001: A Space Oddysey?  (Warning: offensive language.) Bowman: It’s just… how do I say this. These dead crewmembers. Hal: I don’t follow you. Bowman: These crewmembers here that were in cryogenic suspension. That are now dead. Hal: Oh yes. That was self-defense. Bowman: Hal, look at me. What am I,…

Experts Rip Cloning 'Story'

You may have heard news stories trumpeting a great scientific breakthrough in the controversial practice of cloning human beings. Some critics claim that reporters, looking for easy stories to publish after a holiday weekend, put too much faith in a company’s press release. —Experts Rip Cloning ‘Story’ (Wired) Similar:An Unexpecting MinorityTruthfully, I expected my new…

The Like Virus

Everyone’s, like, using it all the time, but David Grambs is all, like, “What price is literate, listenable English paying for its increasing currency?” —The Like Virus (Vocabula Review) Similar:Republican National Convention: Scrutiny of Melania Trump’s speech follows plagiarism alle…As a college English teacher, I come to …CultureDaughter is in 2 theatrical productions opening this weekendThe…