“Coming very near the bottom of an official list of religions put out by the [U.K.] Statistics Office, Jedi Knight is known by the code 896. Heathen comes in at 897. Followed by Atheist at 898 and lastly None with 899.” Kieren McCarthy —Jedi Knights Achieve [Sort of] Official Recognition as Religion (The Register) Similar:Superman…
“[T]he Internet story has come to an end.” Reuters —Silicon Alley Reporter Magazine Closes (Wired) Similar:Academics work to detect ChatGPT and other AI writingToday I met a class of English majors wh…AcademiaThey called it a "flashlight" because early handheld lights weren't designed to shine stea…A student’s short story featuring a trea…CultureAnti-globalism Is Common Factor in Social…
“a cybernetic process whereby people in power deepen their dominance by using online communication to negotiate for the consent of the subjugated.” Mike Dorsher —Hegemony Online (UWEC) Similar:The Struggle to Save Ballet From ItselfA former dancer reckons with the rigors …AestheticsHow to fix the internet: If we want online discourse to improve, we need to move…
“The Argument: A dying human being is like an automated spacecraft leaving the Solar System and entering interstellar space. Do we leave this world and arrive at another world?” Poetry by Jonathon Vos Post —Valedictory on Software Similar:How "Hail Mary" Became Inextricably Linked to American FootballI am revamping an existing “News Writing…CultureNew data on the…
MIT will offer its courses online for free: “This ‘OpenCourseWare’ initiative represents a radically different approach to digitizing, marketing and globalizing education.” —Brave New World for Higher EducationTechnology Review) Similar:The Lost Art of Paste-UpWhen I started using a word processor as…AestheticsI accidentally did too much DuoLingo. I don't want to advance to the harder league.…
(CNet) :”Sometimes they were raw, sometimes they were pretentious and sometimes they were flat-out wrong–I’d dare say that many times it was all three combined!–but the information was fresh and real and unmediated by any intervening institutions.” Charles Cooper —When Blogging Came of Age Similar:The Day I Stopped Saying ‘Hurry Up’Adorable photos help tell this…
(SiliconValley.com) “Via e-mails, mailing lists, chat groups, personal Web journals and non-standard news sources, they received valuable context that the major American media couldn’t, or wouldn’t, provide.” Dan Gillmor —Webloggers Offer View Media Can’t Similar:Trump’s war on the media is driving students to journalismTwenty-one-year-old political science st…AcademiaIt's a Didactic Day in the Neighborhood: Mister Rogers…
Of course, you can’t trust everything that you find on the Internet…. weblogs and e-mail chains are also responsible for spreading hoaxes: “Is it true, for instance, that Osama bin Laden profits directly from sales of gum arabic, a food additive? Or that radio DJs are forbidden to play more than 150 popular songs now?” …
“Every time he excuses his own refusal to observe the rules he dictates to everyone else on the grounds that he ‘knows his audience’, take one drink…. Every time he quotes statistics from an unrelated study to prove a point about Web usability, take one drink.” Jakob Nielsen Drinking Game Not that I’m condoning the…
“In which we take apart the news and put it back together all wrong.” A collection of short stories composed by re-arranging the words found in front-page news stories. Shelly Jackson —Front Page News Similar:In Which I Bow Before the Mistress of Teen SnarkThe Girl: I’m sorry I’m being so… Me:…CultureFrom The 'London Times' of…
Imagine 50 people getting together to write a 20,000-line epic poem, on time and on budget. Software programmers have an added constraint — it has to run! —Software Development as Community Poetry Writing Similar:Hermann Zapf, the font designer behind Palatino and Zapf Dingbats, has died at 96Hermann Zapf, the designer of fonts such…AestheticsFacebook Announces $300 Million…
“These angry radicals who have now declared war on the West emerged from a movement we financed and armed. Then it turned against us.” LA Times —The Warnings Were on Page 1 Similar:King Oberon Midsummer Make-upMidsummer closes tonight, July 23. My da…CultureNgram for "postpartum depression," "rest cure" and "yellow wallpa…Filing this for the next time…
From the user license for Microsoft FrontPage 2002: “You may not use the Software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services…” Ed Foster (I don’t have FP 2002, so I can’t check this. –DGJ) —A Punitive Puppeteer? Similar:ChatGPT took their jobs. Now they walk dogs and…
“The popular image of the computer hacker seems to be part compulsive programmer preferring the company of computers to people, and part criminal mastermind… But this is at best only half the story.” Gisle Hannemyr —Technology and Pleasure Similar:Mars Panorama — 10yo with iPad Pretends Her Bed Is NASA Roverhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4rCkr0oA…Current_EventsAn open letter to Trump from…
“By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.” George W. Bush —The President’s Speech Similar:PICT…
, the captain gave an inspirational speech over the loudspeaker, and concluded: “Now, since we’re a family for the next few hours, I’ll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same.” Wash Times —Aboard Flight 564 Similar:Gettysburg Address…
Many modern idioms are mechanical: “she has a screw loose,” or “he broke down crying”. Every culture has its in-jokes and specialized language. The Jargon File defines computing terms such as “404 compliant” and “kluge“. Similar:Using a Typewriter Simulator to Teach Media HistoryWorking on the syllabus for my “Media an…CultureNASA's Perseverance lander brought some Easter…
“Ever since Stalin and the Nazis, reality has transcended fiction.” (BBC) —Playwright Arthur Miller on Terrorism Similar:I'm Asking My Students to Be Deliberate about the Word "Novel"In the past few years, I have noticed mo…AcademiaIn July, 2002, I was blogging about military close reading, weblogs in journalism, UX evan…In July, 2002, I was blogging about…
‘‘Hello,’’ a man’s voice, not my husband’s, said. I had no idea whom I’d called, but I had finally gotten through to New York, to news. NYT Magazine —Talk to Me Similar:Things that have made me start singing "Tradition!" in my head so far todayAfter last night’s first rehearsal for “…AmusingSynergistic Synthesis XVII Sub B1…
“The freedom we have enjoyed in the states has been unusual in world history and may be becoming more unusual.” (BBC) —Novelist John Updike witnessed the WTC Attack Similar:How a billionaires boys’ club came to dominate the public squareThe world’s richest man, Elon Musk, atta…BusinessImportant University of Virginia Messages Regarding Sexual AssaultUniversity of Virginia president…