The Apostrophe Protection Society

“The Apostrophe Protection Society was started in 2001 by John Richards, now its Chairman, with the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this currently much abused punctuation mark in all forms of text written in the English language.” —The Apostrophe Protection Society Similar:Standardized-test robo-graders flunk“According to professor of theory of kno…AcademiaI've spent 8…

The Need for Editors on the Web

There’s way too much information online.  What really matters to readers is quality, not quantity. Gerry McGovern —The Need for Editors on the Web Similar:‘Because’ has become a preposition, because grammarThe construction is more versatile than …AmusingTolkien v. Orwell: Who understood modern surveillance best?Interesting set of observations explorin…CultureName-calling and ad hominem attacks don't provide anyone…

Why Metadata is Important

Metadata “collects critical information such as heading, summary, author name, date of publication, classification, keywords, etc…. Without metadata a document is left floating in a cyberspace filled with 550 billion other documents. The chances of it being found by the right person at the right time are greatly diminished.” Gerry McGovern —Why Metadata is Important…

Silicon Valley Reporter

“[T]he Internet story has come to an end.” Reuters —Silicon Alley Reporter Magazine Closes (Wired) Similar:Media Bias Chart 8.0 (Liberal / Moderate / Conservative on the X axis; Factual / Opinion /…Don’t reject a news source just because …AwesomeFacebook Removes Human Curators From Trending ModuleToday, Facebook announced that human cur…BusinessShe was accused of faking an…

Hegemony Online

“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:Finished Reading "Fibble," Book 4 in "Heck: Where Bad Kids Go."I finished reading to my daughter the fo…BooksDiamonds Are Bullsh*tI did propose with a diamond ring, for w…BusinessTrump,…

Valedictory on Software

“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:NAVY TO DROP ALL-CAPS COMMUNICATIONSCaps off to the Navy’s plan to drop all-…CultureThe Medium is the MoralIt has…

Brave New World for Higher Education

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:Plans for the Little Known Confederate HelicopterThe possibilities of combining Civil War…DesignRUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Surviving an Active Shooter Event – English – YouTubeDepartment of Homeland Security-funded…

When Blogging Came of Age

(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:Meme alleging Trump said “Africans Are Lazy, Good at Sex, Theft”…

Webloggers Offer View Media Can't

(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:Henry V Fans: Today is St Crispin's DayKing Henry rallies his troops just befor…CultureMy 20-year-old Java Program Is Was Broken!So a…

And the Banned Played On

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?” …

Jakob Nielsen Drinking Game

“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…

Front Page News

“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:Don't Be Cruel[M]angled syntax, disordered thinking, a…AcademiaLocal News in a Digital AgeLocal TV news is the “most visible prese…AestheticsThe Hidden Subversive…

The Warnings Were on Page 1

“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:Brian Williams is Giving NBC an Opportunity to Bravely Break with TraditionNBC has a marketing decision to make, no…BusinessKelly Gallagher on "Readicide" I…

A Punitive Puppeteer?

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:The internet’s memory is fading in front of us.…

Technology and Pleasure

“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:HTML5 Boilerplate: The web’s most popular front-end template HTML5 Boilerplate helps you build fast…CybercultureThe Rhetoric of Anthems…

The President's Speech

“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:Facebook…

Aboard Flight 564

, 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:Depression Dog…

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:I should be writing my "Fake News" paper for this weekend's "Computers and Writing." Inste…Could the absurd examples of bizarre…