“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:Redemption,…
“[T]he Internet story has come to an end.” Reuters —Silicon Alley Reporter Magazine Closes (Wired) Similar:Magnetic Scrolls Original Games Source Code Recovered!Here we have possibly the only surviving…CybercultureThe Importance of Writing Skills in Tech-Related FieldsGood writing skills are valuable, even i…AcademiaComputers and Writing 2020 Funding Request: SubmittedMy contributions this year are a worksho…Academia‘These are all…
“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:A friend asks: "Would it be bad form to point out the typos in my class materials?" My ans…After I posted my grades for this term, …AcademiaFamily Feud:…
“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:Kafka Meets Charlie BrownThis year marks the 100th anniversary of…AmusingJustin Bieber and the Beatles: They both liked to…
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 Benefits of No-Tech Note TakingI quibble with The Chronicle headline wr…AcademiaLen Deighton’s Bomber, the first book ever written on a word processor.The talented and insightful scholar…
(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:Post Gazette Corrects Headline of Seton Hill iPad FollowupEveryone makes mistakes.…
(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:Wanted in College Graduates: Tolerance for Ambiguity”What answer do you want?” “Just tell…AcademiaLos Angeles sheriff appears to back down after signaling…
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:Gettysburg Address event marks 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s historic speechOn the Civil War battlefield where Presi…CultureGetting to the Point in…
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:Stapler jam during a midterm exam.My years of watching MacGyver definitely…AcademiaSeton Hill's Griffin Holds an iPad in Front of Admin Steps (Blender…
“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:If you think I'm wrong that the media fairly covered the Cannon Hinnant murder, but you're…Plenty of news organizations have report…Current_EventsThe White House’s…
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:Jimmy Kimmel Reveals "Worst Twerk Fail EVER – Girl…
“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:Writing Computer Games with InklewriterIf brass lanterns or slathering-fanged g…CybercultureMr. Spock, weren't you wearing blue and black…
“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:Context…
, 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:I'm not…
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:Pac-Man”The kids who grew up steering Pac-Man a…DesignWinners Chosen in Annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene ContestMichael Henninger took this wonderful…
“Ever since Stalin and the Nazis, reality has transcended fiction.” (BBC) —Playwright Arthur Miller on Terrorism Similar:Twitter is testing a tool for reporting fake & offensive contentIt’s risky to get your news from a socia…Current_EventsThe Harry Potter Decision, as text – UpdatedGroklaw has a good analysis of the recen…BooksThe Wire (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2,…
‘‘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:Watching Shakespeare With Your KidsMy retired parents and bachelor engineer…CulturePsychology Today: Dreams: Night SchoolJay Dixit, in Psychology Today, surveys …GamesLego signs multi-million-pound deal with…
“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:Details on the disappearance of the Utah monolith Mr. Bernards, 34, of Edwards, Colo., w…ArtEmily Dickinson Fun Page #literature #amusing #dashes Emily Dickinson Fun Page #literatu…AmusingT. S.…