“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:Measuring…
“[T]he Internet story has come to an end.” Reuters —Silicon Alley Reporter Magazine Closes (Wired) Similar:Pope Leo XIV names AI one of the reasons for his papal name…I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There…Current_EventsSo glad to be attending another live theatrical production. @quantumtheatre never disappoi…Projections, live music, sounds, props, …BusinessMy Ouya arrived.My Ouya…
“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:Thank you, male ballet dancers everywhere, for making moments like this possible.AestheticsRemember Who The Enemy IsGood article on Catching Fire. (I haven’…BooksDrumhead (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 4, Episode…
“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:Feeling Like an Impostor at 49I reminded my Shakespeare students that …AcademiaThe quest to save today’s gaming history…
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:Vincent Connare, Inventor Of 'The Most Hated Font,' Defends HimselfA typographic engineer, Connare was work…AestheticsInterior Detail of Steampunk Convertible Gazebo Spent much of Tuesday wrestling with…
(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:No one’s ready for this: Our basic assumptions about photos capturing…
(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:Researchers: Nearly Half Of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely BotsResearchers identified more than 100 fal…Current_EventsAs Trump ranted and rambled in…
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:You know the Arsène Lupin story has a few more plot twists in store when, before Lupin act…You know the Arsène…
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:The Child –Antoine Bardou-Jacquet –The Child…AestheticsIf you like to play with words, good newsI wish there were a secret day between F…CultureThe…
“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:Why Fears of Fake News Are OverhypedFacebook seems to have made changes that…CultureCertainty vs. uncertainty: "In which are we more likely to be…
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 Abomination of Ebooks: They Price People Out of…
“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:The reluctant wisdom of a science major in my freshman writing class.”There’s nothing left to say,” said…
“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:Dennis…
, 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:Show, Don’t…
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:Games Without Frontiers: Victory in VomitWired reviews Mirror’s Edge When you ru…AestheticsAmLit Rescue — Scratch GameA student in my “American…
“Ever since Stalin and the Nazis, reality has transcended fiction.” (BBC) —Playwright Arthur Miller on Terrorism Similar:In 2019, I have a college student who annotates readings like this!I asked students in my online “Dystopia …AcademiaGood example of ‘do NOT remove things from photos.’Hat tip to my former student Kiley Fisch…BusinessWhat is a COVID-19 compliance supervisor?…
‘‘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:Every conversation between a parent and a child, in four conversations. (Slate)This whole item applies very well to one…AmusingNichelle Nichols, ground-breaking Star Trek actor…
“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:Seton Hill takes on Shakespeare's 'Dream'Students in my Shakespeare class will be…CultureCredible case that a lost Shakespeare sonnet has been identified A dedication in the script of…