“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:The…
“[T]he Internet story has come to an end.” Reuters —Silicon Alley Reporter Magazine Closes (Wired) Similar:The Minecraft GenerationIt’s a world of trial and error and cons…AestheticsStudents Learning about First Amendment FreedomsIn an opening lecture for my journalism …CultureIn News, What’s Fake and What’s Real Can Depend on What You Want to Believe The proliferation of…
“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:LLM error rates I worked on LLMs, and now I go…AcademiaIt's unfair to treat every gaffe as evidence of malice or incompetence. But were Trump's d…Public officials misspeak…
“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:Musician uses computer algorithm to compose every melody possible in C, releases them for … A lawyer and…
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:Gen Z Never Learned to Read CursiveWhen I used to teach a “Media and Cultur…Academia10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of…
(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:Saturday morning cartoons are no moreI certainly have fond memories of…
(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:Somewhere Nearby is Colossal Cave: Examining Will Crowther's Original ''Adventure'' in Cod…Because so little primary historical wor…AcademiaNew York Times runs just…
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:A trend story about millennials, by The New York Times“When it comes down to it, life is reall…AmusingAmusing Reference to ‘The…
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:Hear That? It’s Your Voice Being Taken for Profit.Why do tech companies give us these cool…BusinessHappy retirement celebration to two dear colleagues.AcademiaWant…
“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:Judge rules Jim Acosta can have his White House pass back A federal judge ruled that CNN corre…Current_EventsSurprise: Humanities Degrees Provide Great Return…
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:Suddenly Human (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 4)…
“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:Releasing a Tiny Game and Trying to Get Paid[G]ames is a bit more financially brutal…BusinessWhen In Academia…
“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:The…
, 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:Winnie the…
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:On the Importance of Nonverbal Feedback in the Classroom [an Anecdote]I don’t generally like teaching with sli…AcademiaNew Theory Suggests Chatbots…
“Ever since Stalin and the Nazis, reality has transcended fiction.” (BBC) —Playwright Arthur Miller on Terrorism Similar:The Case for Slow Journalism: When to Unplug from the Endless News CycleOften when I see people in my social med…CybercultureLighten Up (an illustrator explores the racial politics of skin color in comics)Lighten Up — The Nib — Medium.AestheticsTake…
‘‘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:Talk with us about books! English as a minor or second major @setonhilluniversityAcademiaInnovative journalism: A game about the rising sea, a podcast about fire,…
“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:Pope Francis calls for "news communicated with serenity, precision and completeness"Pope Francis recently addressed Italian …CultureBeing a deaf lipreader during a pandemic means increased social anxietyEven social…