“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:C.S. Lewis: "On the Reading of Old Books"Gearing up for teaching a new “American …BooksJournalism by the Numbers…
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:“We hate math,” says 4 in 10 – a majority of AmericansIf 30% love math, and 30% are neutral ab…AmusingIn-home schooling popularity slipping across stateWe were…
(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:Faculty stacked up in launch tube beneath McKenna gym, ready for…
(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:Boy, this sort of thing sure makes some racist people very angry.https://twitter.com/steelers/status/1305…CultureMisplaced Auto-playing ABC Video Clip (with No Pause Button) Diminishes…
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:Frisbee is a brand name, but how newsworthy is that?What would you do? Today I wrote 192 …AcademiaIntimations of MortalityPlato, Montaigne,…
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:Is your child texting about recursive acronym palindromes? Is your child texting about recursive …AmusingAdam Savage’s 10 Commandments Of MakingAdam Savage took…
“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:You know the Arsène Lupin story has a few more plot twists in store when, before Lupin act…You know the Arsène Lupin story…
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:Adam Savage’s 10 Commandments Of MakingAdam Savage took a…
“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 Rhetoric of Anthems and the Drama of KneelingI don’t follow sports, so I don’t feel f…CultureGoogle…
“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:Editors…
, 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:What Is…
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:Contemptible and Exploitive “Share if You’re Not Ashamed of Me” Facebook ScamsOutline: Various Facebook posts that fea…BusinessLiking Everything He Saw on…
“Ever since Stalin and the Nazis, reality has transcended fiction.” (BBC) —Playwright Arthur Miller on Terrorism Similar:BREAKING: British Burn Washington … 2 Centuries AgoTwo hundred years ago this week, during …AmusingEnglish teaching: Johnson: Talking past each otherWhen I got to college, I had already lea…AcademiaGoogle’s broken link to the webI guess now we know why…
‘‘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:MTV VMAs: Will Smith Family's Reaction Was to Gaga, Not Miley (Video)I didn’t watch the show, but I did see t…BusinessFirst They Got Sick,…
“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:The girl rehearsing as Babette in Stage Right's Beauty and the BeastCarolyn rehearses with Nick Lenz. Her sh…Current_Events"Wolf!", cried the shepherd boy. (The whole thread is worth…
10:19 a.m. To: Dad Call Kozue [my wife] and tell her I’m fine. We evacuated my office and I’m walking somewhere. War zone. Jonathan Segal —Another Eyewitness Account Similar:Google responds to streaming report with shruggie GIFThe Daily Dot proceeded to shrug the GIF…AmusingThe secret life of a public library security guardThis made me think of…
The Internet has succeeded in becoming a tool that many regular people turn to in lieu of alternatives for communicating and for finding information. It has become a new, often-used tool in their personal toolbox. Dan Bricklin —The Internet is Now a Dominant Tool for Regular People Similar:Journalist Nellie Bly Began her Around the World…
Large collection of links to the World Trace Center tributes that have sprung up after the towers came down. —www.derrickito.com Similar:How PatrioticAmusingIn May, 2001 I was blogging about lanuguage, design and Cliffs NotesIn May 2001, I was blogging about B…AmusingPracticing Intellectual, Evidence-based DisagreementThis is what a busy literature seminar o…AcademiaUNC student newspaper goes viral for…