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:Kristin and Haley's Discussion on Poe's "The Raven"I gave my literature students 30 minutes…AcademiaLanguage Log » 25 Questions for Teaching with "Word Crimes"A little perspective is good.…
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:YouTube distortion after the same clip is re-uploaded…
Large collection of links to the World Trace Center tributes that have sprung up after the towers came down. —www.derrickito.com Similar:Addis, LA: Little Orphan Annie stopped for speeding Addis, LA: Little Orphan Annie…Amusing‘Snow White’ gets a new musical There’s a buzz of excitement this week…CultureFact check: DeVos never said 'only' 0.02% of children will die…
“Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around.” Gordon Sinclair, 1973 —The Americans Similar:Harvard…
Harrowing first-person account from a survivor. —“I was in the building when it all happened.” Similar:NTSB Blames Intern for Confirming Offensive Fake Names of Asiana Flight 214 PilotsBlogging this so I can find it when I te…Current_EventsSouthwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, who testified unmasked at a Senate hearing on Wednesday…Kelly testified at the hearing that…
Interesting article focuses on how people are using the Internet to react to the terrorists attacks on New York and Washington. Globe and Mail —Net Draws Fire, Offers Comfort in Wake of Disaster Similar:National Day on WritingNCTE, the National Writing Project, and …CultureMizzou professor who pushed reporter away from protesters is fired“The board believes that…
“One of the broadest definitions is that of Umberto Eco, who states that ‘semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign’ (Eco 1976, 7). Semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as ‘signs’ in everyday speech, but of anything which ‘stands for’ something else.” Daniel Chandler —Semiotics…
“Skyscrapers in general, and the twin towers of the World Trade Center in particular, symbolize, for many writers, either prideful arrogance, or a new technological beauty.” Dennis G. Jerz —World Trade Center: Reflections on the Disaster Similar:The Bremen Town Musicians (WAOB Audio Theatre) My daughter plays the narrator, my…HumanitiesThe Penance of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester,…
“[T]here were big holes in the information offered. Across all four health conditions, nearly a quarter of the key questions were completely ignored, and less than half were given both more than minimal coverage and complete accuracy.” Rae Fry —Online Health Websites Frequently Inaccurate Similar:Reading Game/Text: EverQuest, Alienation, and Digital Communitiesthough Limbaugh is wrong to…
Good web designers are a dime a dozen — just like the former armies of professional typists and word-processor operators, whose specialized tasks were eventually absorbed by the average office worker. Frank Yu, Gorilla Asia —Apocalypse Soon: Is the Web-Development Fairy Tale Over? Similar:xkcd: Headlines It: nailed. xkcd: Headlines.AmusingHumans Aren’t Mentally Ready for an AI-Saturated…
“Children learning to read and write in English are slower to master it than other European youngsters learning their own language, new research suggests.” BBC —Children ‘Slow’ at Learning English Similar:Reading Game/Text: EverQuest, Alienation, and Digital Communitiesthough Limbaugh is wrong to decide that …CybercultureI love my students enough to teach them the difference between passive…
cause many boating deaths. “[I]f you believe an accident occurs because of the hand of God or because George opened the can of beans with the label upside-down, then that gives you every reason to not read safety literature or continue learning about fishing.” National Post —Superstitions and carelessness Similar:Write instructions for busy grouches.Updating the…
“A gentleman should always walk around a lady’s train and never attempt to step over it. If by accident he should tread upon her dress, he should beg her pardon, and if by greater awkwardness he should tear it, he must offer to escort her to the dressing room so that it may be repaired.”…
“An attempt to answer common myths about copyright seen on the net and cover issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.” Brad Templeton —10 Myths about Copyright Explained Similar:Out of the Zuckersphere, (back) into the BlogosphereThis is why I still blog. While commerci…AcademiaDetails like headlines matter. Journalists should work hard to avoid being misread.If you…
The author of the first commercial computer game (“Adventureland,” 1978) leads a lively discussion on narrative, copyright, and violence. He also describes his first night playing EverQuest. UWEC English Festival. —Scott Adams: Storytelling in Computer Games Similar:What if Generative AI turned out to be a Dud?I’m sad thinking of all the students who…BusinessIn journalism, the…
“It won’t be a large book, but you can write a small book and get acquainted with the basics of how to write a book.” [But see this discussion thread: “Theory: Write a web-book in a day“] —How To Write a Book in 10 Days Similar:I've Stopped Creating Syllabi. Now I Create Syllabuses.At some point,…
“Without links, you might as well pile all the billions of documents on the Web into one huge container. Link management is therefore an important part of running a Web site.” Gerry McGovern, ClickZ —Broken Links and Poor Information Architecture Design Similar:Can you melt eggs? Quora’s AI says “yes,” and Google is sharing the resultGoogle…
Helvetica Bold Oblique was the big winner at Tuesday’s 73rd Annual Fonty Awards, taking home 11 statues, including those for Best Sans Serif and the highly coveted 2001 Best Font prize. Satire from The Onion —Helvetica Bold Oblique Sweeps Fontys Similar:Spring 2023 Grades: Submitted! (I only had 3 last-minute submissions to mark today.)AcademiaFDR in AnnieI’ve…
Dimitri Sklyarov is an unlikely poster boy for American freedom. The Russian programmer was arrested after he spoke at the “Def-Con” hacker convention in Las Vegas about a program, offered for sale by his employer Elcomsoft, which cracks the encryption in Adobe’s e-book software. The Irish Times —Confusion Over Free Speech and Copyright Similar:Public, Private,…
“While the lack of interest in buying electronic books may baffle some big publishers, the tepid demand comes as no surprise to some bibliophiles.” NY Times (requires free registration) —Forecasts of an E-Book Era Were, It Seems, Premature Similar:Can AI write good novels?I expect that this is probably the year …AcademiaRemember That Class Assignment I…