Harrowing first-person account from a survivor. —“I was in the building when it all happened.” Similar:Beatrix Potter-pinching and Žižekian swipes: the strange world of book theftsWe caught a gent last Christmas with £40…BooksBattlestar Galactica 'Launch When Ready' Bridge Girl Fan Page (updated with links to archi… –Battlestar Galactica ‘Launch When …CyberculturePa. agency explains why it…
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:That Much-Despised Apple Ad Could Be More Disturbing Than It LooksApple has apologized, but like writer Pe…AestheticsWhite House Bars Times and Other…
“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:FULL BLOOM at Latrobe’s Olde Main, Aug 30-Sep 2.CultureWhat TV journalists did wrong — and the New York Times…
“[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:"We Need to Be More Vigilant With What We Trust From…
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:Pac-Man”The kids who grew up steering Pac-Man a…DesignExplore Geotagged Wikipedia Pages as…
“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:I'm Asking My Students to Be Deliberate about the Word "Novel"In the past few years, I have noticed mo…AcademiaWrite instructions for busy grouches.Updating the graphic…
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:You're not going to believe what…
“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:Details from the author's life are not the magic ticket to "correct" interpretations in li…Students who are new to college literatu…AcademiaWhy We’ll Never Live in SpaceAs much…
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's a namber? (archived)Update, December 2024: Sadly, the “what’…CybercultureReal or Fake? (News Game)Real or fake? At a time when…
“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:This is what audience members are saying about Prime Stage…
“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:5 myths about Facebook’s Messenger appReal journalism takes a look at that Huf…BusinessAs Twinkle…
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:Commentary: What My Struggling Students Wanted Me to UnderstandI haven’t taught a developmental course …AcademiaBecause…
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:Shakespeare’s Genius…
“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:ifMUD IF discussion | Emily Short's Interactive StorytellingEmily Short on the limitations of parser…CybercultureHow Common Core Testing…
He taught ethics classes in California! LA Times —Law School Dean Fired for Plagiarism Similar:The Penance of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, by Edwin Austin Abbey.This painting was inspired by the scene …AestheticsWhat to Do With a B.A. in English?Some good tips on what to say about your…AcademiaUniversities must stop presuming that all students are tech-savvyAlthough…
“Handwriting is a basic skill that serves us all our lives. Unfortunately, a problem that primarily affects boys is rarely on anyone’s list of educational priorities.” Christina Hoff Summers —The Write Stuff Similar:Reading-Is-Fundamentalists Slaughter 52 IlliteratesCommitted to the eradication of illitera…CultureNational Science Foundation announces plan for comprehensive public access to research res…This is good news.…
“[O]nce you have observed that the other is typically portrayed as lazy, dirty, stupid, crafty, womanly, passive, rebellious, sexually rapacious, childlike, enigmatic and a number of other mutually contradictory epithets, it is hard to know what to do next apart from reaching for yet another textual illustration of the fact.” London Review of Books —The…
Too much information? “[T] this weed in our informational landscape has just sprouted–it is only about 50 years old. Up until then, more information was almost always a good thing.” David Shenk —Data Smog Similar:Darkest Hour (2017)I’m not a huge fan of war movies, but my…CultureToday's Google Doodle is Mostly HarmlessFord Prefect kept a script…