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:Digital Storytelling:…
“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:College student makes masks for the deaf & hard of hearing Other than one trip to the…
He taught ethics classes in California! LA Times —Law School Dean Fired for Plagiarism Similar:"Know that I glory in this nose of mine."Was browsing YouTube for a few of my fav…AestheticsIf You're Getting Walled in a Cellar I Feel Bad for You SonAmusingLove This Headline: "He took a date to the park where he was…
“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:Facebook Announces $300 Million Project, Allegedly to Support Local JournalismOnce upon a time, local newspapers could…BusinessPeople hate reading instructions, and will only glance…
“[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:I studied philosophy and engineering at university: Here's my verdict on 'job relevant' ed…She double-majored in engineering and ph…AcademiaInto the depths…
“Log onto almost any college Web site and you’ll see the same beautiful students talking about their beautiful campuses and how much they learn. But there are no numbers, no studies, no objective measurements.” —Wash. Monthly —What Do the US News Rankings Measure? Similar:Code? Not So MuchI teach my journalism students to write …ArtWATCH two…
“Hey, all you crafty, capable women wearing chunky, horn-rimmed glasses (this year) and doing your brainy chick thing…” Hank Stuever, Wash. Post —Velma Rules — Jinkies! Similar:How Star Wars was saved in the editI learned a lot while watching this vide…AestheticsWhy Fan Theories Are Destroying Film Discourse Fan theories are no substitute for cri…CultureThe Storyteller…
Failed to Practise What It Preached The magazine that chronicled the excesses of the dot.com revolution did not spot the extravagances that led to its own downfall. Mark Tran —Industry Standard Similar:Evolution of Gambling: Pay by Phone CasinoWhat will we use our phones for next?&nb…BusinessMuseum of Endangered SoundsImagine a world where we never again hea…AestheticsI…
Include Your Children when Baking Cookies New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half —Real Headlines Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.I’m far from perfect, and injustice and …AcademiaEmily Dickinson Fun Page #literature #amusing #dashes Emily…
Despite the technological hoopla, nobody’s paying attention to e-books but the courts. “Digitizing the printed page has put the very nature of books up for grabs, unleashing heated battles among writers, readers, librarians and technologists over who should control electronic books.” Chicago Tribune —E-Books Solving a Problem Consumers Don’t Have. Similar:Remember Who The Enemy IsGood…
Not-Work: “CNN acts like they’re the network of record in Millennial America, just because of their award-winning Gulf War coverage. That was so 10 years ago, and people only watched because there was no MSNBC back then.” The Onion —CNN Should be Named the Crappy News Similar:My student journalists sport their fashionable “What Would Jerz…
At first, Huck Finn said “as if” instead of “like,” “wasn’t” and not “warn’t,” and described a night sky “sprinkled”–not “speckled”–with stars. A new edition of the American classic traces Mark Twain’s efforts to refine the speech of his most famous character. LA Times —A New Read on Huck Finn’s Distinctive Voice Similar:The real Lord…
(Watch them instead.) “Create a few alternative designs, show them to a group of users, and ask which one they prefer. Wrong. If the users have not actually tried to use the designs, they’ll base their comments on surface features.” Jakob Nielsen —First Rule of Usability? Don’t Listen to Your Readers. Similar:First They Got…
At a graveyard near where Beatrix Potter (author of the “Peter Rabbit” stories) spent her youth: “Names on headstones included Mr Nutkin, Mr McGregor, Jeremiah Fisher, Tommy Brock – and even a Peter Rabbett.” BBC —But what about Jemima Puddle-Duck? Similar:"We are not Amazon franchises": booksellers respond to Amazon Source Wonderful snark from an indie…
“A modern language changes when we change it, and the metaphor that makes it autonomous only obscures our real task, which is to consider just how and why we change it.” Mark Halpern Similar:Psychology Today: Dreams: Night SchoolJay Dixit, in Psychology Today, surveys …GamesIn May, 2002, I was blogging about… typefaces in period movies; poets…
“Author Jessica Kingley expressed regret Monday that she had ‘pretty much used up all the hardship‘ from her early life in her recent first novel Bitter Root, leaving her nothing to write about for her follow-up book.” The Onion Similar:An Unexpecting MinorityTruthfully, I expected my new department…AcademiaFinished Reading "Fibble," Book 4 in "Heck: Where Bad…
That said, we’ve decided to acknowledge our very favorite Web sites—five each in 10 subject areas—with the Scientific American.com Sci/Tech Web Award. It is an eclectic mix—from the practical to the academic to the downright silly. Among this year’s winners are sites that decode computer acronyms, explain group theory, unravel the genome, track chemistry in…
The second most popular form of entertainment after television, video games have rapidly become the largest segment of the entertainment industry. Mounting evidence lends support to what parents have suspected all along — violent videogames encourage violent behavior. Contemporary Pediatrics Similar:Essay on how much a professor learned about teaching from his mentorI had a similar…
: “Every report you ever write from this day until the day you die should start out by saying something nice about the product or service you are reviewing. Then you can get down to business.” Tog —How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched Similar:Scrooge Is My BrotherMy daughter delivered the opening “Marle…CultureBREAKING: All…