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:Male Microsoft Leaders Ignored Women Who Really Hated ClippyI hated Clippy, not because it looked li…Business'History has treated her…
“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:Essential Journalists: How Coronavirus Changed TV Newshttps://youtu.be/CWcEABVWbfA Current_EventsKelly Gallagher on…
“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:Not a #carguy but I pried open the hatch of the van to change…
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:Checking out of @frontporchtheatricals Grand Hotel. What an experience!My brother had already planned to visit…
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:Undergrad Danielle…
“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:Google responds to streaming report with shruggie GIFThe Daily Dot proceeded to shrug the GIF…AmusingMesmerizing Video of…
He taught ethics classes in California! LA Times —Law School Dean Fired for Plagiarism Similar:NBC's Chuck Todd takes aim at CNN”The big danger always confronting CNN —…BusinessComputer grading will destroy our schools (says a humanist whose appeal to the humanities …Sadly, the people who are spending (and …AcademiaBad Writing Costs Businesses BillionsThis is thinkpiece rehtoric…
“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:New data on the first three jobs held by graduates of six popular majors“There is an enormous part of the econom…AcademiaHeart of Stone…
“[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:The Dish (2000 Australian comedy)I try to watch this every July to commem…Culture'Most Transparent’ White House In History Keeps Majority Of…
“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:MLA in-text citations: avoid these common errors AcademiaSteve Strauss: Why I Hire…
“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:Two Steps Down the Interactive Fiction RoadWonderfully detailed analysis of two gro…Aesthetics“Let It Go,” Idina Menzel’s Frozen ballad: It sends the wrong message.This author is probably overthinking thi…CultureThe Alot…
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:What happens if you hide everything on Facebook? I tried it for a day.Spoiler: not much really happened. Telli…AmusingInteractive Adventure SongIt seems YouTube will…
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:Facebook Finally Rolls Out 'Disputed News' Tag Everyone Will DisputeAnybody seen a post tagged this way? If …Current_EventsIn January 2000, I was blogging about dancing paperclips, the transience of literary judge……
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:More Adventures in Suburban AdultingAbout…
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:I rather like my instructional page on writing effective…
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 Journey That…
(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:Added an overhead…
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:Advice to First Year College Students on Freshman CompFull disclosure… I have marked AP Engl…AcademiaMy…
“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:In April 2000, I was blogging about HTML frames, the future of reading, grammar, Kairos, a…In April 2000, I was blogging about……