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:Laughter and Light Abound in Prime Stage’s “Twelfth Night” Kudos to Prime Stage for a Twelf…Culturexkcd:…
: “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:I touched up an intro to hypertext essays from 2000.When…
. Painfully funny small-town satire from The Onion. —Wal-Mart Opens Store in Winesburg, Ohio Similar:At Home In Fantasy's Nerd-Built WorldsIn other words, more than the profound l…AestheticsCredible case that a lost Shakespeare sonnet has been identified A dedication in the script of a 1603 B…AcademiaThere Is A Difference Between Middle Grade and Young Adult Lit,…
“If anything, the recent expansion of literacy and educational opportunities has increased our access to literature and our enjoyment of it.” J. Peder Zane —What Good is Literature? Similar:The Post-Coding Generation?I knew the command line well, and very o…CybercultureShakespeare’s Genius Is NonsenseJust as comedians generally don’t laugh …CultureHypertext as a Teaching Tool — Brown University…
“Today, I’m one of the world’s leading anthropologists, an accomplished archaeologist, and an award-winning novelist. And, at 41, I’m only now becoming aware of the globetrotting rut I’ve been in my entire life. Looking back on everything I’ve seen and done, I can’t help but ask, ‘Is that all there is?’” more satire from The…
Microsoft Word requires at least 30% more keystrokes and 100% more mouse moves to accomplish certain editing tasks than would an optimal word processor. Forbes —Bad Design Can Be Costly Similar:More #blender3d #steampunk control panel details. #blender3dartAestheticsMore world-building props for a fantasy #steampunk #Blender3D project.DesignMany things in the world are awful. But creating this #steampunk…
“We are the Gist Generation. We have acquired a taste for hit-and-run, cut-and-paste knowledge. We expect a home page or e-mail correspondence to give us the gist and only the gist—time is money and you’re a click away from an iconographic trash can, so get to the point.” Jeff Barbian Similar:Minimalist Graphic Interpretations of Philosophical…
This computer game tries something new. “If a character tells you he’ll call you tomorrow, he’s not kidding. You’ll have to wait a day to get his information. Faxes may arrive without warning, and instant messages may pop up onscreen when you least expect them — maybe even while you’re at work.” Wired.com —“Majestic” Invades…
“Organized religion was a primary target of every one of the twentieth century’s regimes of terror. But as is evident in Nazi and Communist terrors alike, organized irreligion (to put it in Royal’s sharp formulation) has proved far more dangerous than organized religion ever was.” Alicia Mosier Similar:At the Johnstown Flood Museum. (May 31 1889…
You might assume there could not be a worse time for a field calling itself “Internet studies.” You would be wrong. The Chronicle of Higher Education Similar:Kindle App Vs. iBooks. (Spoiler: They’re Virtually Identical Now!)I noticed with interest that Kindle now …AestheticsBattlestar Galactica 'Launch When Ready' Bridge Girl Fan Page (updated with links to archi……
“Lambert received the e-mail in December, a piece of scrap in the vast electronic junkyard that is the World Wide Web. Regrettably, she says now, she removed the letter’s forwarding markers and unintentionally put her name at the bottom, making it appear that she was the author.” Washington Post —Don’t forward that e-mail just yet!…
“[W]hat could be more scholarly than a nice, authoritative statistic, quoted from a professional journal in the student’s field?” The Chronicle of Higher Education —Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics Similar:FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decadesSo what if a WaPo story about huge flaws…Current_EventsStapler jam during a midterm exam.My years of…
The longer the company’s annual report, the less successful the company. This isn’t really a technical writing issue — usually companies with bad news to report need a lot of words to explaining themselves. But if this is what it takes to get some pinhead CEOs to appreciate brevity, so be it. Wired Similar:The super-rich…
Danielle Preston —You Know You’re a Technical Writer When… Similar:YouTube Now: Why We Focus on Watch TimeYouTube has adjusted its search algorith…CybercultureStarship Mine (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 18) Picard out-thinks thieves rai…Rewatching ST:TNG Picard plays cat-an…CybercultureLearn from this typesetter's mistakeWisdom to keep in mind as I plan for thi…LiteracyBing’s A.I. Chat Reveals Its…
A student of mine makes comments on interactive fiction, garish colors, and dancing text. Jan Carroll —Just For the Record Similar:Responding to Literature at the College LevelA new handout, based on the opening lect…AcademiaWriting Computer Games with InklewriterIf brass lanterns or slathering-fanged g…CybercultureSuperman Comic about Sympathy and HopeJust in case someone out there could use…AestheticsSeton…
learns something from my freshman comp students. On March 13, 2000, I e-mailed web guru Jakob Nielsen to tell him that six of my freshmen spent 8-30 minutes on his site without finding a plain-text “search” link on the home page. A week or so later, I noticed that Nielsen changed his page, making the…
“[W]hen it comes to writing, whether you’re a seventh grader, a college student, a professor, a beginning copywriter, or an accomplished novelist, a B isn’t good enough.” Kathy Henning —For Writers, Writing Is Never a Waste of Time: Part 2 Similar:What a stunningly responsible young man I was, to have on June 10 1998 backed…
“[A] society without literature, or a society in which literature has been relegated–like some hidden vice–to the margins of social and personal life, and transformed into something like a sectarian cult, is a society condemned to become spiritually barbaric, and even to jeopardize its freedom.” Mario Vargas Llosa Similar:ChatGPT Can't Kill Anything Worth PreservingMany are…
The creator of Cliffs Notes has died. Here’s his obituary — although I know you probably won’t bother to read the whole thing. Similar:Recent SHU journo grad, upon the hiring of an even more recent SHU journo grad: "Many time…A couple weeks ago I posted about a rece…AcademiaLove Online”The exchange of love letters was centra…CultureHere’s…
On the tasteless side, but still very funny: “Some Features You May Need on Your Computer“ Similar:Create Joy with Content Management System Hexcodes for Canvas LMSI spent about 30 seconds eyeballing the …AcademiaLounge area of a steampunk villain’s lair. Still needs a light fixture or two. #blender3dAestheticsWhy We Forget Most of the Books We ReadIt…