. Painfully funny small-town satire from The Onion. —Wal-Mart Opens Store in Winesburg, Ohio Similar:A Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake. #fakenewsDonald Trump has a lot to say about “fak…BusinessListening to the Text: The Medieval Speech BubbleFrom a culture where silent reading was …AestheticsA college tells faculty…
“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:Folger Shakespeare Library on "The Fate of Ophelia"On my ride into work yesterday, my mothe…AcademiaCNN Profiles Former White House "Chief Calligrapher"Today was the last day of the…
“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:10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessHelp! I may be running out of excuses for not wearing…Help! I may…
“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:Most Christians don’t actually care…
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:Ring Theory Helps Us Bring Comfort In ……
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:MLA-Style Bibliography Builder– updated to handle web sources Choose…AcademiaSome fairy tales may be 6000 years oldFairy tales are transmitted through lang…CultureReal college classes have writing assignments and required reading.While…
“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:Fact check: Trump lies about CNN at Mississippi rallyI tell my journalism students they won’t…Current_EventsDr Jerz I think your microphone glitchedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPqnXF7A…AcademiaThe Measure 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:I studied…
Danielle Preston —You Know You’re a Technical Writer When… Similar:Books vs. Kindles: The Choice No One Made Ever”I bought a Kindle. I didn’t immediately…BooksWhile searching my bag for a cable, I found an unexpected wealth of food-substitute items.AmusingSCUBA Diving at the PoolBecause a beautiful sunny day at the poo…CultureMentoring skills, communication/listening, empathy, critical thinking define…
A student of mine makes comments on interactive fiction, garish colors, and dancing text. Jan Carroll —Just For the Record Similar:Professoring. With an(other) apple pie cupcake.I touched up and board-ified a presentat…AcademiaDozens of Colleges’ Upward Bound Applications Are Denied for Failing to Dot Every II’m not saying that the Upward Bound kid…AcademiaMaking Connections in Virtual…
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:Apology of Socrates, By PlatoAristotle classified Plato’s work, repre…AestheticsAI is better at writing poems than…
“[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:How to Keep Students Writing in the…
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:No one’s ready for this: Our basic assumptions about photos capturing reality are about to… Everyone who is reading this article…CybercultureJoyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in…
On the tasteless side, but still very funny: “Some Features You May Need on Your Computer“ Similar:The Internet Is RottingI do what I can. It’s disheartening how,…AcademiaHermann Zapf, the font designer behind Palatino and Zapf Dingbats, has died at 96Hermann Zapf, the designer of fonts such…AestheticsThis Is Not a Book: Thomas Jefferson & Apple's App StoreHumanities…
“It is our duty, as responsible citizens, to stop the rot. Next time someone touches base with you or moves your goal posts, punch them in the face.” Clint Witchalls —Business and the English Language Similar:How to Reduce Racial Bias in Grading (Use Objective Rubrics)To gauge the potential impact of a stand…AcademiaFacebook is gaslighting the…
“Europe once sought to bring enlightenment—literacy, civil society, modern technology—to benighted parts of the world. It did so in the name of progress and civilization. The ethic of Third Worldism dictates that yesterday’s enlightenment be rebaptized as today’s imperialistic oppression.” Roger Kimball Similar:Standardized Test Scores Don't Really Measure LearningThere are ways to raise a child’s…