“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:Justine Sacco Is Good at Her Job, and…
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:A Liberal-Arts Education for Business MajorsThe world needs well-rounded leaders. A …AcademiaBureaucrats Put the Squeeze on College NewspapersFew school newspapers are financially in…AcademiaFinal grades are due tomorrow. My Fall…
“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:Major benefits for students who attend live theater, study findsI wonder what additional measurable bene…CultureJane Eyre and the Invention of the SelfThose who…
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:Anonymous comment…
Danielle Preston —You Know You’re a Technical Writer When… Similar:Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote. Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Sha…AcademiaOver the years I have leveled up my Blender3D skills.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNLArSlF…AestheticsThe facts evolve as we look into how our re-accommodation process that involved goons drag…The language in the official United…BusinessAs CRT Supplies Vanish the Classic…
A student of mine makes comments on interactive fiction, garish colors, and dancing text. Jan Carroll —Just For the Record Similar:31 Undeniable Truths That Journalism Majors Can All Agree OnBecause you know you have the chance to …AcademiaBlog RSS Feed Generator for WP RSS AggregatorI paid a little attention to a long-negl…CybercultureThe t-shirt many professors…
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:The Chicago Tribune Has Made the Best Internet Mistake of the DayEvery second is a…
“[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:Respect the Text: Teaching Textual Primacy to…
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:Inequity and BYODIf we are really wanting to help these k…CultureJoe Turner's Come and Gone (August Wilson's Century Cycle, 2 of 10)August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoi…BooksRethinking TV news, Part III: First,…
On the tasteless side, but still very funny: “Some Features You May Need on Your Computer“ Similar:Practice, practice, practice. Making many things in #Blender3D. Arranging them to make a t… AestheticsDo Cultural Critics Have Any Value Left?[T]he Internet has dramatically changed …AestheticsBaltimore Residents Urged To Stay Indoors Until Social Progress Naturally Takes Its Course…“As…
“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:The Mom From The Cat in the Hat Finally SpeaksAs a toddler, my son once methodically s…AmusingA Box With A…
“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:"Shakespeare in Love" with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra and Stage Right!When I teach…
Imagine yourself creating a game with a world for other people to inhabit on your own computer. It is a world without sounds or visuals. Now, put yourself into the textual world and imagine yourself in that world and living through the game. Laura L. Hogue —Text-based computer game lets players interact with story. Similar:Kelly…
The point is not that we should add stories to our sites to ensnare narrative-starved readers. The point is that the reader’s journey through our site is a narrative experience. Our job is to make the narrative satisfying. Mark Bernstein —The Narrative Web Similar:The Myth of the Fake Geek Girl It’s not surprising, then, that…
“Roget’s Thesaurus… should be roundly condemned as a crucial part of the engine work that has transported us to our current state of linguistic and intellectual mediocrity. Simon Winchester What’s another word for “thesaurus”? Similar:Headphones, Croutons and RhetoricME (with crouton tongs in one hand and s…CulturePICT’s ‘Oliver Twist’ Offers a Different Kind of Holiday PunchThe…
Look for an “escape from frames” or “turn this frame off” link. Right-click on a link (or, on a Mac, hold down the control key while clicking) and select the command that will let you “open link in new window.” —Frames: Finding the URL of a Framed Document Similar:Can you melt eggs? Quora’s AI says…
“Writers, pause and think what your purpose is. Sure, you have to earn a living, but does it disgust you to write over-simplified articles that tell a partial truth, or even worse, lie, because your editor and publisher won’t buy anything with more depth. Does it frustrate you that readers know you’re lying, and seek…
Why computer games sacrifice story for graphics: “Often great graphics can enhance a game, but just as often, graphical emphasis — whether in a game or the review thereof — is a result of developers and journalists taking the easy way out. When that happens, we all lose, especially as long as game publishers think…