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:DOJ Enters Into Landmark Web and Mobile App Consent DecreeUnder the consent decree cite to…
: “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:Name-calling and ad hominem attacks don't provide anyone with reasons…
. Painfully funny small-town satire from The Onion. —Wal-Mart Opens Store in Winesburg, Ohio Similar:How it feels to watch a user test your product for the first time Jonathon Shariat.AmusingAnnoyed and Bored by Lazy Anachronisms in The Great Gatsby MovieI just watched the recent Great Gatsby m…Aesthetics'The Meatball: Not a Funny Rhyme' says Peter Jerz,…
“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:Because Internet: the new linguistics of informal EnglishI’m planning to begin my online Shakespe…CultureWhy liberal arts and the humanities are as important as engineeringWe learned that though…
“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:Contemptible and Exploitive “Share if You’re Not Ashamed of Me” Facebook ScamsOutline: Various Facebook posts that fea…BusinessMemorizer (Memorization Tool)A Midsummer castmate shared a link to th…CybercultureIn July, 2002,…
“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:Reading fiction early in life…
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:Affect (v. "to change") vs. Effect (n. "the…
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:In MLA Style, use the ellipsis only to mark an omission from the middle of a quotation. If you are writing an academic paper…AcademiaLaughter and Light Abound in Prime…
“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:What if thinking is underrated?What if the most underrated skill in sch…AcademiaSharing memes about news you don’t see is lazy. Be part 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:Thank You,…
Danielle Preston —You Know You’re a Technical Writer When… Similar:Beard Typeface GuideChristian Goldeman felt compelled to mat…AestheticsMSU asks faculty & staff to volunteer in short-staffed dining halls; @MSU_Football tweets …MSU, instead of asking your profs to vol…AcademiaI'm enjoying "William Shakespeare's Star Wars" more than I expectedI didn’t expect a pseudo-Elizabethan ren…AmusingTexting? Pets? Millennials Are Flunking…
A student of mine makes comments on interactive fiction, garish colors, and dancing text. Jan Carroll —Just For the Record Similar:Blind-accessible audio adventure Grail to the Thief seeks crowdfundingGrail to the Thief stars a thief from th…CultureThe neglected history of videogames for the blindWhat kind of a “videogame” has no video?…CybercultureBreaking: Student consults syllabus before…
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:Blood & Laurels : Emily Short's Versu launches iPad GameEmily Short (Galatea, First Draft of…
“[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 Not to Hate Shakespeare The problem…
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:Three challenges for the web, according to its inventorA letter, published a few weeks ago, in …BusinessPerseverance lands on Mars today! Here's what you need to know Today, February 18, 2021 at…
On the tasteless side, but still very funny: “Some Features You May Need on Your Computer“ Similar:How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? | MLA Style CenterWe ask students to cite encyclopedia art…AcademiaRay Harryhousen, visual effects pioneer, dies The Harryhausen family regret to…AestheticsThe Period, Our Simplest Punctuation Mark, Has Become a Sign of…