“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:On this date in 1999 I first added a date to the list of web links I had been curating. (T…On…
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:Author of 80s classic The Hobbit didn't…
“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…
What do The Iliad, Beowulf and Hamlet have that Doom, Quake, and Tomb Raider don’t? After all, each involves bloodshed, revenge and people armed with nasty weapons running amok. USA Today Similar:Sobering data; stunning visualization.This NYT story on the effects of race on…CultureReading fiction early in life is associated with a more complex worldview, study…
The fantastic and faith-filled works of C.S. Lewis will be re-issued by HarperCollins. Similar:I worked in a video store for 25 years. Here’s what I learned as my industry died.If you’re actually in a video store, the…CultureCNN Holds Morning Meeting To Decide What Viewers Should Panic About For Rest Of DayKicking around ideas ranging from…
“We put up the instructions on the booths,” said Don Hersey, Putnam County’s supervisor of elections. “We tell them, `Fill in the ovals. A check or an X may not work.’ But that’s the problem we’re having — some people just don’t follow instructions.” —3% of Floridians spoiled their votes in Election 2000 Similar:Fake Graph:…
“[P]rofessors who give easy grades gain just a fleeting popularity, salted with disdain. In later life, students will forget those professors; they will remember the ones who posed a challenge.” Harvey C. Mansfield (Mansfield has been criticized for bringing race into the grading equation) —Grade Inflation: It’s Time to Face the Facts Similar:That gut-wrenching photo…
You be the judge… is this plagiarism? [ Jerz handout | UCSB handout ] [Note: at first, the UCSB website did not mention my name anywhere, though it did provide a link to the original source.] Similar:What's next in game narrative, with Emily Short Something that I tended to think was…CultureShall I Encode Thee In…
John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project: Hey, this is John speaking…Who’re you? [Enter your first name below] > Dennis Nice to meet you Dennis > What do you think of computers? If you could have any kind of pet what would it be? > A walrus? Go on. > I am the eggman! What does it…
“Cases of badly translated English text in Asia remain quite common. Movies, signs, menus, ads, clothing – and now Web sites as well – harbor myriad examples of funny, cute, or just bizarre translations into English. Native English speakers tend to make light of such sightings, but this seems unfair…” Asia Internet Report —All Your…
Browsing through the shelves is one of the great joys of visiting the library. But when the shelves get too tall and threaten to take away precious study space, books are relegated to warehouses, sold, given away, or worse — retired to the circular file… Katie Dean —Library Card Catalog, R.I.P. Similar:My Shakespeare students are…
A study of just four users of the Bowling Green State University website finds “that parents received the message better than students, regardless of professed ability to use the computer, both students and parents have trouble finding the sections intended to carry their messages, even when directed to the areas intended to carry their messages,…
Despite the ever-ballooning size of the World Wide Web, which some experts claim is on the order of 550 billion Web pages, much of the most interesting and valuable content remains hard to find. The best search engines, such as Google or AltaVista catalog about 1.4 billion Web pages, or less than 1 percent, barely…
It isn’t as if we have yet lost all awareness of the social significance of modes of address, though that day might yet come. For the moment, people are still aware of the differences between calling someone “Bill” or “Jones” or “Mr Jones”. Theodore Dalyrmple. —Please don’t call me Theo Note: I once worked at…
“There are three gigabytes of e-mail stretching back to 1983, another gigabyte of articles, letters and papers that I’ve written, and one more gigabyte of programs that I’ve coded, photographs I’ve taken, financial records and electronic keepsakes. Every time I get a new computer, I painstakingly copy this data from one machine to the next.” …
“Do [computer] animators’ abilities to make their creations more lifelike actually detract from the spirit of animation? It depends on who you talk to.” Wired. —Every Pixel Tells a Story Similar:Babel (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 5) Virus Garbles Everyone's SpeechRewatching ST:DS9 Overworked O’Brien …DesignYour Brain on ShakespeareAmusingShort Stories: Developing Ideas for Short FictionI…
held the most important religious office in Sumer — high priestess at Ur; she is also being credited as the world’s first known author, writing only 300 years after written language developed in what is now Iraq. [Why it took a California psychoanalyst to translate her 4,000-year-old poetry is unexplained by the article, but it…
Huzzah! Bigger, more annoying online advertisements will soon be clogging up your Internet connection! (Now is the time to check out ad-erasing software such as WebWasher.) Similar:How it feels to watch a user test your product for the first time Jonathon Shariat.AmusingMonument Valley: Minimal story, but an engaging world and a satisfying ending.I was in…
“As all parties assess the damage wrought by the market meltdown, 20-20 hindsight shows some startlingly clear mistakes–beginning with a preponderance of money in search of investment, no matter how dubious the venture.” news.com —One year after the dot-com bubble burst Similar:Go Forth and Conquer, but Postpone the Selfie“We have about 850 graduates, and we…