“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:Historians Admit To Inventing Ancient GreeksI knew it! Busted!! “One night someone …AcademiaThe Hut Where the Internet Began – Atlantic MobileLet’s start at the end…
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 to lie with charts, by the @NYTimes I tend to defend journalism when sho…Current_EventsHow One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s LifeA PR professional should have known bett…BusinessSeriously,…
“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:Yahoo, You Nagged Me Too Many Times; Bye!I have a Yahoo account that I…
(Interactive fiction) … She might be the model in a perfume ad; the trophy wife at a formal gathering; one of the guests at this very opening, standing on an empty pedestal in some ironic act of artistic deconstruction — You hesitate, about to turn away. Her hand balls into a fist. “They told me…
Eliza was the first chatterbot — a computer program that mimics human conversation. In only about 200 lines of computer code, Eliza models the behavior of a psychiatrist (or, more specifically, the “active listening” strategies of a touchy-feely 1960s Rogerian therapist). Dennis G. Jerz —Doctor Eliza is in Similar:My son just handed me my serving…
“I was strolling past some Korean shops in Chinatown when I overheard members of a Cambodian mafia having a powwow. One of these heathens had welshed on a deal to buy a ghetto blaster and was shanghaied off to the Near East. As if that weren’t hurtful enough, it was Dutch treat all the way.”…
Most teachers I know cringe when students who missed class e-mail to request a transcript of the class they missed. My policy is to say, “Get the notes from a classmate.” Dennis G. Jerz —I Missed Class…Did I Miss Anything Important? Similar:20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't GetI expect my English majors not to balk w…AcademiaWhat Is Gamergate,…
As Napster wavers, file-trading network Aimster is using an unusual shield to protect its users from snooping: copyright law sponsored by the recording industry. Wired.com Similar:Journalism by the Numbers (a pedagogical play in one scene) #math (Lights up on a college journa…CultureAxios journalism style delivers traditional news content in scannable formatIn addition to the fact…
It would only take an hour to drive out to the crash site, but Uncle Owen will kill you if you don’t finish this repair by sundown. Do you repair the vaporator or investigate the crash? Mike Helba —Star Wars Legos Choose Your Own Adventure Similar:Virtual debates about homelessness in Sim City hold up a…
Publishing giant Random House goes after tiny RosettaBooks, which has published e-texts of some popular Random House authors. RosettaBooks says they got permission directly from the authors. —Styron, Vonnegut E-Books Spark Random House Lawsuit Similar:Tom Bissell writes a letter to Niko Bellic about Grand Theft Auto VI haven’t played GTAV, and probably neve…CultureAnother social media…
A new generation of three-dimensional printers can create nearly any solid shape as easily as an inkjet printer creates a letter. The trick is to spray layer after layer of thin, fast-drying resin. Rick Overton Similar:How Technology Has Changed The Way We WriteSocial media services have put writing t…CultureBrother Stuck in the BathroomThe girl posted…
“Content certainly has all the glamor. What content does not have is money.” Andrew Odlyzko. —Content is Not King. Similar:The Post-Coding Generation?I knew the command line well, and very o…CybercultureWhen He Clicked the Link, You Won't Believe How Disappointed He WasAuthors of overhyped link text are like …CybercultureClickbait writers hate this English professor's time-saving trick!Defeat…
Tom Van Vleck. (Rather dry reading, but offers an opposing view to The First E-Mail Message) —The History of Electronic Mail Similar:Quantum's King Lear at Carrie Blast FurnaceThe girl and I were thrilled to catch Qu…CultureSerious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming, researchers say The brain was not designed for r…BooksCan the…
A reporter drops in on a Britney Spears chat room and talks about politics. Sort of. —You are in BRITNEY SPEARS Similar:A salute lost to historyHistory is complex and baffling and fasc…CultureBroken Link #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 26) Odo gets drippy, must visit Chan…Rewatching ST:DS9 In Garak’s shop, th…EmpathyMaking the Switch to GMail…
“In addition to selling e-books from their online sites, the stores will be testing numerous methods to cross-market e-books with traditional forms, including in-store kiosks, author appearances and e-book demonstrations.” M. J. Rose —E-Books Are Now on the Shelf Similar:Kinetic Theatre's "Hound of the Baskervilles" was hilarious. Kinetic Theatre’s production was ful…BooksWhy ‘Cats’ the Movie Fails…
go hand in hand; and nobody really wants to slow down progress. Jennifer Kahn —Noise and progress Similar:Sorry, not sorry. I don't want such friends. Back in 2003, shortly after I moved …CultureFacebook’s Instant Articles restore subscription options they previously strippedThe ability to serve content faster than…BusinessIn August, 2000 I was blogging about poetry, presidential…
A longtime technology critic has fashioned a prototype of a device that he says could do away with traditional colleges and teachers, replacing them with knowledge-dispensing terminals that look like A.T.M.’s. Jeffrey R. Young —Behold the “Automatic Professor Machine” Similar:Showcase of 60 Free Horror Fonts For Graphic Designers I think that should be “typefaces,” …AestheticsOne…
The Navy is providing handheld computers to almost all of its new officers and giving them to graduates of the Naval Academy and other naval programs. CNN.com Similar:In March, 2002, I was blogging about…In March, 2002, I was blogging about …BusinessWhile searching my bag for a cable, I found an unexpected wealth of food-substitute items.AmusingRookie…
More proof that the apocalypse is nigh: “Typing of the Dead” is a typing tutorial that also just so happens to be 3-D computerized gorefest. GamesDoman review of Typing of the Dead. Similar:Chess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureGoodbye, Google Search. I've switched to search.brave.com …for now.…