(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:Blender 2.8 Released. Please leave us alone…
“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:Poetry Writing: 10 Tips for Writing PoemsIf you are writing a poem because you wa…AestheticsParallel…
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:Facebook Finally Rolls Out 'Disputed News' Tag Everyone Will DisputeAnybody seen a post tagged this way? If …Current_EventsWhy Audiences Hate Hard News—And Love Pretending OtherwiseA reminder that polls that ask…
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:Perchance to Dream: LARPing Hamlet at Castle ElsinoreThis is the…
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:Long Live the LARPers — My daughter plays the antagonist in this award-winning 48 Hour Fi…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku7wzUtO…AestheticsControversial Content in YA Literature: A…
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:We’re in Denial About the True Cost of a Twitter ImplosionThe public disintegration of a platform …Current_EventsI'm amused by the…
“Content certainly has all the glamor. What content does not have is money.” Andrew Odlyzko. —Content is Not King. Similar:Mailbag: breaking in again » Raph's WebsiteGood advice from Raph Koster to someone …BusinessWriting, Coding and Education: Why They MatterBack in my grad school days, I was calle…Academia'Peter Pan Live' Was Never Intended to Be EnjoyedI…
Tom Van Vleck. (Rather dry reading, but offers an opposing view to The First E-Mail Message) —The History of Electronic Mail Similar:ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web Think of ChatGPT as a blurry jpeg…CybercultureJournalism In The Service of Democracy: A Summit Of Deans, Faculty, Students And Journalis…This morning in my mail I found an…
A reporter drops in on a Britney Spears chat room and talks about politics. Sort of. —You are in BRITNEY SPEARS Similar:Broken Link #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 26) Odo gets drippy, must visit Chan…Rewatching ST:DS9 In Garak’s shop, th…EmpathyThe Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way…
“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:Apparently, I needed to watch a supercut of doors and corridors from Star Trek.I did in…
go hand in hand; and nobody really wants to slow down progress. Jennifer Kahn —Noise and progress Similar:Breaking: Student consults syllabus before asking question about course scheduleNASHVILLE, TN – Vanderbilt University is…Academia“Link In Bio” is a slow knifeWe don’t even notice it anymore — “link …BusinessPersonality Profiles: Prize-Winning Student Journalism SamplesThe personality profile is a…
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:What if I design a #steampunk fantasy cruiser and there aren’t enough chairs? How do I…
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:Common Sense Media's AI Initiative When the kids were little, my wife…CybercultureRobots Are Coming for Our PoemsThe robots are quickly and surely coming…AestheticsA Beginner's Guide to HTML &…
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:That Class Where Stanford Profs Projected Hundreds of Zoom Students on a Video WallOf course, not all institutions happen t…AcademiaGoogle Favors Good Reporting,…
(See also: Digital Hollywood- No Resolution) —Latest on Napster Update, Feb 27, 2021 The above links are dead, but here’s a screenshot of what the Yahoo News “Technology Full Coverage” section looked like on February 23, 2001. (Courtesy the invaluable Internet Archive Wayback Machine) Similar:The Curtains Were Blue: In Which I Fix Another Meme. Above…
Copyright: Your Right or Theirs? In Defense of Copyleft Timeline- A History of Copyright in the U.S. SUL- Copyright & Fair Use- Copyright FAQ Digital Copyright Reading List Similar:"Gen Zers know the difference between rock-solid news and AI-generated memes. They just do…Over the past couple of years, researche…CultureStandardized-test robo-graders flunk“According to professor of theory of…
“Now, let’s look a bit more closely at this data, remembering that it is absolutely first-rate. Do you see the exponential dependence? I sure don’t. I see a bunch of crap.” Undergraduate physics student Lucas Kovar reconsiders his career choice. —Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass Similar:My Father's Day adventure included replacing the family…
“Amateur and professional are mutually interconnected. Amateurs are sometimes professionals; professionals are sometimes amateurs. Moreover — brace yourself — history exists.” Marjorie Garber‘s Academic Instincts blows kisses at the literary establishment. Review by Russell Jacoby. Similar:Great Twitter thread on Aaron Burr, from the Internet ArchiveFunny what you find in books. When digit…AwesomeEditorial: Video Games and…