Common sense isn't.

Web Inspiration

Q: Hank, what's a web site?
A: It's an Internet presence.
Q: What's on it?
A: It doesn't matter. Build it and they will come...
Q: Why do we need one?
A: Because the technology exists. Also, everyone else has one.
Q: What's my motivation?
A: Fear. Greed. Take your pick.

• The above cartoon is from November 28, 1995. A better copy was once available on Doonesbury's site (archive, 2001; live site now redirecting to Washington Post), but the one above is more like what you would see if you clipped it from the newspaper and taped it to your monitor years ago. It was second in a series about web pages and computers from November 27 to December 3, 1995.
• This article about Philip Greenspun handing out cash tuition refunds at an MIT seminar appeared in the press in March 1998.
• How to be a Web Whore Just Like Me was an earlier version of The Book by Philip Greenspun, which was available on-line in 1998.
• A more recent version of The Book is here, with the title changed to Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing.
• ArsDigita University at archive.org, needed or not.
  • A view by a former student now at archive.org.
• Arf Digita dog rescue (now 1-800-save-a-pet.com).
• Random quotes, thanks to Highland Media
• A previous hosting company's lightly supported charities program (now at archive.org).
• Lessig's Challenge (Caution: google site link).
• Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner
• Purdue Interaction Garden
• Duke Hwan and the Wheelwright from The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton, 1965.
• Green Tea Press Free Books

Charles Eliot's Harvard Classics (now at archive.org), 5-foot shelf of books and a shelf of fiction. 15-minutes per day for a year to a liberal education. In Fifteen Minutes a Day, The Reading Guide, Dr. Elliot is quoted as saying "...I had more than once stated in public that in my opinion a five-foot -- at first a three-foot -- shelf would hold books enough to afford a good substitute for a liberal education to anyone who would read them with devotion, even if he could spare but fifteen minutes a day for reading."

• Related Links:
• Harvard Magazine Review now at archive.org
• 21st Century Updated List in Harvard Magazine now at archive.org.
• Letters to Harvard Magazine now at archive.org.
• Five Foot Shelf of Hats at archive.org.
• The Portable Harvard Classics didn't last long, now at archive.org.

Common sense isn't.

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