The Political Machine [Game Review]

Ubisoft’s presidential election game, “The Political Machine,” is enjoyable, particularly if you’re caught up in the political hoopla and just can’t get enough of it. The designers have produced an entertaining game that involves making the electoral college system work for you. By default, the game starts you off as John Kerry playing against George…

Dems, GOP: Who's Got the Brains?

Last month, Drs. Joshua Freedman and Marco Iacoboni of the University of California at Los Angeles finished scanning the brains of 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Each viewed images of President Bush, John Kerry and Ralph Nader. […] Freedman came to political brain scanning through his brother Tom, who served as a consultant to President…

He, She, It: Engendering Machines, Gendering Intelligence

Traditional gender binaries such as male/female, science/nature, mind/body, are replayed and reinforced again and again in sci-fi films, in which (male) scientific creativity is continually represented as a dangerous affront to “natural” human (female) values. Supercomputers in film are created by male scientists–I can think of no exceptions–and what makes them valuable (according to their…

Fancy Absenteeism

Eve[r] wondered how low-tech we can seem in a high-tech society? Three words: wire punching tool. —Karissa Kilgore —Fancy Absenteeism (Sugarpacket) “Definetly NOT a hoax! I was there when the picture was taken!!!” says Karissa. See “Why Usability Testing Matters — Palm Beach County Ballot Design Raises Questions about Election 2000“

Games 'deserve a place in class'

“Like all games, computer and video games entertain while promoting social development, and playing and talking about games is an important part of young people’s lives,” said project manager Caroline Pelletier. “Games literacy is a way of investigating how games are means of expression and representation, just like writing or drawing,” she said. —Games ‘deserve…

Make mine a vixen

[P]rogressive American educators at the beginning of the twentieth century instituted a utilitarian system of education that had its roots in the anti- intellectualism of the American frontier. This funnelled large numbers of students into vocational training programmes, depriving them of the benefits of a liberal education. The Language Police offers a kind of sequel…

Germans say they've found Luther's toilet

German archeologists say they have discovered the toilet on which Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses that launched the Protestant Reformation…. “This is a great find,” Stefan Rhein, director of the Luther Memorial Foundation, said. “Particularly because we’re talking about someone whose texts we have concentrated on for years, while little attention has been paid…

Give me truth-telling over more transparency

The flourishing community of Web-based blogmeisters – some of them skilled journalists, many of them fervent partisans – is transforming the climate in which ideas are floated and tested…. One recurring theme in Internet comment targets the unwillingness of journalists in mainstream media (known as MSM, generally a pejorative) to admit to having opinions of…

Evil, Evil, Evil

Evil, Evil, Evil (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) For the past few days, this blog has been getting comment-spammed one or two times per hour, and my network of student blogs is getting hit with spams that contain URLs with increasingly crude language. I’ve spent over an hour today, and between the two different sites (and two different…

My Four Minutes

The key to a successful defense is not answering the questions they ask you, but figuring out how to give them the answers you have prepared, no matter what questions they ask. The same, I understand now, is true of television or radio interviews. If they aren’t soliciting the answers you’ve rehearsed, you have to…

Game on!

There’s a hot concept called “stealth education” that says it’s possible for people to play a game because they enjoy it and “accidentally” learn stuff along the way. Unfortunately, the concept has yet to prove its worth with the pre-teen and teen community. But what if educational games rivaled the quality and game-play of today’s…

Militants who kidnapped Australian reporter in Baghdad “Googled'' him before deciding to release him unharmed

Iraqi militants who kidnapped an Australian reporter in Baghdad and threatened to kill him Googled his name on the Internet to investigate his work before deciding to release him unharmed, the journalist’s executive producer said Tuesday. —Mike Corder —Militants who kidnapped Australian reporter in Baghdad “Googled” him before deciding to release him unharmed (SF Gate)