Dad shoots at computer, saying son spends too much time playing games
—Dad shoots at computer, saying son spends too much time playing games (Tampa Bays 10 News) Guns don’t kill video games. Angry parents with guns kill video games.
Navigating Whitewater
Worried that I would not like him, my victim had used his humor to engage me, to make me laugh, to join in his witty barbs, and because I did like him, I had joined in. But we were not on equal footing and my comments contained a much more powerful threat because I did…
Student's Novel Faces Plagiarism Controversy
A recently-published novel by Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan ’08, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,” contains several passages that are strikingly similar to two books by Megan F. McCafferty — the 2001 novel “Sloppy Firsts” and the 2003 novel “Second Helpings.” […] Little, Brown signed Viswanathan to a two-book, $500,000…
The Geek Mind Behind Dorkbot
As founder of the tech meet-and-greet dorkbot events, and the annual robot talent show ArtBots, Repetto has organized exhibits and meetings that have made it easier for geeks everywhere to learn about new, cool tech projects in their communities. —The Geek Mind Behind Dorkbot (Wired)
Judge: Web-Surfing Worker Can't Be Fired
In his decision, Spooner wrote: “It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work.” He added: “For this reason, city agencies permit workers to…
‘Dorkbot’ Meetings Develop Cult Following
The gathering was the monthly meeting of “Dorkbot,” a loose forum for the exchange of creative technological ideas that is developing a cult following around the world. […] Repetto has finished a project called “foal table.” The idea originated in a request from a friend working on a theater production to design a table that…
Introduction to Media Fasting
This week I am going to ask you to participate in a media fast for TV Turn-Off Week, as part of the Media Fasting Reflection due on May 3. If you give up TV, but watch DVDs on your computer, are you really making any progress? If you turn off the TV, but turn up…
Trekkies have a new leader: 'Star' treatment for J.J.
Project, to be penned by Abrams and “MI3” scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto OrciRoberto Orci, will center on the early days of seminal “Trek” characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission. —Trekkies have a new leader: ‘Star’ treatment for J.J. (Variety) The fans, captain!…
Hunter S. Thompson on the Music Business (Not a Real Quote)
I happened upon this page years after I posted it, and thought I’d look up the quote, which turns out to be fake. “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” —Hunter…
Blogging Portfolio
One item to discuss today is the final project for the class, your blogging portfolio. And among the items we need to consider are these: * What should it include? (Will it highlight your best blogging, be an overview of what you tend to blog about and/or how you tend to blog, or a combination,…
Lawmaker Puzzled by Obscenity in Letter
“We cannot determine whether the addition to the letter was made by someone within the office or by someone with access to the office, but it is on my letterhead and the responsibility for it lies with me. A valuable lesson has been learned and new procedures will be adopted as a result.” —Lawmaker Puzzled…
Be Polite, E-Polite
McClure said that some students seem to feel “that e-mail is a casual form of communication, where professional relationships somehow do not exist as they do in the classroom — students feel comfortable saying things in an email that they would never say to you in person.” —David Epstein —Be Polite, E-Polite (Inside Higher Ed) Nothing…
TV Turnoff Week April 24-30, 2006
Don’t think you’re addicted to TV? Then why not prove it by going cold turkey for a week? You’d be surprised how difficult it can be to disconnect — and what a profound week of self discovery it can be. —TV Turnoff Week April 24-30, 2006 (Adbusters.org) I’m planning to ask my Intro to Literary Study…
The seedy academic underbelly of video games
Video game studies? Yes, please. And I don’t just mean in gaming schools. Critical perspectives have been developing as well. Metafilter is already wise to ludology,but what about its mother discipline, ergotics? Don’t forget narrative and storytelling. Of course, if cultural studies, or education is your thing, that’s covered too. Other programs focus on application…
Reading Poetry — from Sleeping on the Wing
You can like a poem before you understand it, and be moved by it, and in fact, that is a sign that you’re starting to understand it, that you’re reading the poem in a good way. Being moved by a poem — laughing or feeling sad or full of longing — or being excited by…
The Science Detectives
CHERYL: Wait a minute! Did you see that? An apple fell out of that tree! [dramatic music; slow motion shot of falling apple] This means there must be some sort of FORCE! DARREN: A force — a gravitational force! CHERYL: Yes — and wait a minute — suppose the force stretched all the way to…
Face Reader Bridges Autism Gap
The system’s software goes beyond tracking simple emotions like sadness and anger to estimate complex mental states like agreeing, disagreeing, thinking, confused, concentrating and interested. The goal is to put this mental state inference engine on a wearable platform and use it to augment or enhance social interactions, said Rana el Kaliouby, a postdoctoral researcher…
'God made me cancel my own crucifixion'
Five, the television channel, denied it was disappointed that Diamond, a radio and TV presenter and outspoken Daily Star columnist, had decided against being crucified. No date has been set for the broadcast of the programme. If shown, it may have to change its original working title, Crucify Me. —Nico Hines —‘God made me cancel…
''Video games are meant to be just one thing: Fun.''
The key word for me here is not ‘Fun’. The concept of fun is well understood, I should think, after many years of games and many hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of releases. There are theories of fun, analyses of fun, examinations of the fun of one aspect of a game or another, and…
Why We Need a Corporation for Public Gaming
The saccharine sweet family shows of the 50s and 60s gave way to harder biting social commentaries like All in the Family. In 1967, the same year that CBS television ended a 17-year blacklisting of folksinger Pete Seeger, President Johnson signed legislation to establish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), asserting that “we have only…