Nested (procedurally generated game of expanding drop-down lists)
A text game that you play by opening folders.
I just learned I only have months to live. This is what I want to say. – The Boston Globe
What a storyteller. Boston Globe journalist Jack Thomas, who wrote about his impending death a few months ago, made me laugh out loud several times in this touching essay. Very powerful. He was 83. I’ve had the privilege of having spent more than 60 years working for newspapers. There was not a day when it…
The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books
I didn’t realize how involved the children of divorced dads Packard and Montgomery were in the creation of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” gamebooks. (The children of divorced dad Will Crowther were one motivation for, and were early playtesters for, Crowther’s original Colossal Cave Adventure; the history of parser text adventure games and branching path…
Checking out of @frontporchtheatricals Grand Hotel. What an experience!
My brother had already planned to visit from Virginia to see Carolyn in the closing of Grand Hotel. We were already driving to the theater when we got word that Aunt Rona is visiting yet another cast member, and the final show is cancelled. So we stopped by Julie’s Bubble Tea and Smoothies for a…
Do you remember Harry Monster counting with adorable little John-John? Watch this 2 min clip until the end…. it’s worth it!
This @sesamestreet moment will bring you joy pic.twitter.com/bsAZd7hdI5 — Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) August 21, 2022
Youngster in a tight spot has an inspiration
https://twitter.com/TheFigen/status/1550489097273237504?s=20&t=ODSCVfhbXBSNgP1r6WdpNw
The world’s population is lopsided.
A pleasant Independence Day photo shoot with the daughter.
I did not know how much I would appreciate this detailed exploration of Star Trek: TOS prop computers.
I’m amazed at the level of detail that went into analyzing the prop computers created over 50 years ago for the original Star Trek. Not only has this website collected screen shots of the various props, but some include diagrams indicating which practical buttons on the props activated which lights. (The same website has sections…
Trainer and Sea Lion Tango: “He Had It Coming” (Cell Block Tango, from Chicago)
The daughter looks stunning in pink.
Nellie Bly statue to be unveiled at Pittsburgh airport Thursday
In 1889, Bly became famous for an-around-the-world journey she completed in a world-record 72 days, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds after her departure on a steamship from New York. The journey was inspired by Jules Verne’s widely read novel “Around the World in 80 Days.” Bly chronicled her travels in a series of articles for…
Life would be so much better if all the interfaces we encountered looked like #Steampunk control panels. I’m doing my part in the endeavor. #blender3d
Do you know you could be a flight attendant when you grow up?
This the last hour I will have a teenager in my house. (Tomorrow my youngest turns 20.)
I blogged in 2004: “The time is waning that my son will want nothing more than to play Battleship and The Magnificent Race with me all afternoon. Some day I’ll make a silly joke, and my daughter won’t giggle with glee, she will roll her eyes and say, ‘Dad, you’re embarrassing me.’” https://jerz.setonhill.edu/blog/2004/07/09/2657/ …
Stuffed planet Venus, made for me by my dear mother, around 1974.
Windows 3.1 Turns 30: Here’s How It Made Windows Essential
After watching all the episodes of the 80s/90s Star Trek: TNG, with the beautifully designed fictional LCARS computer interfaces, it’s amazing to look at what actual computer interfaces looked like in the early 90s. (OK, the Macs of that era looked prettier.) 30 years ago—on April 6, 1992—Microsoft released Windows 3.1, which brought the company…
All Good Things… (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 25) Picard faces a timey-wimey puzzle in three different timelines
Rewatching ST:TNG When we all first met the crew of the Enterprise-D, I was an undergraduate living in a dorm at the University of Virginia. Seven years later, I was a Ph.D. student in a dorm at the University of Toronto. I saw the series finale on a channel that was hosting a huge live…
Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, lost since 1915, is found off Antarctica
An expedition that set out in search of the lost ship of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton has found it — 106 years after the vessel sank off Antarctica. The wooden ship Endurance has been located remarkably intact about 10,000 feet underwater in the Weddell Sea. The find is “a milestone in polar history,” said Mensun Bound, a…
Entire staff of Russian TV channel resigned during a live stream with last words: “no war” and then played “swan lake” ballet video
The Entire staff of the Russian TV channel “the rain” resigned during a live stream with last words: “no war” and then played “swan lake” ballet video (just like they did on all USSR tv channels when it suddenly collapsed)