What Borges Learned from Cervantes

Borges reinvented Don Quixote as a playful novel, full of surprises and unexpected anticipations of the way we read today. Across genres and over decades, his varied meditations opened new paths for readers. The following conversation took place during January 2016 between Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College,…

Celebration of Writing

  My freshman writing students are among the scores presenting their research in preparation for drafting their big term paper. Similar:Learn from this typesetter's mistakeWisdom to keep in mind as I plan for thi…LiteracyAll About Soap — Why Washing Your Hands Fights the CoronavirusPeople typically think of soap as gentle…CultureI think I smelled a hint of…

Out of the Zuckersphere, (back) into the Blogosphere

This is why I still blog. While commercial platforms like Facebook and Twitter are designed to keep you churning out new content that attracts shallow attention, a weblog encourages reflection, the exploration of lateral thinking and deep linking, and the accumulation of ideas (your chronologically sorted, taggable history of posts) over time. Mark C. Marino…

The problem I just learned about calls for tea in the big mug.

Similar:A 27-Story Vertical Forest Grows in MilanBosco Verticale was conceived in respons…AestheticsGoogle Pledges $300 Million to Clean Up False NewsThis is a welcome step, but we cannot tr…CultureAnother delightful section of #steampunk control panel, for a personal #blender3d project….AestheticsLooking forward in the back room of the officers' pub, in the #steampunk cruiser from…AestheticsMy parents doing…

Former student: “I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, but…”

A third alum in the last few weeks has contacted me to thank me for challenging her while a student: When I look back on my time at SHU, I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, but yet again, this is proof that the skills you taught us so a few years ago…

Journalism isn’t dying. But it’s changing WAY faster than most people understand.

Think of journalism as falling into three basic baskets: The “what” basket, the “so what” basket and the “now what” basket. The “what” basket is filled with reporting in a straightforward manner on things that happened. “There was a fire at 8th and Elm Street today. No one was injured,” and all that. The “so…

Fair use prevails as Supreme Court rejects Google Books copyright case

Fair use is a concept baked into US copyright law, and it’s a defense to copyright infringement if certain elements are met. The US Copyright Office says the defense is decided on a case-by-case basis. “The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear…

For News Outlets Squeezed From the Middle, It’s Bend or Bust

Hundreds of thousands of people on Facebook followed BuzzFeed’s live video of two people putting rubber bands around a watermelon until it burst. We should all reflect on how journalism can make the news that is truly important interesting enough to compete with exploding fruit. Traditional media companies face the increasingly daunting task of hooking…

Chess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.

The boy’s personal best in terms of win-loss. Trophy for performance at his level. A fun Satuday. Similar:Little People, Big Fun: A Brief History of Fisher-Price Little PeopleI remember having a Fisher Price airplan…BusinessProfessor teaches class of 300 students from his phone while trapped in elevator with 2 sm…https://twitter.com/jayvanbavel/status/1…AcademiaWhat's a Snollygoster? Even lexicographers are wrong sometimesThis…

Jimmy Maher’s Appreciation of Infocom’s Classic Sherlock Text Adventure

I learned a lot while reading this enjoyable essay by Jimmy Maher. Looked at today, however, Sherlock certainly wasn’t a bad note to go out on. Being built on the sturdy foundation of everything Infocom had learned about making text adventures to date, it’s not notably, obviously innovative, but, impressively given that it is a…

The Minecraft Generation

It’s a world of trial and error and constant discovery, stuffed with byzantine secrets, obscure text commands and hidden recipes. And it runs completely counter to most modern computing trends. Where companies like Apple and Microsoft and Google want our computers to be easy to manipulate — designing point-and-click interfaces under the assumption that it’s…

Recent SHU journo grad, upon the hiring of an even more recent SHU journo grad: “Many times she’ll say, ‘that’s why he did that to us’ ? And then be grateful.”

A couple weeks ago I posted about a recent graduate and former Setonian editor-in-chief who said that skills she wasn’t at the time exactly thrilled I made her learn in the new media journalism program helped her land her first full-time job with benefits. Today I heard from a different former editor-in-chief, who was thrilled…

Lawyers who won Happy Birthday copyright case sue over “We Shall Overcome” 

Similar:Facebook Axes “Trending” SidebarFacebook is discontinuing the “trending”…BusinessInto the depths of code. Algorithmic archaeologies and cave fantasies in video gamesThe full article (by Angelo Careriis) in…AcademiaI went with frisse. German uses esse “to eat” for people…AmusingCarolyn and Nick in Beauty and the BeastAestheticsTwo stunning hugs end Amber Guyger's murder trial on a merciful note Chants…

Lawyers who won Happy Birthday copyright case sue over “We Shall Overcome” 

“We Shall Overcome,” a song that was the “unofficial anthem to the civil rights movement,” was wrongly placed under copyright and should be put in the public domain, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal court. The complaint (PDF) was filed by the same group of lawyers who succeeded at putting the world’s most famous song, Happy Birthday, into…

The geekling is 14 today.

Similar:Not a #carguy but I pried open the hatch of the van to change 4 bulbs. #adulting PersonalMy crowd simulation handles 2000 capsule NPCs at 130fps. I’m really pushing my coding skil…AestheticsSummer Theater Camp Photos: "Patrice" in "13" My 11yo performed the part of “Patrice…Current_EventsSteampunk officer uniforms — test #Blender3D #Unity3Dhttps://youtu.be/SDh4TW8ujNg The vide…AestheticsStuffed planet Venus, made…

The Bremen Town Musicians (WAOB Audio Theatre)

My daughter plays the narrator, my wife plays the cat, and my son plays the robber. A 9-minute “All for One Stories” radio play. Produced by WAOB Audio Theatre. Similar:My kids are in a tree. How's your Friday?PersonalSeeing a different cast. Break all the legs!Culture80 Days review80 Days was my go-to game over the summe…CultureThat…