The Most Epic Demo in Computer History Is Now an Opera

This is nice, but what I really want to see is an Elizabethan-style revenge play featuring Clippy. December 9, 1968… in an underground convention center in the heart of San Francisco, Doug Engelbart gave The Mother Of All Demos, introducing the world to an astonishing slew of technologies including word processing, video conferencing, windows, links,…

Creationism dismissed as ‘a kind of paganism’ by Vatican’s astronomer

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a “destructive myth” had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies. He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a “kind of paganism” because it…

The Life and Times of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But, in addition to symbolizing despair, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ can be wielded as a Zen-like tool to accept the chaos of universe. Meditate on its wide eyes and upturned mouth; that’s not the expression of a quitter, it’s the carefree face of #blessed, radical openness. —The Awl. Similar:Oops. I’m going to bed now. I’ll fix it tomorrow.Oops.…

Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote.

Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote. But lazy bloggers, fill you not your posts With words transpos’d, poetic more to seem. Like this, who speaks? Like Yoda will you sound. Nor stuff your limping lines with pointless words And really wasteful phrases filling space And stretching points so thin across each line In order to fulfill the ten-beat rule. Yet rhymeless…

Joyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s catalog

Looks like the quality control process at this school needs a little refinement.“The image was not representative of UNG’s commitment to diversity, and this will serve as an opportunity for increased dialogue about diversity issues and we expect that to better inform our processes and publications,” said Kate Maine, the university official. —Raw Story Similar:You…

Leonard in Slow Motion (9min video)

Leonard exists in slow motion but lives in a regular speed world. When he discovers his office crush is getting transferred to Florida, Leonard decides he must somehow become regular speed to win her heart before she leaves town for good. Similar:Anime Treatment of Star WarsI am not particularly into anime, though…AestheticsUS regulators demand clamp…

National Science Foundation announces plan for comprehensive public access to research results

This is good news. It’s unfair that government-funded studies get published in private databases that make money off of the public’s desire to access results of studies paid for by our taxes. NSF will require that articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and papers in juried conference proceedings or transactions be deposited in a public access…

The Teen Brain “Shuts Down” When It Hears Mom’s Criticism

Wired summarizes an egghead study for the rest of us. Parents may benefit from understanding that when they criticize their adolescents, adolescents may experience strong negative emotional reaction, may have difficulty cognitively controlling this emotion and may also find it challenging to understand the parent’s perspective or mental state. (From a study summarized in Wired.) Similar:Pittsburgh…

9 Photography Tips (Steve McCurry)

9 Photography Tips Similar:Each of these #retro #neovictorian #steampunk control panels takes me about an hour. #gree…AestheticsAdvice for My Conservative StudentsA professor who had been a conservative …AcademiaThe problem with blog comments, in 5 images.After I read Mark Sample’s blog post “Wh…AcademiaMicrophowned .Amusing80 Days: "1872, with a steampunk twist. Phileas Fogg has wagered he can…

Lighten Up (an illustrator explores the racial politics of skin color in comics)

Lighten Up — The Nib — Medium. Similar:Respect the Text: Teaching Textual Primacy to Non-English MajorsIn the past, I have used the first day o…AcademiaA Pedestal, A Table, A Love Letter: Archaeologies of Gender in Videogame HistoryA thoughtful, informative article on the…BusinessWoodward dismisses CNN's lawsuit against the White House; Fox sides with CNNBob Woodward, half…

My copy of Plotkin’s Hadean Lands arrived today. 

 Similar:Twelfth Night Cast Photo (Prime Stage, May 3-12)My daughter can hardly stop talking abou…AestheticsEdward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, 1960 Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells’s…AestheticsRip Van WinkleCertain it is, that he was a great favor…AcademiaJust an elegant retro keyboard for a #steampunk #cgi project. Procedural materials mean I…

DCNF, TV Upfront Presenters Need to Understand That Content’s Kingdom is Changing

Today’s viewers don’t differentiate between "traditional" and "digital." Today’s viewers watch what they want, when they want. The average consumer is not thinking about whether it’s scripted or unscripted, user-generated or premium. They care that it’s funny, interesting, gripping or cool. Brands need to recognize the power of those four adjectives, and take risks alongside…