English Professor Suddenly Realizes Students Will Believe Literally Anything She Says onion.com/1dA4WPR via @TheOnion Similar:I asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsI'm no longer surprised, but…
RT @heatherfro: The number of my nonacademic friends who think #mla14 is a conference about MLA formatting is amazing. Nonacademic friends, you’re the best Similar:Desert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in…
I’ve maintained this blog since the spring semester of 1999, though at the time I considered it an “annotated list of links.” Updating it meant editing the HTML by hand. Like Crichton’s dinosaurs, blogs have evolved into everyday things that we may not recognize as the powerful, conspicuous giants they once were. Blogs have evolved…
Ever wonder what the PC games of 2012 would be like if they were text adventures? Of course not, no one in their right mind would ever wonder that. In related news: I wondered that! So, rip out your GeForce GTX 680, plug in your dusty 10″ CRT monitor, and stuff your programmable eight-button mouse…
RT @chronicle: Humanities programs are teaching students to deconstruct technologies, not just texts: chroni.cl/1dpCosi Similar:10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaTweet: For an anatomy project, my #geekling made a Vulcan…For an…
You text your girlfriend: “I know we made a reservation for your bday tonight but wouldn’t it be more romantic if we ate in instead?” If she replies, we could do that Then you can ring up Papa John’s and order something special. But if she replies, we could do that. Then you should probably…
RT @arnzen: “The Ethics of Fiction Writing” by Ron Hansen scu.edu/ethics/publica… @DennisJerz @ewazoo23 @NicolePeeler Similar:Overheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool …AcademiaRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A…
RT @elongreen: This, from 1922, is the greatest headline in the history of @nytimes, or any other paper. http://t.co/7rUTiXSBXd Similar:Juror's CreedWhile researching my obligations for #ju…CultureParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is really noteworthy. Today the Pre…Current_EventsJudge: Apple conspired to…
To begin with, the terms “hypergiant” and “supergiant” are both a bit general. For the most part, these terms are loosely used to refer to the largest and most luminous (brightest and thus most energetic) stars in the universe. The exact term that one should use depends on the specific star that one is discussing…
Rather than training students to identify and practice the strategies of rhetoric through reading and writing, what if a media existed (and the students regularly engaged in it) that communicated ideas, arguments, and points of view through its procedure, rather than in a linear set of carefully structured arguments? In this case, learning is at…
In the past I have posted tutorials for how to use Scratch to create a ball-and paddle computer game, but I let Carolyn create what she wanted to create. Rather than targets to shoot or puzzles to solve, she chose to tour a virtual environment, via a self-paced storybook. You move ahead by clicking the screen, and invisible buttons trigger animations.
This tutorial is a good introduction to how easy it is to make something interactive in Scratch.
Carolyn started with photos she had already taken of her Lego hobbit hole, added some simple programming to make a click advance to the next screen, and to make an invisible button trigger some animation.
In the video, she’s careful to run the program after every couple of steps, and she catches a few mistakes. When I point out that an interactive detail she coded would be hidden from a player who didn’t know where to click, she added a label that made sure her players wouldn’t miss the interactive bits.
In an alternate universe George Lucas never made Star Wars because he was able to get the rights to Flash Gordon. See, that was Lucas’ original intention, and he even went to meet with King Features Syndicate, who held the rights, to talk with them about making a movie based on the classic comic strip…
Classic video games from the 1970s and 1980s have been put online by the Internet Archive and can be played within a web browser for nothing. The collection has launched with games from five early home consoles, including the Atari 2600 and Colecovision. The games do not have sound, but will soon, the Internet Archive…
Teens also don’t seem to care that Facebook is more technically sophisticated than other platforms. Miller believes that the last straw for most teens is a dreaded friend request from a parent. “It is nothing new that young people care about style and status in relation to their peers, and Facebook is simply not cool…
Ultimately, I got sick and tired of both groups trying to tell me how to live my life. The deaf culture advocates tell me I should fling away my [cochlear implant (CI)] and make my home within the community. The CI advocates tell me that I should give up using [American Sign Langauge] and become…
Some good tips on what to say about your English major during a job interview, and some realistic advice about English grad school. English majors choose a major that not only challenges them intellectually but gives them pleasure. They love to read and think that reading matters. Or they hope to be writers and have…
This thoughtful article demonstrates how to use colorful details to keep a reader engaged enough to absorb statistics and trends. What could be just an amusing slice of a Canadian girl’s life of carpools, playdates, and self-invention becomes a launching point for social commentary. The author does refer to herself, but deliberately, selectively; to serve…
My son showed me #PacificRim. Liked the child actress in the flashback. Enjoyed the feuding scientists. The rest? Flashy, soulless CGI. Similar:Enjoying an ice cream cake, apple pie, and the classic Star Trek episode “The Doomsday Mac…PersonalStapler jam during a midterm exam.My years of watching MacGyver definitely…AcademiaOpinion: Don't link video games with mass shootingsContrary to…
Nothing to do with Christmas… just thinking about the upcoming group projects due in my online J-Term course. I should also probably re-read some Dale Carnegie, which I do every few years. Teams need conflict to function effectively. Conflict allows the team to come to terms with difficult situations, to synthesize diverse perspectives, and to…
Wife & daughter competing w each other to imitate brassy actress from Singing in the Rain. “Whaat’s wrong wit’ da way I taawk?” #pleasestop Similar:Opens Wednesday.PersonalJerz Nerdcation 2013On a visit to the Washington DC area for…CultureFinding downtime during orientation week is not a walk in the park. Except when the downti…PersonalThe Hidden Feminist Messages in…