Merry Christmas 2013

Similar:More #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #blender3dartAestheticsFirst they came… #kristallnacht @nccheshuFirst they came… #kristallnacht @ncchesh…PersonalSibling Affection and Paternal Abstraction as Drawn By a Six-Year-Old; or, Aren't My Daugh…My six-year-old daughter is a very visua…Amusing"She even disgraces the name of Linton." –Heathcliff, on his simpering wife Isa… PersonalSpring 2020 Quarantine Grades SubmittedPersonalPreparing for some serious…

My Tween Preps to Program a Lego Hobbit Game

As part of a course I’m teaching on “Digital Storytelling,” I’m going to make a video in which I show my students how to code a branching story in Scratch. My daughter will provide the visuals. Here she is photographing her model of Bag End. We bought just a few actual Lord of the Rings…

You’ll Cry When You See This One-footed Penguin Rescue the Blind Vegetarian Orphans Who Run Upworthy From Their Hospital Beds

Watch A Trailblazer Become An Inspiration With Two Sentences. I’ll Never Look At This Iconoclastic Cancer Patient The Same Way Again. Watch An Introverted Late Night Host Become A Legend With Six Words. You Will Roll Your Eyes When You See What A Bullied Holocaust Survivor Found. You Won’t Really Understand What’s Happening In The…

Theory Trading Cards

This set of 21 Theory Trading Cards, published by AltaMira Press, is based upon the online trading cards which have been so popular at David Gauntletts website www.theory.org.uk. Being actual cards, these are two-sided and contain more information; and whereas the online cards were only an official set of 12, for the published version, 21 new…

RT @Historiator: “@dancohen: Finally upgraded to O…

RT @Historiator: “@dancohen: Finally upgraded to OS X 10.9. It feels like a Borges story about OS X 10.8.” @MikeArnzen @DennisJerz Similar:Desert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksHabits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking o…PersonalMy Minecraft-obsessed tween…

RT @Rhymestyle: First leaked photo from the set of…

RT @Rhymestyle: First leaked photo from the set of Star Wars Episode VII http://t.co/xji8x9J5zL Similar:Maybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureIt's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s been nice knowing you,…

‘Snowplow parents’ may be trapping their children

The passing agonies of the everyday are shared quickly and easily — texts about a disappointing grade, photos of a roommate’s overflowing garbage, tweets about the heat in a dorm room. The instantaneous nature of the complaints can give the impression that only an immediate solution will do. And some students relying on their phones,…

Teaching “The Odyssey” at San Quentin

The opening of “The Odyssey” describes Odysseus as polytropos, a man “much turned” and “much turning.” He makes much happen, and much happens to him. When I selected “The Odyssey” as the first text for my English 101 course at San Quentin Prison, I worried about the choice. It’s a difficult work for readers of…

RT @Historiator: Nicely balanced, real-time post m…

RT @Historiator: Nicely balanced, real-time post mortem on last night’s Twitter event. @DennisJerz @PhilKomarny @magawelek http://t.co/IwQ0… Similar:I asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureJuror's CreedWhile researching my obligations for…

RT @PhilKomarny: @Historiator @DennisJerz @magawel…

RT @PhilKomarny: @Historiator @DennisJerz @magawelek Glad that it ended with some donations to @AidforAfrica justinesacco.com Similar:Overheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool …AcademiaTweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came around the corner and saw my kids h…Tweets10 Rules of Internet…

A Word About Group Projects

Okay, students… who loves group projects! Let’s hear it for group projects! (Crickets… crickets…) Okay employers… who puts “Ability to work in a team” at the top of a Forbes Magazine list of 10 skills employers say they seek in new hires? Employers: (cheering wildly) We do! We do! Here are the 10 skills employers say they seek,…

Why NORAD Tracks Santa

The call had come in on one of the top secret lines inside CONAD that only rang in the case of a crisis. Grabbing the phone, Shoup must have expected the worst. Instead, a tiny voice asked, “Is this Santa Claus?” “Dads pretty annoyed,” said Terri Van Keuren, Shoups daughter, recalling the legend of that…

I Made a Cheerful Maze Game in Scratch

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I made a cheerful maze game in Scratch. It’s cheer…

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RT @Historiator: Please note @PhilKomarny @magawel…

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Nerd-buddies

“He likes Lord of the Rings, Star Wars *and* Star Trek!!” — my nerdling daughter, eyes shining, about a new friend. Similar:Another delightful #blender3d #cgi #steampunk control panel. #design #aesthetics #blender3… On a busy day when I spent 7.5 hours o…AestheticsWhen a Textbook Plagiarizes Your Student's WorkIn a few days I’ll be gearing up to…

There’s No Substitute for Fiction

What do Peskin and Astington recommend for fostering constructive learning? Reading fiction. “Dramatic tension in stories is created when the various characters have disparate knowledge with regard to the action. This may be through error: The reader knows that Romeo does not know that Juliet lies drugged, not dead. Or it may be through deception:…

The Desolation of Tolkien

In the same way the Arkenstone is buried under tons of coin, poor old Bilbos tale is buried under easily 45 minutes of chases, captures, narrow escapes, more escapes, melees and other heroics, often comically-staged with acrobatics, and sometimes gruesome with orc-beheadings. —Boing Boing. Similar:In May, 2000, I was blogging about the 'I Love You' virus,…

Transmedia Storytelling 101

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story. So, for example, in The Matrix franchise, key bits of information are…

Why No One Clicked on the Great Hypertext Story

It’s not that hypertext went on to become less interesting than its literary advocates imagined in those early days. Rather, a whole different set of new forms arose in its place: blogs, social networks, crowd-edited encyclopedias. Readers did end up exploring an idea or news event by following links between small blocks of text; it’s…