I finished reading to my daughter the fourth of the nine “Heck” books, featuring Milton and Marlo Fauster, who find themselves in the adolescent afterlife.. This book features a visit to the Furafter, the animal version of the afterlife. I love the fact that the canine equivalent of Limbo is called “Stay!” I also wept…
A blogger has started chronicling a journey through the classic 1980s computer game, Zork. Before King’s Quest and its successors took the realm of adventure gaming into colorful graphics, adventure titles were solely text. Infocom specialized in these during the 80s, including the Zork series, Planetfall, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But Zork,…
From Profhacker: If you’ve ever wanted to do sophisticated text analysis on your smartphone, you’re in luck. The University College of London Center for the Digital Humanities team made up of Melissa Terras (@melissaterras), Steven Gray (@frogo) and Rudolf Amman (@rkamman) has just released Textal, a free smartphone app currently available only on iOS that…
Similar:Preemptive Strike (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 24) Lt. Ro's loyalties are te… Rewatching ST:TNG The newly promo…EthicsEmily Short's advice on writing great game protagonistsAt GDC 2015, noted interactive fiction g…CybercultureInteresting use of A.I. in a radiology journalMedical doctors and scholars Raneem Bade…AcademiaInterface (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 3) LaForge, using experimental augmen…Rewatching…
Interesting set of observations exploring the limits of omniscience and the sheer scale involved in watching an entire population. Failures in empathy lead to misinterpretation of anonymous rebellion in plain sight. Tolkien’s most potent and intimidating image of centralized surveillance, the Eye of Sauron atop a tower, taking in the whole world, has resonated with…
This project looks promising. I’ve donated the money I was going to spend on a haircut. We’re keeping our UI super simple. The experience is entirely sound and story: Writing + Voiceover + SFX + Music. With either a spoken word or a simple tap on the screen you can listen to the drama unfold…
A recent Pew study (Smartphone Ownership 2013) found that blacks were about 10% more likely than whites to own smartphones, and that young urban people regardless of income are very likely to own smartphones. (With older people, a smartphone is more of a luxury.) It’s little wonder, then, that phone-friendly Twitter has been such a…
These are shoe-holding racks at a local indoor play area, where I took my daughter and a friend for a few hours. Why buy six different rainbow-colored shoe-holding racks, if you’re not going to arrange them in the proper order? I really wanted to pick up the purple one and at least put it in…
Sample, improved lyrics: “An old man turned 98 /He won the lottery, and died the next day (from a severe paper cut from his lottery ticket).” Similar:The A.V. Club's AI-Generated Articles Are Copying Directly From IMDbI’ve enjoyed human-written A/V Club arti…BusinessDozens of Colleges’ Upward Bound Applications Are Denied for Failing to Dot Every II’m not…
Rewatching the classic Trek episode “The Conscience of the King,” which features a Shakespearean acting troupe. In one scene, McCoy writes a report on a wedge proto-iPad… …but in the very next scene Kirk scrawls on a piece of paper. This episode also features characters doing computer searches, using an exposition-friendly voice interface to call…
At least three journalists left NBC, after the network aired a tape of George Zimmerman, edited in a manner that substantially altered its content. Filed in Seminole County, the suit adds that “NBC News saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about…
Jon Negroni creates a meta-narrative to connect every Pixar movie, using Boo as the still point in the turning universe. Every Pixar movie is connected. I explain how, and possibly why. Several months ago, I watched a fun-filled video on Cracked.com that introduced the idea (at least to me) that all of the Pixar movies…
The contrast between KTVU’s treatment of its triumphs vs errors reminds us of the difference between journalism vs public relations. Similar:Juror's CreedWhile researching my obligations for #ju…CultureRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsIt's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s been nice knowing you, iPad3, but…TweetsI asked my…
Last week, the Fox-afiliated KTVU fell for a prank, repeating offensive fake names for the pilots involved in the crash of Asiana Flight 214 last week. [S]even-year veteran KTVU producer Brad Belstock closed his @producerBB Twitter account after his last Friday tweet just moments after the names were read aloud on the air by Tori Campbell.…
Francesca Borri writes of being a freelancer and a woman covering the war in Syria. (When my life gets hectic, a story like this helps me keep some perspective.) Similar:A quick primer on semicolonsIs your Sunday feeling incomplete becaus…CultureThe Printed Word in Peril: The age of Homo virtualis is upon usWho, I thought, besides a…
Is your Sunday feeling incomplete because you haven’t read anything about punctuation today? This explanation of the semicolon should help. You’re welcome. Similar:Does Math Exist?http://youtu.be/TbNymweHW4E Millions …CultureElmo? Yes, I do mind. I learned far more from Bert.Like plenty of people my age, I grew up …AestheticsThe Booming Japanese Rent-a-Friend BusinessWe had a case recently where…
My wife is something of a hoarder. Now, as it happens, I have saved my half of the slip of paper that I tore so that we could write down each other’s phone numbers back when we were about 22, but she saves old catalogs and phone books (phone books!) from years ago. Sometimes, when…
So I’m not being selfish… this is a parenting strategy. Similar:Misleading Publisher Email Promises Paid Stipend, Delivers LotteryAn email from a reputable higher educati…Academia'Facebook is simply not cool anymore' to teens, study findsTeens also don’t seem to care that Faceb…BusinessThe Teen Brain “Shuts Down” When It Hears Mom’s CriticismWired summarizes an egghead study for th…CultureThe…
Next up: Stage Right summer musical theater camp starts Monday! Similar:In Which I Ask a Hard-working Journalism Student to Consider UndeadlinesA student recorded this interaction on h…AestheticsOne of the benefits of teaching at a small college, with small classes…In a final reflection video for a freshm…AcademiaCraiyon: The signing of the Declaration of Independence, starring Chewbacca.PersonalLower…
Testing a tool to automate connections between iOS apps. Similar:Take that, grass! Eat rotary analog steel.HomeInfinite Scrolling: XKCD's Creative Insight on a Common Interface IndignityAmusingWhen a Blogger Shares a Too-good-to-be-true Meme Featuring Hilarious Handwritten Notes fro…Or something like that.HomeGirlhood 2014They don’t even seem to want to watch Fr…CultureThe Declaration Of Independence, 240 Years Later (NPR)When…