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:Steve Strauss: Why I Hire English MajorsDoing things correctly earns you points …AcademiaFYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpNContestants had to stand with their hand…Amusing"The Nightmare of Prince Prezelsky"Leigh, Peter, Carolyn and I had fun reco…AmusingA news site used AI to write articles. It was a journalistic disaster. Artificial intelligence has been…
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:Text Games in a New Era of StoriesClever NYT writer cleverly notices a gen…CultureRip Van WinkleCertain it is, that he was a great favor…AcademiaThe Siege (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season…
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:What kids do when Dad won't hand over the iPod So I’m not being selfish… this is …EducationParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesAnd the girl has succeeded in…
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:Missouri governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website • …I’m shocked… shocked that a reporter p…Current_EventsThe First Duty (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch,…
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:York Corpus Christi Play Simulator Screencast (PSim 2.1; D.G. Jerz)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwNv1lx3…AcademiaPublic, Private, Political: Social Theories and Blogging PracticesPublic, Private, Political: Social Theor…AcademiaAmazon Staff Meetings: “No Powerpoint”I am not a big fan of traditional slide-…BusinessMedia…
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:Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe. —Thomas JeffersonEducationNewly acquired technology for teaching writing in the age of AI. (Not for high stakes test…AcademiaA college tells faculty it's illegal to speak to student journalistsCongratulations, President Meadows. You …BusinessA…
Next up: Stage Right summer musical theater camp starts Monday! Similar:Seeing Lyle Kessler's "Orphans" with the girl.PersonalThe Best Word Book Ever, 1963 and 1991.As a child, I obsessed over many Richard…BooksBlade Runner | Typeset In The FutureThis is nerd heaven — a deep analysis o…AestheticsI ordered a box of composition books. Low-tech response to AI.I…
Testing a tool to automate connections between iOS apps. Similar:I Canna Give Ye Any More Screens, Cap'n! The iPad Mini and the ChromeBook are…HomeI can probably remove that link to LycosOn a web page that I posted in Nov 2000 …BusinessGirlhood 2014They don’t even seem to want to watch Fr…CultureMore split-screen actinghttp://youtu.be/EGgeZWskEs8DesignVerizon Forced Me to…