Creepy Treehouse

The canonical definition of “creepy treehouse” was written by Jared Stein in 2008. Here’s an excerpt: n. A place, physical or virtual (e.g. online), built by adults with the intention of luring in kids. Example: “Kids … can see a [creepy treehouse] a mile away and generally do a good job in avoiding them.” John…

This is why 12-year-olds aren’t excited about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram | ZAGGblog

This is why 12-year-olds aren’t excited about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram | ZAGGblog Similar:New York Times runs just 1000 names of the nearly 100,000 Americans who have already died …AcademiaTalk with us about books! English as a minor or second major @setonhilluniversityAcademiaIn November 2001 I was blogging aboutIn November 2001, I was blogging about …Amusing8yo…

Context for Halyes, My Mother Was a Computer

Hayles is an established authority on a humanities-centered approach to human-computer interactions, and My Mother Was a Computer (2005) is her third book on the topic. At times she writes with the expectation that her readers already know some foundational topics that she may have spent more time introducing in her previous books. In the…

9yo Carolyn Re-enacts the Imprisonment of Ariel (no, not the mermaid)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9xjoffTzLo Similar:8k trimsheets baked as efficient building blocks for my #fantasy #steampunk #cgi cruiser. …PersonalOffice Hours in the Pool Hall My favorite story comes from the week …AcademiaWhen she's grown and flown, I will miss the thick deposit of glitter in my back seat.When she’s grown and flown, I will miss …AestheticsJaw-dropping moments of insight…

The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed Reading Books, Show Them This Chart

Looks like this blogger presented the chart as an implicit argument about the quality of literature being read today, rather than the quantity. We were a civilized civilization. This was before the Internet and cable television, and so people had these, like, wholly different desires and attention spans. They just craved, craved, craved the erudition…

York Crucifixion of Christ (Toronto, 1977) 2 of 4

Christ willingly stretches himself down on the cross. Surprised, one of the soldiers observes: “Behold, himself has laid him down,/and bent his back unto this tree.” From one of the first web pages I created, for an academic article about a computer simulation of the epic medieval Christian pageant the York Corpus Christi Cycle. The…

Chicago State University tries to limit speech

According to my 9yo daughter, “It’s completely and utterly stupidulous.” Pancho McFarland, an associate professor of sociology at Chicago State, fears the policy could restrict all types of communications by professors, including speaking engagements. “It will put a chilling effect on our ability to speak in a number of venues,” he said. “It is part…

There are giant feathered tyrannosaurs now… right?

Regular readers will perhaps know that I (and others) have been saying for a while that Mesozoic Earth was not the global hothouse that many have long assumed. There’s evidence for cool continental interiors and poles during parts of the Jurassic and Cretaceous (Barron & Washington 1982, , Sloan & Barron 1990, Sellwood et al.…

3 Major Publishers Sue Open-Education Textbook Start-Up – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education

“Whether in the lecture hall or in a textbook, anyone is obviously free to teach the subjects biology, economics, or psychology, and can do so using, creating, and refining the pedagogical materials they think best, whether consisting of ‘open source educational content’ or otherwise,” it reads. “But by making unauthorized ‘shadow-versions’ of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works,…

Building and Sharing When You’re Supposed to be Teaching Journal of Digital Humanities

In Stallybrass’s mind, students—and in fact, all scholars—need to do less thinking and more working. “When you’re thinking,” Stallybrass writes, “you’re usually staring at a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen, hoping that something will emerge from your head and magically fill that space. Even if something ‘comes to you,’ there’s no reason…

10 Things You Can Learn From the New York Times’ Data Visualizations | Visual.ly Blog

10 Things You Can Learn From the New York Times’ Data Visualizations | Visual.ly Blog Similar:Why is Elon Musk attacking Wikipedia? Because its very existence offends him So, the sight of Elon Musk charging to…BusinessNASA has flown a drone on Mars. A tiny robot. A flying robot. On. Another. Planet. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succe…AwesomeWhite…

Paris Mayor Combats Noisy Nightlife by Deploying Roving Squads of Mimes

This is both creepily terrifying yet kind of awesome, in a drunk-whisperer, Pied Piper, passive-aggressive arrogantly Gallic yet obviously better than pepper spray and riot gear kind of way. You have encountered a “Pierrot de la Nuit,” or Night Mime. These “nocturnal artistic intervention squads” are officially being launched this weekend in 15 Parisian neighborhoods.…