The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated. Keith Oatley, an emeritus professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto (and a published novelist), has proposed that reading produces a vivid…
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We’re horrified to have let something like this onto public radio. Many dedicated reporters and editors – our friends and colleagues – have worked for years to build the reputation for accuracy and integrity that the journalism on public radio enjoys. It’s trusted by so many people for good reason. Our program adheres to the…
Roughly 30 to 50 years after their birth, they either enter the long-term lexicon or tumble off a cliff into disuse. The authors suggest that this may be because that stretch of decades marks the point when dictionary makers approve or disapprove new candidates for inclusion. Or perhaps it’s generational turnover: Children accept or reject…
Whittaker says that CEO Larry Page, who took over the company from Eric Schmidt, had a focus on ‘beating’ Facebook in advertising – which led the company to shift its focus from established products such as Google Mail onto its controversial social network Google Plus and other ‘social’ products built for advertising. –via ‘Google is…
I call what I’m doing “digital humanities” when I shift from treating technologies as objects of inquiry (e.g., a cultural history of magnetic recording) to actually expressing my work through them (e.g., using a platform like Scalar). In this regard, my work is significantly influenced by scholars such as Cheryl Ball, Tara McPherson, and Virginia…
Beautiful synergy of word and image. Proofreading errors aren’t always related to “grammar,” and the explanations are not as instructive as I’d like to see. Students who are already unhappy about being in a freshman writing class might not appreciate being told they are fools and goofs, but I’m always looking for ways to make…
My parents bought the 1976 edition, which came in a concise Micropedia and a more detailed Macropedia. We owned both. I remember using them to help flesh out last-minute homework assignments, but I have stronger memories of looking up topics like the psychological development of teenagers, acne, puberty, etc. The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that…
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Presented by Jason Scott, adjunct archivist at Internet Archive, Kari Kraus, assistant professor at the University of Maryland, and Nick Hasty, director of technology at Rhizome. The “Preserving the Creative Culture of the Web” panel at SXSW addressed an interesting question: “Should web sites and artifacts be treated like works of art or architecture?” Our…
Jezebel has made lots of hay off of sexual harassment accusations against American Apparel Chief Executive Officer Dov Charney. Denton said he’d love to see Charney come into the comments section to defend himself. “If you put it to a vote, 90% would vote to ban him. They hate that guy,” Denton said. “If Dov…
Replacement parts are hard to come by for a 17-year-old robot, so science center staff long have known that Hoops is one major breakdown away from forced retirement. That would leave a void not only for a generation of visitors who have marveled at the lanky mechanical athlete, but also for staff who have grown…
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My high school Drama coach and freshman English teacher Michael Garcia often shared his stories of making ends meet as a struggling young actor. When my 9yo daughter (a budding drama queen) recently started rehearsals for a local Stage Right professional production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and when I found out that…
Why would Apple have agreed to pay higher prices for books while Amazon was still out there hocking them below cost? Good question. Those curious circumstances are why some, including Justice it now appears, think there might have been collusion on the part of the publishers. The European Commission opened its own formal investigation into…
Note to thieves. If you steal a nameplate from a judge, don’t let anyone post a picture of you holding it on Facebook. U.S. News – Cops: Man stole judge’s nameplate, posted Facebook photo of himself with it. Similar:Three challenges for the web, according to its inventorA letter, published a few weeks ago, in…
The Pittsburgh regional FIRST Robotics Competition, held in the Peterson Event Center, was put on lockdown because of this incident. It looks like the search for an alleged second shooter was a red herring — the more recent stories have not mentioned any second shooter. A message sent to Pitt employees at 2:08 p.m. said…
Early tomorrow my son and I will be carpooling to Greensburg to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition “Rebound Rumble” challenge. Our team built and programmed robot from a kit of loose parts. The effort was a success, said Peter Jerz, 14, of Greensburg, who said he learned about teamwork while working on the online…
I am so far out of the TV-watching habit that, Trekker though I be, I doubt I would watch any new Trek shows. I would probably just explore the fan-made wikis and blogs instead, as I have with Lost and the Battlestar reboot. Still, this imagined set of overlapping mini-shows sounds interesting. How does one…
Both Spock and McCoy are frequently at odds with each other, recommended different courses of action and bringing very different types of arguments to bear in defense of those points of view. Kirk sometimes goes with one, or the other, or sometimes takes their advice as a springboard to developing an entirely different course of…