Brain-Dead Teen, Only Capable Of Rolling Eyes And Texting, To Be Euthanized

via Brain-Dead Teen, Only Capable Of Rolling Eyes And Texting, To Be Euthanized – YouTube. Similar:Why Tetris is the 'perfect' video gameRather than wanting to make a film about…AestheticsNorth Sea cod: Is it true there are only 100 left?A spokesperson for the Sunday Times told…BusinessABC News executive placed on administrative leave after reports surface of…

Hackers and Makers

A longer-than-usual introduction to a reading assignment in my “Media and Culture” class turned into a useful opportunity to reflect. We are all busy people; yet somehow, many people who say they are too busy to take on another task spend hours reading, interpreting, and debating Harry Potter; some post stop-motion Lego spoofs; some do…

Zombie Code and Extra-Functional Significance | Play The Past

Useless code and comments in code—these are the zombie figures of software. They serve no purpose in a program’s execution, but they exude what Mark Marino calls extra-functional significance. They have meaning beyond the program. They speak not to the machine or the compiler, but to a different audience, another reader. In software development, that…

Tantalizing Details for Colossal Cave Adventure Enthusiasts

The most detail I’ve ever seen about Will Crowther’s other creative projects; here, in a conversation dated 1996, he discusses “different ‘adventures’”, and reveals that he wrestled with many of the same challenges that interactive fiction programmers faced through the 1980s and on to the present. I have at various times made different “adventures.” Two…

Facebook can be used to predict academic success, job performance | ZDNet

A good example of correlation. (Simply changing your Facebook content won’t automatically make you a better worker or student, but certain Facebook details do correspond to achievement in the offline world.) Researchers spent about 10 minutes looking at photos, wall posts, comments, education, and hobbies on Facebook profiles, while answering personality-related questions including whether the…

Bag a Bot Day

At midnight tonight, participants in the FIRST Robotics Competition must stop working on their robots and seal them up in a plastic bag. Here’s the working bot my son’s team built. Pretty good for a rookie team.     Similar:Carolyn as Cosette in the wedding scene in Les Miz. #feelsPersonalComputer grading will destroy our schools…

Wonderful Performance of Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse”

Fantastic composition, deeply embedded into the brains of any kid who grew up watching Looney Tunes. Raymond Scott recorded “Powerhouse” on this day 75 years ago. Similar:Kate Upton and Ryan Gosling Explain the SequesterApparently these are two famous and phys…AestheticsThis is what audience members are saying about Prime Stage Theatre’s production of The Out…https://youtu.be/y_yXrOdB-oE BooksVulcan…

Gamasutra – News – Second Life developer acquires experimental game studio LittleTextPeople

LittleTextPeople, founded by writer Emily Short and Maxis veteran Richard Evans, has so far focused on the development of software that replicates complex social interaction. For instance, among its internal technology is a simulator that models social behavior and individual personalities. —Gamasutra – News – Second Life developer acquires experimental game studio LittleTextPeople. Similar:Diana Kimball…

You are standing in a field. There is a meme here.

Via David Thompson Similar:Feature: History Lesson: the treasured past of LucasArts point and clicksI played more of the Sierra point-and-c…CultureIn Pittsburgh, science gets playfulImagine: sharing a secret with a friend …AestheticsWhat’s an environmental issue? — Gus SpethI don’t know the provenance of this quot…CultureBloopers from my monologue for @pictclassictheatre 's Shakespeare Webinar this Friday at…

Twitter / Search – “couldn’t remove your contacts” – All Tweets

Twitter / Search – “couldn’t remove your contacts” – All Tweets. Similar:The Trouble With Online EducationI’ve taught an online “Video Game Cultur…AcademiaIn October 2001, I was blogging about nothing, apostrophes, the anthrax scare, and Boilerp…In October 2001, I was blogging about …Amusing‘Heil Trump’ and an anti-gay slur were scrawled on an Indiana church right after…