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:Time’s Arrow,…

They may take our books, but they can’t take our love. « Beth Anne Swartzwelder

A thoughtful blog entry from a student in my “Media and Culture” class. When I clicked on the link to “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” despite the interesting title, I was expecting something very academic. But what I found was something so moving that inspired great emotion in me. I guess that I…

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

Via David Thompson Similar:That gut-wrenching photo of immigrant children in a cage? First published in 2014.Don’t blame “the media” for using this p…CultureThe Hidden Signs That Can Reveal a Fake Photo Farid emphasises that forensic techniq…CybercultureDisruptive Decorations: Kids learned better in a sparesly-decorated CMU labKids learned better in a sparse lab sett…AestheticsWander (1974) — a…

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

Twitter / Search – “couldn’t remove your contacts” – All Tweets. Similar:It’s been a while since something got me into a movie theater. Obviously I wasn’t in a rus… It’s been a while since something got …AmusingHave you been "workslopped" by a bot?If you have ever experienced this, you m…AcademiaOne of the Sadder Lost and…

Poetry Out Loud : Learning Recitation

I’m one of the judges in a “Poetry Out Loud” competition tomorrow afternoon. I regularly assign recitations in my literature classes, and resources like this may help students from stressing out, since the site is full of well-phrased dos and dont’s for reciting poetry. Please keep in mind that there is no definitive recitation or…

NBA Players Scoff at Mathematical Model Suggesting When to Shoot

Interesting application of math to sports. In analyzing teams’ shot quality, shot rates and shot percentages, Skinner found that the average NBA squad has a 4 percent probability of shooting the ball when left with 15 seconds on the shot clock in their final possession. The ideal rate is 12 percent. Skinner didn’t offer guidelines…

How iPhone Apps Steal Your Contact Data and Why You Can’t Stop It

Nothing really new in this article, but it’s useful to be reminded of how valuable our data is to those who want to make money off it (without our permission). Apple allows any app to access your address book at any time—it’s built into the iPhone’s core software. The idea is to make using these…

At Dogs Against Romney rally, lots of humans against Romney

When reporters report on what reporters are doing, you know it’s a non-story. The group was set to make its biggest news splash yet on Tuesday—holding a rally outside the Westminster Kennel Dog Club Show at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan—this time with real dogs. The event attracted at least 15 reporters, 10 photographers…

My daughter likes Machinarium.

We finished the game over the weekend. Delightful. via My daughter likes Machinarium. – YouTube. Similar:Tonight's Supermoon.AestheticsMultimodal Composing, Sketchnotes, and Idea GenerationUsing the mixed media of sketch notes, a…AcademiaIdeal Homeschool Summer Day: Studying Latin, Justifying Nilla Wafers, and Making a Duct Ta…Today, I managed to get in a couple of h…AestheticsWhat, exactly, am I looking…

Lucy Prebble on Gaming

I may seem laughably sentimental about what’s essentially pixels jiggering about. But somewhere deep inside when I was little I wanted to be an artist. And a whole art form has developed in my lifetime. I remember for the first time reading: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own…

Lucy Prebble on Gaming

Mercyhurst name change will take some time | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News

A pleasant little reference to old-school letter-writing. At Seton Hill College, which gained university status in 2002, the switch cost about $200,000. The team there also relied on community goodwill: They asked business owners along Route 30, a major traffic corridor in Westmoreland County, to re-letter their moveable-type signs to congratulate the new Seton Hill…

Blender 3D Introduction

I’ve been showing some of my Blender 3D creations to members of my son’s FIRST Robotics Competition team, and several of them asked me to teach them how to make a game. Blender 3D is a fantastic (free! open source!) tool that can model 3D computer-generated scenes and characters, render high-quality videos, as well as…

Virginia Home-Schoolers Make a Play to Join High School Teams – NYTimes.com

My old college roommate, Rob Bell, is the state legislator behind this bill. Robert Bell, the legislator who is sponsoring the Virginia bill, said it represented increasingly nuanced parental thinking as home-schooling has evolved into a more mainstream activity, up from 850,000 students nationally in 1999 to 1.5 million in 2007, the latest figure available…

Teens prefer Facebook, Twitter to television?

A survey of 1300 people across the UK was carried out by Opinion Matters on behalf of the agency, and found that 65 percent of 16-24 year-olds rated social media as their favourite hobby, rather than watching television, reading or playing video games. […] TV was considered as a favoured leisure activity by 54 percent…

Seton Hill Supports “Man of La Mancha” Student Outing (Feb 17 and 19)

Seton Hill University students can attend a local professional production of the musical theatre classic “Man of La Mancha” for just $10 Feb 17 and Feb 19. As part of the Stage Right Theatre Company’s professional season, the show will be staged February 17 – 19 at the Greensburg Garden Civic Center. Seton Hill University students can…

10 Ways Being a Theatre Major Prepared Me for Success | Wayfarer

I was not a theatre major, but I did have various paid jobs in my college theatre department, including working in the scene shop, painting billboards, writing press releases, etc. Nothing excites my 9yo daughter like acting. On her one day off between her last two shows, she built a sock puppet theater out of…

The Love Song of J. Alfred Proofreader

Was it worthwhile, Throwing off my shawl, Turning toward the writers to say: “That is not it at all, That is not what you meant, at all”? They thought me Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse. They just wanted to dish about Johnny Depp on the loose. I grow old…I grow old… But…

The heroine’s journey

Near the end of a review of a time-management game, Emily Short offers some fairly brilliant narratological observations. A Little Princess and Jane Eyre — and buckets of other classic and semi-classic literature for young women — revolve around the idea of patient, perennial self-sacrifice and obedience as a way of life, with the hope that one day,…

Print from your iOS devices to any printer on your campus

Phil Komarny, my school’s VP for IT, offers a preview of a plan to implement printing from campus iPads. He’s right — printing is less important when so many of us have iPads, though the occasional need to print flyers, recommendation letters that need to be snail-mailed, etc. means I’m grateful every day for my…