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:That time three-year-old me spotted a Mary Cassatt painting at the Art Institute of Chicag…My mother…
Archivists estimate the life of any digital platform to be less than ten years, sometimes less than five. All hard drives fail sooner or later, and they need to be run periodically to lubricate themselves. Tape degradation can be quite quick; one expert found that 40 % of tapes from digital intermediate houses had missing…
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:Stapler jam during a midterm exam.My years of watching MacGyver definitely…AcademiaOh the Overthinks You Can Overthink: Horton the Elephant, the Wickersham Brothers, and Mas…Yesterday, I performed in a school…
At lunchtime, I ducked out of the office for a Poetry Out Loud competition for homeschoolers in the Greensburg area. These kids are so bright and delightful, it’s a real treat to see them displaying their talents. My son (who turned 14 this week) won this round with his recitation of Poe’s “Annabel Lee.” The…
The Russians beat us into orbit, and for the moment only the Russians can ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station. It’s hard to believe that just seven years after the first American was launched into orbit, Americans were walking on the moon. (It would be nice to see someone walk on Mars in…
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:Revisiting a…
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…
Via David Thompson Similar:‘Tentacles squelching wetly’: the human subtitle writers under threat from AIArtificial intelligence is making steady…ArtBrett Favre Urges Ban On Youth Tackle Football, Pleads For No Hitting 'Til 14Concussions in sports often a topic my s…CultureA rare win for Dad. CultureMS Paint AdventuresWonderfully silly take on old-school poi…AmusingThe Chronicle of Higher Education Announces Plan…
Twitter / Search – “couldn’t remove your contacts” – All Tweets. Similar:Today's annoying adventures of adulting: fixing the bathroom ceiling fan.Not fun, but done. ModdingAn Opt Out Letter That Speaks to All ParentsOne household notifies the authorities t…CultureProgramming as Magic Spells in Erica Sandbothe's New NovelIn her new novel, Codecrafter, Sandbothe…BooksJournalism has become ground zero…
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…
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…
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…
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…
We finished the game over the weekend. Delightful. via My daughter likes Machinarium. – YouTube. Similar:Am I a Bad Father Because I Let My Daughter Eat M&Ms in Her Mashed Potatoes?[poll id=”2″] AestheticsWe ask 3 Broadway photographers: How do you turn a live show into a still image?Great story about the art of photographi…AestheticsFact check:…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…