Similar:When Robert Pinsky Wrote a Video Game[F]or a brief time in the mid-nineteen-e…CultureReuben Klamer, designer of Trek's "phaser rifle" and Milton-Bradley's "The Game Of Life" d…Although more modern-looking rifles appe…AestheticsMonument Valley: Minimal story, but an engaging world and a satisfying ending.I was in no rush to finish the beautiful…AestheticsMy Freshman Comp Student…
Similar:Another social media post attacks journalists for doing their jobs — Updated Elijah McCla…If you’ve been following the sad story o…CultureIn June, 2001 it seems I only blogged three times…I’m not sure what else I was doing durin…Amusing“The author talks about [topic]” is filler. Your professors want your college-level ideas.AcademiaChildren of Time #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch…
According to a somewhat dry AFP article (posted on a URL that will probably expire soon), “The researchers estimated that in 2008 Australian adults aged 25 and older spent 9.8 billion hours in front of the small screen, and that this time was associated with 286,000 years of life that ended prematurely. | Every single hour…
Our iPads will one day be stacked on a pallet, like these old PCs. They’ll be retro curiosities, having done their jobs — empowering us to build even better tools. Similar:Why Hoboken is Throwing Away All of its Student LaptopsUntrained teachers. Damage-prone machine…CybercultureWe Are the Product Facebook SellsFacebook does not care what Hobbit you a…BusinessNASA…
The business of journalism is changing. The approaching anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks is an occasion to reflect on how we received news in the days when newspapers updated their web pages once a day, and Google did not constantly monitor newspaper home pages looking for fresh stories. For journalists thinking about the future,…
A popular handout from my site, Short Stories: 10 Tips for Creative Writers, includes a phrase uncommon enough that Googling for it (“practiced scream therapy“) leads me to short story exercises that develop an example into more detailed studies, or pages that remix the content of my site in order to make a similar point.…
There is a lot to like about Google+, and getting to 25 million users so quickly certainly seems promising for the Google social network. But, it doesn’t bode well if the excitement is already fading. Google needs to not only create a capable social network, but it needs to make that social network compelling enough…
This rhetorical power derives from the “-ification” rather than from the “game”. -ification involves simple, repeatable, proven techniques or devices: you can purify, beautify, falsify, terrify, and so forth. -ification is always easy and repeatable, and it’s usually bullshit. Just add points. Game developers and players have critiqued gamification on the grounds that it gets…
I was doing a lot of impulse buying during the $9.99 days, but since then, on occasions when I’ve seen the ebook offered at a higher price than a paperback, I have just turned to interlibrary load instead. “Terrified” by Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and discounted e-book pricing, five major publishers allegedly acted together to increase…
David Mahokey of Dunbar, a senior at Point Park University, and Greg Kerestan of Greensburg, a senior at Seton Hill University, wrote the 20-song score and script, respectively, for ″In Control,″ a musical that focuses in part on Mahokey’s real-life battle with bone cancer. Two free performances of ″In Control,″ directed by Anthony Marino, artistic…
Which is cooler? That my 13yo son was just sitting at the kitchen table singing lyrics to MC Frontalot’s “It Is Pitch Dark,” or that my 9yo daughter was chiming in with corrections? It Is Pitch Dark Similar:She was accused of faking an incriminating video of teenage cheerleaders. She was arrested…Madi Hime is taking a…
The heartbreaking thing is that this fall, over 10,000 bookstore employees across America will be out of work. The way the publishing industry is going, many of those people won’t be able to find jobs that are even tangentially related to books anymore; they’ll go on to work in movie theaters and grocery stores and…
The layout of this display at the Carnegie Science Center almost makes it look like the Maria duplicate in Metropolis came before Karel Capek’s play RUR (which was written in 1920, first performed in 1921). Similar:Time’s Arrow, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 26) Data's head in a mine …Rewatching ST:TNG An archaeologist…
The control panel. Similar:In September, 2000, I was blogging about PICK UP AX, Bellamy's Looking Backward, WB Yeats,…In September 2000, I was blogging about …BusinessThe Days of Microsoft Internet Explorer Are Numbered—But Its Sorry Legacy Will Live OnStarting today, Microsoft will no longer…BusinessSobering data; stunning visualization.This NYT story on the effects of race on…CultureThe secret…
Images from an extended tour of a cold war submarine. (We liked the tour we took last year so much, my son and I came back.) [portfolio_slideshow size=medium trans=scrollHorz ] Similar:Facebook just dealt another potentially lethal blow to local journalismFacebook will pay some publishers millio…BusinessToday's annoying adventures of adulting: fixing the bathroom ceiling fan.Not fun,…
My daughter, as the wizard, with her talented castmates, in our local theater school’s preteen summer camp musical. Similar:Another 10sq cm of background details for a #steampunk project. #blender3d #blender3dart #…AestheticsThank you, anonymous person who left a container of Oreo minis outside my door.PersonalIT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE — Berkeley Rep audio productionSinclair Lewis’s 1935 anti-fascist…
As for Starbucks, the decision to pull the plug is reportedly up to individual stores thought to be only in New York. —Many New York City Starbucks Locations About To Put An End To Squatters « CBS New York. Awkward phrasing… Who is doing the reporting if this fact is “reportedly” so? Who is doing…
In 2008, when her scientific publication, the Journal of Zhejiang University-Science, became the first in China to use CrossCheck text analysis software to spot plagiarism, Zhang was pleased to be a trailblazer. But when the first set of results came in, she was upset and horrified. “In almost two years, we find about 31 percent…
Interesting story about a performance artist who bought what was once high-tech military gear, but ended up sold as scrap on eBay. A glimpse into the hardware and software suggests some interesting critiques of the industrial-military complex. There was no password on the gear that was supposed to be outfitted on the robot, so he…
My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:Alike (2015)This short film reminds us why art matte…AestheticsQuantity leads to quality – Austin KleonAnecdote: [A] ceramics teacher announced…AestheticsThe captain will shortly address the officers and crew. Please have the custodial bots pol…AestheticsThe girl as Gimli,…