Commonly Misused Words: ITS and IT’S

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Correlation is not Causation

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…

In 10 Years Our iPads Will Be Here

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:from “The Poet” by Ralph Waldo EmersonThe poets made all the words, and theref…AestheticsStudents Produce Breathtaking 3D Simulation of 17thC LondonThe haze effect lying over…

Ian Bogost – Gamification is Bullshit

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…

Apple, publishers conspired against $9.99 Amazon e-books, says lawsuit

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…

Students aim for Broadway in musical with true-life focus

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…

Books Without Borders

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…

Karel Capek Slighted

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:Now Is the Perfect Time to Memorize a PoemPowerful writing, by Matthew Schneier. …AestheticsThe dress we ordered for the “girl…

Carnegie Science Center Model Train

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USS Requin

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:iMovie Glitch: Unplug Removable Media before Using iMovieI spent a few hours today working on a v…CybercultureSynchronous Online Classes: 10 Tips for Engaging StudentsEvery time…

Stage Right Greensburg Wizard of Oz

My daughter, as the wizard, with her talented castmates, in our local theater school’s preteen summer camp musical. Similar:Thank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting this low-resolution (the background image was 640x…Thank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting …AestheticsBabel (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 5) Virus Garbles Everyone's SpeechRewatching ST:DS9 Overworked O’Brien …DesignToday's 10 sq cm…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomerBrother Consolmagno, who works in a Vati…CultureModular low-poly medieval buildings. Ground-level storefronts have more detail than the up…Modular low-poly medieval buildings. Gro…AestheticsWhy typewriters beat computersThe BBC offers…