Commonly Misused Words: ITS and IT’S

Similar:Twitter / Search – "couldn't remove your contacts" – All Tweets Twitter / Search – “couldn’t remove …AmusingA Fistful of Datas (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 8) Worf Trapped in Western S…Rewatching ST:TNG Silly Gagh-Western …AmusingI just realized I've been misspelling and mispronouncing "detritus" all my life. I’ve been a college English faculty …AcademiaCan…

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:You are standing in a field. There is a meme here. Via David ThompsonAmusingChildren of the Holocaust return to Auschwitz and pay tribute to those…

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:Combating Shakespearean shrinkage – Shakespeare & BeyondThe worst reaction to Shakespeare’s comp…CultureShirley Temple Black, Screen Darling, Dies at 85 Shirley…

Carnegie Science Center Model Train

The control panel. Similar:How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of GeniusesFirst of all, I’m always wary about any …CultureWhy I Was Wrong About Liberal-Arts MajorsIt’s a little bit shallow and solipsisti…AcademiaUltimate Infographic Design Guide + Design Tricks – VenngageThis website is selling something. You c…AestheticsIn July, 2002, I was blogging about…

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:Healing the WebThe lessons I learned in just over an ho…BusinessEmpty InboxMy to-do do list and my “Follow Up” fold…CybercultureThe battle against airborne COVID has…

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:Random gauge design, for background details in a fantasy #steampunk project. #blender3d #b… Aesthetics'Peter Pan Live' Was Never Intended to Be EnjoyedI didn’t watch the show (our cable-less …AestheticsSad that NASA is taking a back seat to…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:"I might be putting a little too much effort into designing the cravat for the captai…AestheticsTwo Steps Down the Interactive Fiction RoadWonderfully detailed analysis of two gro…AestheticsIdeal Homeschool Summer Day: Studying Latin, Justifying Nilla Wafers, and…