Commonly Misused Words: ITS and IT’S

Similar:My English major skills crushed the girl in Bananagrams.Wildcard? You mean quitter tile! GamesWhile searching my bag for a cable, I found an unexpected wealth of food-substitute items.Amusing“for every cliché of a barista or bartender with a liberal arts degree, there were ten wit…This story offers evidence to challenge …AcademiaPersonal Essays: 7 Tips for Expressing…

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:So long, Newsweek Reaction to the cover: – ‏Newsweek’s …BusinessIn April, 2002, I was blogging about an autistic person's guide to asking a girl on…

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:Star Trek The Original SeriesAmazing mural. Amazing.   …AestheticsRediscovering History’s Lost First Female Video Game DesignerRCA’s console never rivaled the…

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:Socrates envisaged a time when we would forget how to remember.From Daisy Dunn’s review of Puchner’s Th…BooksFound: Brass Candle SnifterThis was by the teacher’s station…

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:More Adventures in Suburban AdultingAbout four years ago I bought an electri…CultureBirthright, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 16) Worf learns his father m…Rewatching ST:TNG The Enterprise-D vi…EthicsWhen backwards newbie poets write…PersonalShort-range #neovictorian excursion craft,…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:More glorious #steampunk control panels, created for no practical purpose. #blender3d #ble…AestheticsTwelfth Night Cast Photo (Prime Stage, May 3-12)My daughter can hardly stop talking abou…AestheticsAlike (2015)This short film reminds us why art matte…AestheticsAnother square of #steampunk…