Commonly Misused Words: ITS and IT’S

Similar:The Lost Art of Paste-UpWhen I started using a word processor as…AestheticsPHD Comics: It's in the syllabus  PHD Comics: It’s in the syllab…AcademiaNever use very. Write the word damn instead. Your editor will strike out the damn.CultureWhat Jonson meant by Shakespeare's "small Latin and less Greek" Jonson famously eulogized Shakespeare …CultureCulture Desk: My Life in…

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:Apple Watch is ugly and boring (and Steve Jobs would have agreed)I am not feeling the love for Apple’s iW…AestheticsThis Is What Summer Vacation Is…

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:A 20 sq cm section of #steampunk #blender3d goodness. #blender3dartAestheticsPippin! Last show today at 2pm.CultureFinal Mission (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Four,…

Carnegie Science Center Model Train

The control panel. Similar:Stephen Coles’ The Anatomy of Type, reviewed.Talk nerdy to me. You’re my type. What …AestheticsMy daughter found where all the missing pens and pencils end upAmusingToday's Google Doodle is Mostly HarmlessFord Prefect kept a script of Godspell i…AestheticsFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg strides past fettered drones at Mobile World Conference. I’d like to…

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:Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class. Twelfth-grade reading scores are a…BooksFacebook's director of media tries to appease news industryFacebook’s Patrick Walker…

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:At Home In Fantasy's Nerd-Built WorldsIn other words, more than the profound l…AestheticsIndiscretion #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 5) Kira teams up with a rival to tr…Rewatching ST:DS9 New-to-me episode i…EmpathyCardassians (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2,…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:For some reason, I saw a bump in traffic to a page that linked to a "make-your-own-Trump-e… This sort of thing was funnier back …AestheticsDragging Myself to a New Skill Level with Blender 3DWorking on some…