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:Peer Review Paranoia: The system is built on trust between scholars. AI is undermining tha…From an essay that includes a…

Carnegie Science Center Model Train

The control panel. Similar:The Case for Banning Laptops in the ClassroomMaybe the students in this photo are dil…AcademiaI had some unexpected downtime today, so I filled out another span of my #blender3d #steam…AestheticsThe girl's modern dance choreography workshopAestheticsUngrading after 11 weeksMathematics professor Robert Talbot repo…AcademiaThank you, frog and friends, for reminding us all what the…

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:In April, 2002, I was blogging about an autistic person's guide to asking a girl on a date…In April, 2002, I was blogging about …BooksThat…

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:"I might be putting a little too much effort into designing the cravat for the captai…AestheticsClosing the Door on the Video Store Era (with tweets) · chutry · StorifyNow that Blockbuster Video has officiall…BusinessLook at the unusual…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:Tom Jones, librettist for "The Fantasticks," dies at 95I was so glad to see my daughter in this…AestheticsEnjoyed watching the restored version of the hugely influential 1927 sci-fi movie #Metropo…Enjoyed watching the restored version of…AestheticsThat’s water…

LEGO figures flying on NASA Jupiter probe

LEGO figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei are flying to Jupiter. (NASA/LEGO) August 4, 2011 — They have launched aboard the space shuttle, visited the space station, and flown to Mars. Now, three more “very special” LEGO figurines are set to fly to Jupiter with NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The…

Textbooks for Fall 2011

Students are starting to contact me asking about books. I will have the course websites up in a week or two, but for now, here are the textbooks. LA101 “Seminar in Thinking and Writing” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader, Second Edition (ISBN 978-0-312-60141-6) The SF Writer, Fifth Edition (ISBN 978-0-205-75197-6) EL200…

The 1982 Tron Holiday Special

Sides: split. Gut: busted. Milk droplets: transferred to computer screen via nasal passages. The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor via The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor, Scott Gairdner, Ryan Perez, PerryAdamSmith, Nick Mundy, Funny Or Die, dannyjelinek, BoTown Sound, and James Codeglia. Similar:All three shows have been sold out for over…