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:My wife Leigh will direct the small-cast drama "Full Bloom" Aug 30-Sep 2My wife Leigh received a Pennsylvania Co…Art"Shakespeare in…

Carnegie Science Center Model Train

The control panel. Similar:How Social Media Silences DebateThe Internet, it seems, is contributing …CultureThe Feynman TechniqueTo master a topic, pretend you are teach…DesignWilliam Shakespeare’s Star WarsBecause apparently I am not already nerd…AestheticsAfter 10 Years of Blogs, the Future's Brighter Than EverIn Wired, Jenna Wortham focuses on what …HistoryTimes photo staffer's invention: the streaming backpack “From…

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:Family Feud: Tense Thanksgiving for Facebook and George Takei Businesses — as well as groups like no…BusinessAnyone capitalized in a standard how way without no…

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:The problem I just learned about calls for tea in the big mug.CultureFacets #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 3, Episode 21) Dax's colleagues channel the personal…Rewatching ST:DS9 The lead characters c…MediaStuffed planet Venus, made for me by my…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:Showing vs. Telling (Example: "I like to win.")I just wrote these examples on a student…AestheticsMaking a villain's lair in #Blender3D (this weekend's relaxation)AestheticsA Message from Hester Prynne (Student Video)Have I mentioned lately that I have awes…AcademiaChurning…

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:Limit child TV viewing to an hour each day,…