Today’s schadenfreude comes from WSVN. Several people had the chance to catch this error. It’s not any one employee’s fault, but the school’s reputation won’t exactly be helped. Further, the school missed the opportunity to make the experience into a teachable moment, and instead apparently chose to make no comment. (It’s never too late, FCC…
Leonardo Da Vinci’s last supper painting Da Vinci’s Last Supper was painted in the 15th Century The food portions depicted in paintings of the Last Supper have grown larger – in line with our own super-sizing of meals, say obesity experts. —BBC Similar:'Jane Austen, Game Theorist' by Michael Suk-Young Chwe Is a Joke When [Chwe]…
I suppose that my face-blindness has made me the person I am. I don’t much like movies or People magazine, not because I’m above caring about movie stars, but because I don’t recognize most of them. I became an addictive reader, an author and an English professor because, in the world of words on paper,…
There’s nothing really new in this story, but it’s still good to see my favorite game genre get some good press. Along with simulated space battles and table-tennis matches, interactive fiction (IF) is one of the oldest of computer-game forms. Though far gone from its commercial heyday in the graphics-impaired ’80s, when it was still…
For once we had the possibility of a global platform from which we had the power to make those in power listen to us. What we have ended up with is nothing more that a digital Madison Avenue and a whole lot of digital garbage that won’t shut up. I would like to hold out some…
One of the many interactive fiction events at this now-even-more-awesome event that I cannot attend. The current plan: the main GET LAMP episode at 9:30, followed by a panel on stage of people interviewed for the film, and then some showings of a few more features of the DVD, including the Infocom and Bedquilt episodes.…
The viral clip has been viewed almost 54 million times and gave riseย to the catchphrase, “Is this real life?” It was the second most-watchedย video of 2009, according to YouTube, trailing only Susanย Boyle‘s appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent.” It’s also beenย an unexpected bonanza for the boy’s Orlando, Florida-area family, who,ย despite some criticism that they exploited their…
By the early sixth century, Western Europe had become largely illiterate, its teachers dead, its students on the run, its libraries turned into kindling. Ireland, however, had just settled down, thanks to a tough old bird named Patrick, a Roman citizen raised in the province of Britain who had been grabbed by Irish slavers when…
This wordle was composed from word frequencies in definitions of “Digital Humanities,” submitted by participants in Day in the Life of the Digital Humanities 2010. About all we can conclude is that the participants know how to repeat the phrase “Digital Humanities” in their definitions. Similar:The secret life of a public library security guardThis made…
Penguin recently posted this video to YouTube, explaining that it was an internal training video that was a big hit with the sales force. On YouTube, I posted a comment saying that if it worked on their sales force — that is, if their sales staff didn’t get the gimmick before the midpoint, that actually…
Games tend to evolve enormously over the standard two-year process, with whole missions often culled at a late stage, as playtesting reveals unforeseen fault lines and design issues. Having to recall actors and record chunks of new dialogue to reflect story changes is perceived as an expensive, time-consuming chore – the last thing a hassled…
As an administrator, I worked with other professors and administrators. As an instructor of graduate creative writers and upper-division English majors, I was teaching students who also loved words and writing, students who aspired to be what I was, a published author employed in a bookish field. Believe me, I am no longer preaching to…
“Oh yeah! Scientists I’ve talked to say you cannot overestimate how important HeLa cells have been.” Yet no one in the Lacks family had been informed by Johns Hopkins of the existence of their mother’s cells, until a researcher called in the early 1970s wanting to test the family. “Henrietta’s husband basically got a phone…
Epic Game Design Tour / Final Exam Review from Adam Marshall Smith on Vimeo. Similar:Is Superman the next Drudge? Clark Kent quits newspapers in latest issue Even Clark Kent can see through the wri…Current_EventsA student just booked an appointment to discuss picking up journalism as a second major. E…Academia15 Times "Filler Text" Became a Journalist's…
Similar:Code is not literatureA literate programmer describes his atte…CybercultureTo the Death #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 23) The Defiant's pursuit of disloy…Rewatching ST:DS9 In the Defiant mess h…EmpathyDear daughter, let Miley Cyrus be a lesson to youI am intrigued by the possibility that M…CultureThe Boat (Graphic Novel)My mother had a cousin who served in…
Very cool design! Thanks for the suggestion, Jefe! An episode of Star Trek TNG featured a character who carried around a roll-out piano keyboard, but the prop they used looked more like just a piece of cloth. This looks very believable. Similar:Why I Like Papers, PleaseAt a certain point, the transit papers w…AestheticsEmail (finding the…
E-books may be getting all of the attention in publishing these days, but the hype overshadows the cold reality of business: E-books are still just a small fraction of the market. James McQuivey, an analyst with the technology research company Forrester, says that’s why publishing is in such a tough place: A revolution may be…
If that doesn’t make you want to read more, there is probably something wrong with you. Dr. Michael Sykes, a San Diego molecular biologist who runs the International Center for Bathroom Etiquette blog says he’s surprised at how long it’s taken for high-tech toilets to hit the U.S. —MSNBC Via Karyssa Blair, who also notes…
Today, programmers, web-developers and designers possess countless different ways to display digital words online, much like an artist with a blank canvas. As words float across our computer screens, code may be considered the underlying thought and form of expression that supports online words, preventing the words from physically or metaphorically “disappearing into [cyber]space” (Richards,…
These are interactive news packages I’ve selected to show to journalism students as we discuss some of the capabilities of Adobe Flash. Many are very recent. —Mindy McAdams Similar:Students who grew up with search engines might change STEM education foreverThe headline is oddly STEM-specific, but…CybercultureAdding random objects to the bookshelves for a fantasy #steampunk project.…