“People thought what they had was an address book for an e-mail program, and Google decided to turn that into a friends list for a new social network,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group in Washington. “E-mail is one of the few things that people understand to…
This eagerly awaited restored version of Fritz Lang’s silent classic uses what it said to be nearly an hour of footage long thought to be lost.This is one of the the most important film archival discoveries in history, as surprising as if the missing ending of “The Magnificent Ambersons” were found. —Roger Ebert According to…
Valentines for Journalists. Similar:Emily Dickinson Fun Page #literature #amusing #dashes Emily Dickinson Fun Page #literatu…AmusingThe 1982 Tron Holiday SpecialSides: split. Gut: busted. Milk droplets…AmusingWhen People Only Read the Headline — Misuse of JournalismThe Society of Professional Journalists …BusinessWired and Business Insider remove articles by AI-generated ‘freelancer’Journalists who can’t verify their sourc…Current_EventsManti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The…
[O]n this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops. Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students…
Walter Frederick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died at the age of 90. —Guardian Similar:Jerry Lewis’s Costars Speak Out: “He Grabbed Me. He Began to Fondle Me. I Was Dumbstruck”As a kid I watched Jerry Lewis movies wh…Culture'Island of the Blue Dolphins' woman's cave believed foundFor more than 20 years, Navy…
Interesting examination of role-playing, illusion, identity, and power in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, one small branch of which was the inspiration for the 1976/7 computer game Colossal Cave Adventure. In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave was a popular tourist destination for travelers from around the United States and beyond. The cave…
Zach Whalen is turning his dissertation into a blog-web-thing, in the hopes of developing a book-thing. In whatever form it takes, it’s an interesting approach to a textual study of video games. This study asks how the design and configuration of text in videogames contributes to their textuality. I argue that videogames are texts in…
There’s a dissertation in here. All I have the energy to do today is imply a connection. Using a police state to market technology in 1984: Using a police state to market technology in 2010: Similar:Timescape (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 25) Time bubble aliens lay eggs in Ro… Rewatching ST:TNG Picard, D…AcademiaShould a…
None of this is a surprise to me, but I’m glad to have statistics to back up my impressions. A very small handful of students whose first introduction to online social networking was the SHU blogosphere, before blogs went really mainstream around 2005, are still blogging here, after they have graduated. In 2003-2005 it was…
I didn’t watch the game, but I did catch the buzz about this ad. Yes, I did tear up. (Wired has details.) Similar:What Is Life Like For an Amazon Worker?You dont actually get hired by Amazon. A…BooksAnd to think… I had just decided to retire this meme because the last time I used in cla…AcademiaAfter…
It is dangerous to use local weather events (such as a heavy or light winter) to make judgments about global climate. With that caveat, I’m blogging the following because I’ve noted a shift in the online discussion about “global warming,” or the more general “climate change”. This essay does a good job exploring the events…
Coming up… we’ll tell you whether you’ll be impaled by sharp, radioactive icicles hurled by mobs of rampaging robots in your neighborhood. But first, people panicking, filling up three shopping carts of toilet paper and canned food. Hear the techno-pop pulse of our theme music, and know that you’re being conditioned to think of us…
Here’s hoping I left gas in the snow-thrower. Similar:Fancy a game of whist with your nemesis? The prospect of ruin adds piquancy to the pleasur…PersonalWhat is Technical Writing?I noticed an uptick in traffic to an old…AestheticsChess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureGetting there.Getting there.PersonalKitchen utensils for my…
Fascinating software study of the Doom iPhone port.http://fabiensanglard.net/doomIphone/index.php Similar:In January 2000, I was blogging about dancing paperclips, the transience of literary judge… In January 2000, I was blogging abou…BooksMy 1951 day DuoLingo streak was fun, but… Ever since DuoLingo announced it…BusinessIf You Ever Find a Link to ThoughtCatalog, I'm Begging You Not to Click It…
Our first few readings in my freshman writing course were personal essays, with a clear narrative. We read an academic paper today, and there’s another assigned for Friday. A few students are already reporting feeling a little lost in the detail. I gather this is because they are used to reading textbooks, where all the…
I wish I’d seen this a few weeks ago, before my Video Game Culture and Theory class ended, but it’s still a welcome find. Similar:More bits of my summer project – another delightful span of a #neovictorian #steampunk con…AestheticsCaptain Gearheart inspects progress on his #neovictorian #steampunk æther cruiser. Now fea…AestheticsJustice (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode…
Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman Similar:Google: "how can u" vs. "how can an individual" is not really about grammar Yes, I got a chuckle over this, but …CultureHow Television Covered the Kennedy Assassination – a 1964 TV Guide ArticleIt was a new, shocking, traumatic thing …CultureNo girl wins: three ways women unlearn their…
“One of the deepest questions in this field,” Nass says, “is whether media multitasking is driven by a desire for new information or by an avoidance of existing information. Are people in these settings multitasking because the other media are alluring–that is, they’re really dying to play Freecell or read Facebook or shop on eBay–or…
I know, I know: Amazon relied on those $9.99 prices to give it a head start in the digital books market. And raising prices to the $12.99 to $14.99 being talked about could certainly slow sales if consumers don’t bite. But here’s the thing: it’s not as if Macmillan is only raising prices for Kindle.…
I usually carry a digital voice recorder with me. In most states it’s legal to record a conversation if all parties consent, although Pennsylvania law requires that all parties to a conversation be notified that a conversation is being recorded. “It is always legal to tape or film a face-to-face interview when your recorder or…