Google’s Super Bowl Ad: A Romance in Search

I didn’t watch the game, but I did catch the buzz about this ad. Yes, I did tear up. (Wired has details.) Similar:Rascals (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 7) Transporter glitch tween-ifies Picar…Rewatching ST:TNG A glowing Space Thing…AmusingShort-range #neovictorian excursion craft, now with glowing power orbs! Over the past year…https://youtu.be/-cJp-kelrL8  AestheticsCaptain Gearheart inspects progress…

The great global warming collapse

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…

Obligatory Snowpocalypse Photo

Here’s hoping I left gas in the snow-thrower. Similar:Pict Classic Theatre Romeo and Juliet. PersonalMe: Carolyn, are you ok? Carolyn:Just reminding myself that I am a gift.AmusingEquus. Powerful theatre.PersonalVIRUS DIARY: For these kids, no adventures to choose BURKE, Va. (AP) — On a recent car ride…BooksOpinion: A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden signals what’s coming…

Doom Iphone code review.

Fascinating software study of the Doom iPhone port.http://fabiensanglard.net/doomIphone/index.php Similar:Traces of ScribesBook historian Irene O’Daly notes that t…AcademiaStudy confirms that ending your texts with a period is terrible.Language evolves, so oldsters like me sh…CybercultureEditors and editorial board quit top linguistics journal to protest subscription feesWhen I publish as a scholar, my goal is …AcademiaQuidditch Comes to…

ENG 111: Pop Up Scholarship

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…

The Videogame History Timeline (beta)

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:Our Love Affair With Digital Is OverThe other day I found myself very annoye…CultureTechnology won’t fix America’s neediest schools. It makes bad education worse.[N]o matter how good the design, and des…AcademiaA…

Pee-wee Gets an iPad

Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman Similar:No, Kirk and Uhura didn't share the first interracial kiss on televisionSee Also: Star Trek: The Next Gener…CultureA support sloop on deck and in the landing bay. #steampunk #neovictorian #aesthetics #desi…AestheticsUpdated Syllabus for Journalism 101By the end of the semester you will be a…Amusing5 of the Fiercest One-Liners…

"Can We Tape?"

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…

How to Report the News

Personal comment, with embedded links to recent postings indicating that I’ve actually had independent thoughts about this issue and I really do have something to contribute other than just reposting something that I found on BoingBoing. A brief quote from something noteworthy or controversial, offering an opinion and inviting readers to comment. Similar:Helvetica Bold Oblique…

iDunno

Studying the faked predictions was more fun than finding out the actual gadget. I’m very interested in seeing how this shakes up the competition, but I’m not going to be one of the early adopters. Plato’s Phaedrus tells the story of Theuth, inventor of the alphabet. The god Thamos said, “O most ingenious Theuth, the…

Slave of the Ring

Interesting use of pseudo-Arabian exotica that Edison used in order to communicate to the public of 1905 just what his cylinder phonographs could do, likening them to rings to place on the finger of a musical genie. “Wouldst thou have melody? Place thy ring upon my finger and I will sing for thee a tender…

NASA's Spirit won't be roving Mars anymore

With its six wheels stuck in powdery sand and two wheels no longer working, the resilient little explorer will become a fixed, immobile scientific observatory — if it can survive the harsh temperatures of the upcoming winter. —LA Times Similar:No one’s ready for this: Our basic assumptions about photos capturing reality are about to… Everyone…

The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word

While the Bible does present Jesus as being able to read, and there is a story of Jesus drawing something unspecified in the dirt, the first followers of Jesus lived in an oral culture. The Gospel of Luke begins thus, identifying to the difference between oral culture and print culture: Since many have undertaken to…