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:Research Poetry (communicating research results and expressing their significance through …For an article on communicating research…AcademiaFirst…

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…

Learning the art of creating computer games can boot [sic] student skills

“Worldwide, there is increasing recognition of a digital divide, a troubling gap between groups that use information and communication technologies widely and those that do not,” the team explains. “The digital divide refers not only to unequal access to computing resources between groups of people but also to inequalities in their ability to use information…

Howard's Butt, Why is Howard's butt blogging? (Start here)

Diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum, author and cyberthinker Howard Rheingold responds with humor, and a new blog. http://howardsbutt.tumblr.com Similar:Blog RSS Feed Generator for WP RSS AggregatorI paid a little attention to a long-negl…CybercultureRob Rogers' firing is a frightening omenPulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Nick A…CultureWashington Post Cartoonist Who Quit Over Bezos Cartoon Wins Pulitzer…

Amazon Invites Devs to Write Programs for Kindle

Amazon.com unexpectedly announced the Kindle Development Kit Thursday morning, which will allow developers to develop “active content” for the Kindle platform, to take advantage of the e-reader’s electronic ink display, Whispernet 3G technology, and days-long battery life.–PC Mag Somebody, please create a Z-code interpreter. I want my Kindle to guide me through a maze of…

Digital Humanities and the case for Critical Commons

A little context… a popular internet meme involves adding creative subtitles to a movie in which Hitler reacts to some very bad news. Here we see the evil dictator responding to some recent developments in academia.  Similar:YouTube Now: Why We Focus on Watch TimeYouTube has adjusted its search algorith…CybercultureF-16 pilot was ready to give her…

Cut This Story!

On the Internet, news articles get to the point. Newspaper writing, by contrast, is encrusted with conventions that don’t add to your understanding of the news. Newspaper writers are not to blame. These conventions are traditional, even mandatory. Take, for example, the lead story in The New York Times on Sunday, November 8, 2009, headlined…

Technology and Innovation

Great collection of essays that capture the wonder of now-ubiquitous technology that was once strange.  Oliver Wendell Holmes on photography in 1859, Mark Twain on telephones in 1880, Philip G. Hubert Jr. on the phonograph in 1889, up to James Fallows on the personal computer in 1982. These eight excerpts show the attempts of writers,…

Color Me A Dinosaur

The number of crayons in a Crayola box doubles every 28 years. What colors have been in said box over the years? See the full-size version at weathersealed.com Similar:Modern Masterpieces of Comedic Genius: The Art of the Humorous Amazon Review, Part DeuxI love me a good Amazon mock review. Her…AestheticsPulitzer Alert: Local TV Reporter Throws…

Writing Good English

I’m getting ready to teach a one-credit journalism course on editorial writing, which will also be a test case for a potential “topics in advanced composition” course. This essay looks like a good way to start the class. The good nouns are the thousands of short, simple, infinitely old Anglo-Saxon nouns that express the fundamentals…

'Rude' texting students say they're only multitasking

Two Seton Hill sources are mentioned in this local story. Millennials appreciate professors who bring technology into the classroom, whether it’s YouTube, PowerPoint or posting grades online after assignments, said Theresa Conley, 27, a junior at Seton Hill University in Greensburg. “That way, you can see where you’re at and what you’re getting, so you’re…

Learn from this typesetter’s mistake

Wisdom to keep in mind as I plan for this semester’s “History and Future of the Book.”   FAIL Blog. Similar:Can you melt eggs? Quora’s AI says “yes,” and Google is sharing the resultGoogle Search is already well-known…CybercultureChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web Think of ChatGPT as a blurry jpeg…CyberculturePower Play (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season…