How to Teach Physics to Your Dog

A reading from a chapter of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Similar:Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling DadAre you unexpectedly home-schooling your…CultureThe daughter missed her graduation ceremony because she was performing in Kinetic Theatre'…The daughter missed her graduation cerem…AcademiaDestroying trust in the media, science, and government has left America vulnerable to disa…From The Brookings…

The Buzz on Electronic Writing: Fiction Goes Digital

In the late-eighties and early nineties, electronic writers wrote hypertext fiction and poetry, the classic example being afternoon, a story by Michael Joyce. In hypertext literature the narrative unfolds through a long series of links that produce different outcomes — but now the shrapnel of the technological explosion includes hundreds of sub-categories, each completely unique.…

Emulators — Good and Otherwise

I’m gearing up to teach a Video Game Culture and Theory course this January.  The first time I taught it, in 2006, it didn’t occur to me that students who were looking for information on, say, Space Invaders, would just play any old flash clone, without being discerning about whether it was a faithful port,…

Is it time for 'The Simpsons' to 'g'oh'?

The CNN story about The Simpsons limping on after jumping the shark is pretty much what I expected, but I’m blogging it for the infographic. Not quite as epic or information-dense as Minard’s famous map of Napoleon’s march to and from Russia, but still breathtaking. Similar:Fox apologizes for "error" in news story that created the…

Interview: Michael Arnzen

Research is probably where most new writers fail, because it takes a lot of time. You have to research not only the background of your stories — but the whole literary landscape. It takes a full immersion in the culture you hope to address as a writer to join the wider literary conversation of our…

Bizarre Spiral Lights in Norway's Skies

My wife’s theory about the Norway spiral lights is that, during a practice run, Rudolph had a bit too much eggnog, sending Santa’s sleigh into a death spiral. Similar:NASA Confirms That Curiosity Found An Ancient Martian Stream Last year, NASA announced that the Cur…GovernmentLet's conÅ¿ider Å¿ome Å¿urpriÅ¿ing old type: "Did you ever hear Å¿uch a…

The Tetris God

I would have trimmed about 20 seconds, or given the two lackeys more to do. Still, “The Tetris God” is worth a chuckle. Similar:Who is the more dramatic — my extroverted tween or my philosophical teen?Stoked from a morning show-choir perform…AmusingD&D-Themed movie Zero Charisma pits Nerds vs. HipstersMy wife usually gives me nerd-themed DVD…CultureFake Kitsch!…

Fugard's 'Have You Seen Us?': Looking Within Again

In literature classes, students sometimes privilege author intent to an extent that hampers their ability to interpret literary works. Yes, it is possible to over-analyze anything. And just because there are many possible interpretations of a literary work, that doesn’t mean that every possible interpretation is well-supported by the text. (Occam’s Razor still applies, for…

Google – from friend to foe?

It’s an open debate whether the plan to scan millions of books and make them searchable online will prove the benefit to humanity that Google promises – or hand it a monopoly over certain digital works, as opponents allege. But the consensus is the company fomented an avoidable backlash by forging ahead with its controversial…

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (30 Years Ago)

Yes, it was pretentious, sterile, and overblown, but it did rejuvenate the franchise, re-introduced us to the Klingons (love their theme music), and the warp effect was awesome.  Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out thirty years ago, Dec 7 1979. I was 11. I had tape-recorded nearly every episode of the series (and I…