WarGames: A Look Back at the Film That Turned Geeks and Phreaks Into Stars

How did WarGames become the geek-geist classic that legitimized hacker culture, minted the nerd hero — and maybe even changed American defense policy? Related question: Shall we play a game? —Wired Similar:My Shakespeare students are off peer reviewing their term paper rough drafts. I’m official…AcademiaThe Inner Light (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 25) When…

Teaching Composition: A Reconsideration

Thanks for the link, Neha. Inside Higher Ed has a good article on the place of composition within the field of English studies. I have no interest in the now clichéd grumblings over English departments and their esoteric if not onanistic engagement in high-octane literary theory. I will only say that there is merit to…

A nice derangement of epitaphs

A great introduction to some of the reasons why I love studying the English language. From John McIntyre’s You Don’t Say. The malapropism: This venerable category of errors derives from the delicious and eponymous Mrs. Malaprop from Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals of 1775. Mrs. Malaprop (from the French mal a propos) pretentiously and unknowingly…

EDSAC Source

On a listserv of which I’m a member, Jerome McDonough points out that Tennis for Two is an analog game, so not only does it not require a computer, the medium itself — an oscilloscope — is an analog, so the information being represented on the screen isn’t digital at all.  An even earlier game,…

What the Army Taught Me About Teaching

Every year, the Army recruits, at great expense, tens of thousands of young men and women. Given the costs of recruitment (and the dearth of eligible recruits), the Army cannot afford to lose many of these new soldiers. Army training is designed to take recruits who may know nothing about military life, discipline, or maneuvers,…

Language Log » Temporally speaking

One of my favorite things — a photograph of a mistake on a sign. From Language Log. Similar:I ordered a box of composition books. Low-tech response to AI.I felt like a capitalist, buying in bulk…Academia11 Problems to Anticipate Before Your Next Website RedesignI’m building a new site for a non-profit…BusinessMy Cow Game Extracted Your Facebook…

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories – Resurrecting Tennis for Two, a video game from 1958

Modern recreation of the 1958 video game “Tennis for Two” (Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories) Similar:Another visit to downtown Pittsburgh with my history-loving son.CultureKate Upton and Ryan Gosling Explain the SequesterApparently these are two famous and phys…AestheticsChess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureWhy Twitter’s Dying (And What You…

The joy of boredom

The Boston Globe: We are most human when we feel dull. Lolling around in a state of restlessness is one of life’s greatest luxuries — one not available to creatures that spend all their time pursuing mere survival. To be bored is to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one.…

Octopodes!

If the following line doesn’t get you reading The Steampunk Home, nothing will: I can think of two steampunk references to octopodes. Thanks for the link, Rosemary. Similar:How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public DomainI get my fill of Disney pretty quick. In…BusinessDC Art Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER)Live in the DC area? June 19 I’ll be…