Please Use This Door

More cruel jokes to play on literal-minded people. Similar:Portofess”If people can confess on Oprah, Phil an…EthicsFired for Making a Game: The Inside Story of I Get This Call Every DayHe knows that if he’d instead posted a s…BusinessThe dress we ordered for the “girl next door” role in The Fantasticks… vs the dress that…AestheticsWe found…

Spoof of Get Lamp Trailer

Not the best spoof I’ve ever seen, but if you really want to see a spoof of a trailer of a documentary about text adventure games, you might be somewhat amused. (Here’s the original.) I’m mocked in this, if that’s any incentive to anyone… Similar:I didn't ask for the AI icon on my Kindle app.…

U.S. Spies Use Custom Videogames to Learn How to Think

Wired: The U.S. Army Intelligence Center is using a custom game to train interrogators, or “human collectors,” as they are euphemistically known. Known by the staggering title of Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Tactical Proficiency Trainer Human Intelligence Control Cell, the simulation was designed by General Dynamics from the shooter Far Cry. The Army game features…

Making Wikis Work for Scholars

Inside Higher Ed: “Information on computer science subjects in Wikipedia is likely to be accurate and informative, often using unique resources to illustrate concepts that are not available to print media,” wrote de Medeiros in an e-mail. “This probably derives from the fact that computer scientists use the computer as their main form of access…

Tests Confirm T. Rex Kinship With Birds

NYT: T. rex shared more of its genetic makeup with ostriches and chickens than with living reptiles, like alligators. On this basis, the research team has redrawn the family tree of major vertebrate groups, assigning the dinosaur a new place in evolutionary relationships. Similar molecular tests on tissues from the extinct mastodon confirmed its close…

Victorian All-in-One PC | The Steampunk Workshop

Geeky awesomeness from the Steampunk Workshop. Similar:Pioneering Harvard Blog Site Wrapping It UpI still use blogs.setonhill.edu, which I…AcademiaHalloween Candy Poisonings, School Shootings and Human Psychology What can parents do to minimize thei…Current_EventsKristin and Haley's Discussion on Poe's "The Raven"I gave my literature students 30 minutes…AcademiaDigital Storytelling (EL231: Topics in Creative Writing) EL231 “Digital Storytelling” (Dec…

Of Hitchhikers, Hard Drives, and Happenstance

Imagine that, since childhood, you’ve been a fan of a now-obscure genre of computer games called interactive fiction. Imagine that, since 1999, you’ve kept a weblog. Imagine that, since 2003, you’ve taught journalism and new media courses, in which you have introduced students to weblogs and interactive fiction (among other topics, of course). Recently, after…

Professors Gone Paperless

Inside Higher Ed: 1998 was the last time that John Gallaugher, an associate professor of information systems at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, used a traditional print textbook. He assigned it to his graduate-level introductory course in information systems. The book cost about $150. He also assigned supplemental reading — trade press articles, online…