Attention Span Breakthrough

My five-year-old sat and listened for over an hour while I read the first chapter of Gregor the Overlander and the first chapter of The Hobbit.  Earlier that day she had found an old beat-up costume jewelry ring that another kid on the playground said he found in a stream.  When the park time was…

Web hunt for Lotus louts

Metro.co.uk A trio of vandals are facing trouble after posting a video of themselves smashing up a Lotus Elise on the internet. The three filmed themselves leaping and jumping on the bonnet and roof of the £20,000 sports car, parked in Marylebone, Central London. After originally posting the video on their MySpace pages, the group…

Recursive Translation Fun

English Original It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the…

Book recounts 100 years of county courthouse – Tribune-Review

Jennifer Reeger of the Tribune-Review (Pittsgurgh) reports on my colleague’s local (Westmoreland County) history book. “Thank God we do have this beautiful building,” said Mike Cary, professor of history and political science at Seton Hill University and an editor of a book on the courthouse’s history. “People remember Greensburg — they remember that dome when…

When Musicians Play Interactive Fiction

Nick Montfort, Grand Text Auto: Leonard Cohen Manhattan: Taken. Berlin: Taken. Similar:After a pretty crappy day, I found shreds of joy in this clip of socially distanced salsa.In my discipline, teaching small seminar…AestheticsDo you really keep a diary?ALGERNON Do you really keep a diary? I’d…AmusingWhat’s an environmental issue? — Gus SpethI don’t know the provenance…

John Henry was a steel-drivin' bastard

Via MetaFilter: You’ve got just over two weeks to make it to the John Henry celebration in Leeds, Alabama, where some folks believe the legendary steel driving contest actually took place. Maybe you already made it to John Henry Days in Talcott, West Virginia (or read a fictionalized account), where some more folks claim the…

The Tale of the Mechanical Virus

Sean McBride: The problem I discovered was that one of the thin walls between the holes had broken and bent down, forming a ramp. When I plugged the DVI adapter into my computer, two of the pins went into the same hole, and the projector could no longer understand the output from my computer. However,…

Full Moon Rising

This evening, I was out in the yard playing with the kids, when they noticed the full moon rising above a house a little ways down the street. Similar:The First Programmer Was a LadyOver a hundred years before a monstrous …CybercultureWhat if I design a #steampunk fantasy cruiser and there aren’t enough chairs? How do…

YouTube – Short Letterpress Documentary (Wonderful)

  Similar:‘So, So Angry’: Reporters Who Survived the Capitol Riot Are Still StrugglingI weep for these patriotic, reasonable, …CultureShakespeare’s Genius Is NonsenseJust as comedians generally don’t laugh …CultureThe Declaration of IndependenceI recorded a recitation of the Declarati…CultureUndergrad Danielle Sidoti Nails an Oral Interpretation/Analysis of "Barbie Doll" by Marge …In my online “American Literature” class…AestheticsPippin! Last…

Colossal Cave Adventure — History

Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d do some more work on the Wikipedia entry for Colossal Cave Adventure. Similar:An Excerpt from Mechanisms [2]: 'Professor RAMAC'Among the attractions at the 1958 World’…BooksOfficial Rules to NanofictionaryI was at a youth car wash today, watchin…DesignPict Free Summer Webinar: Shakespeare’s HeroesCultureThe dangers of short form content – The Woke Salaryman: Source:…