Tools for Teaching Basic Programming Concepts

Tools for Teaching Basic Programming Concepts Alice and Scratch. Filing for future reference. Similar:Amazing McDonald's "Maestro Burger" CommercialJaw-dropping. So creative and joyful. …AestheticsStar Trek The Original SeriesAmazing mural. Amazing.   …AestheticsLearning the hard way, by making mistakes and starting over. The fore section of the fanta… AestheticsNeuroscientist Explores the Ethical Quandries of a Digital AfterlifeNow…

Will you, won't you… Blackwell's Quadrille

Will you, won’t you… Blackwell’s Quadrille (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) “Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?” — Lewis Carroll’s “Lobster Quadrille” I just tried to order an examination copy of a book from Blackwell Publishing, and when I got what looked like an error message on the final screen (or…

Shakespeare hates your emo poems

—Shakespeare hates your emo poems (Threadless) Interesting cultural phenomenon… sell a T-shirt, then create a website that lets customers upload photos of themselves wearing the T-shirt. The result turns the rebellious and snarky T-shirt designs into the uniforms of conformist consumer zombies. Similar:DC Just Announced Plans For Choose Your Own Adventure Style Digital ComicsIt’s rather hard…

The civil war in four minutes

—The civil war in four minutes (YouTube) Similar:Social Media Companies Aren’t Liberal or Conservative. They’re capitalist.Facebook cares more about scalability—th…BusinessHe couldn’t get over his fiancee’s death. So he brought her back as an A.I. chatbotThe death of the woman he loved was too …CybercultureThe Irreversible Damage of Mark Zuckerberg’s SilenceWired, obviously having worked on a thin…BusinessOver…

PLAY-PEN: Games Due for a Lit Course

Modern interactive fiction, much more than its technically limited earlier counterparts, displays an incredible range of literary influences, tributes and styles. For Sherwin’s part, science fiction is an inspiration, but the greater part of his text adventures’ efficacy comes from the unique and anarchic style of his characters’ dialogue. “I have been greatly influenced by…

Deleted Scenes

—Deleted Scenes (StarTrekHistory.com) An awesome collection of painstakingly-restored still shots and script excerpts, from scenes that were filmed but never aired. Similar:More #blender3d #steampunk #design. #blender3dart #aesthetics The officers’ conference roo…AestheticsAI Agents Are Terrible Freelance WorkersAI is getting better at rote tasks, but …BusinessThe Host (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 4, Episode 23) Dr. Beverly Crushes on…

A Fair(y) Use Tale

—A Fair(y) Use Tale (YouTube) Amazing demonstration of creative repurposing of Disney’s copyrighted material. Similar:Iconic 'West Side Story' still resonates todayCarolyn Jerz of Greensburg will be playi…ArtThe Real Reason Why You Can't WriteHave you ever stopped to think about wha…AcademiaTwitter changes strategy in battle against internet 'trolls'Reducing the reach of abusive tweets is …BusinessRussia Conspiracy Theories…

Mastering podcasts with Audacity

Open source software makes podcasting easy — too easy. Listening to a playlist of first-timer podcasts can leave your ears ringing from sudden changes in playback volume. The problem is audio mastering. Recording sound is simple, but mastering that sound — compressing volume differences, maintaining a decibel ceiling, and similar operations — is anything but.…

Why We're Doing This

We know that pro-am journalism can work only if people are persuaded to give their time, lend their knowledge, pool their intelligence. Those are donations, but not of money. Often they are more critical than money. To succeed in this, we have to persuade several hundred people to donate good work to one big story…

Objections to Turnitin

We should be jumping for joy every time a student plagiarizes, because that means our existence as teachers of composition is validated, as we have something to teach them – citation, research, the need for critical thinking. We should get down on our knees and thank the Internet for making it easier to plagiarize, because…

Who Isn't Afraid of Google?

In this strange, strange tale the Davids are the size of companies like Microsoft and Yahoo, rumoured to be discussing an alliance to take on the search leader. The list of detractors is longer than other search providers, though; privacy experts, advertisers, startups, and Hollywood executives are all frustrated with the company for one reason…

Mixed Reception

This activity is set in a research group that is developing an antivenom for spider bites. In the opening scene, Nelson Pogline, a talented graduate student, dies unexpectedly at a university reception. As a detective, you must use chemistry concepts to determine if this was murder and if so, solve the case. You can interview…

On Media in Our Lives: Embarrassment forever

It’s now common for companies to Google potential employees to uncover peccadilloes from the past. It took me all of 30 seconds, via Google, to discover one applicant’s very public infatuation with indecorous sexual escapades and another’s unhealthy fondness for abusing industrial strength pharmaceuticals. Needless to say, neither was hired. —Jim Louderback —On Media in…