Field of Rainbows [Copyeditor's Make Mistake's Sometime's]

—Field of Rainbows [Copyeditor’s Make Mistake’s Sometime’s] (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) The caption should read “photographer’s shadow.” The mistake doesn’t come close to overshadowing the power of this great photo. Similar:dungeon.jpg (JPEG Image, 2535×1616 pixels)Great Zork map.AestheticsTook the whole day off and spent part of it making #greebles with #Blender3D because reaso…AestheticsEvery Post-Game Press Conference (Weird Al)https://youtu.be/oXAW2qd65nAAmusingAmericans…

Of Dental X-Rays and Sales Pitches

Of Dental X-Rays and Sales Pitches (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I went to the dental office at Sears yesterday, where I noticed that the woman X-raying my teeth didn’t entirely disappear behind the lead wall when she pushed the button. Three times I watched, and I could see her elbow and part of her hand. Before she…

Noted French philosopher Jean Baudrillard dies

French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, a social theorist known for his acerbic commentaries on consumerism and excess, died Tuesday, his publishing house said. He was 77. —Noted French philosopher Jean Baudrillard dies (Jerusalem Post) When I first heard of this, I checked the Wikipedia entry, and was a little surprised to see no information on his death.…

Nabokov will play you, fool

Maybe tomorrow I’ll think this is cute. In the meantime, I trust no one named Vladimir. God help me if I dream about this… —Karissa Kilgore —Nabokov will play you, fool (Sugarpacket) One of my students vents her frustration at being completely fooled during her first encounter with Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Similar:Fast-paced, articulate cast shines…

Little red lies

Remakes are common these days for several reasons, primarily the fact that Hollywood is short on new ideas. Plus, the original story is actually pretty good, even if the movie failed to live up to its promise. Capricorn One is not exactly a classic, but it does have some great ideas, great scenes, and a…

Fact or Fiction?: Living People Outnumber the Dead

The human population has swelled so much that people alive today outnumber all those who have ever lived, says a factoid whose roots stretch back to the 1970s. Some versions of this widely circulating rumor claim that 75 percent of all people ever born are currently alive. Yet, despite a quadrupling of the population in…

Did You Learn Anything?

“To use the Minute Paper,” Angelo and Cross write, “an instructor stops class two or three minutes early and asks students to respond briefly to some variation on the following two questions: ‘What was the most important thing you learned during this class?’ and ‘What important question remains unanswered?’ Students then write their responses on…

Teaching Without Textbooks

Here’s the dirty secret that you’ll never see printed in a publisher’s glossy promo material: Every textbook on the market is a crashing bore to read. All the publishers will assure you that they’ve added special features designed to attract today’s young people and that the prose is lively and engaging. Yeah, right. The colorful…

Darth Vader being a smartass

—Darth Vader being a smartass (YouTube) Similar:The GE Mascot That Proves They've Never Seen 'The Matrix'On a scale of 1 to 10, this definitely r…AestheticsPittsburgh in the Round review of The Outsiders”It’s due to a slew of rich, physically …BooksParallels (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 11) Worf gets technobabbled into a ti… Rewatching ST:TNG After…

the novelty of blogs is wearing off?

I took one of Jill’s classes two years ago and got addicted to blogging. I still keep it up although I don’t write as much anymore, partly because of what Elin said I think: it’s too separated. Facebook, flickr etc. connects, and are more “chill out” places where it’s ok to simply goof around and…

XYZZY Awards 2006

—XYZZY Awards 2006 (IF Wiki) The XYZZY Awards are the Oscars of the Interactive Fiction community. I’m usually watching the kids on the weekend when the awards ceremony is held, but I always enjoy reading the transcript. The winner of Best Game is The Elysium Enigma. Similar:Our Love Affair With Digital Is OverThe other day I…

You Can Never Have Too Many Cabinets (Half-LIfe 2 Mod)

You Can Never Have Too Many Cabinets (Half-LIfe 2 Mod) (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) (Although that is probably too many ovens.) The kids are in bed, my wife is watching TV, and I’ve got a few hours to fiddle with Hammer on a Saturday Night (well, it’s a bit past midnight now, actually). Soon I’ll go up…

Seton Hill's 'Everyman' keeps medieval text, adds modern music

Performing a morality play – especially one penned in the Middle Ages – might not seem too appealing to an average college theater student. Dr. Terry Brino-Dean, associate professor of theater and director of the Seton Hill University theater program, has come up with a way to give “Everyman” — a medieval drama that deals…

Edible Chess

Chess pastry cutters handmade in brass by Biggles to celebrate the first year of Ms Sophie Sarin’s “Thursday Chess Club”. Each piece can be made into biscuits. Not only do you have the satisfaction of taking a piece, but you can eat it as well! —Edible Chess (Biggles) They are advertised as “one of a kind”…

Do Video Games Kill? (PDF)

Politicians and other moral crusaders frequently create “folk devils,” individuals or groups defined as evil and immoral. Folk devils allow us to channel our blame and fear, offering a clear course of action to remedy what many believe to be a growing problem. Video games, those who play them, and those who create them have…

Another Facebook-Related Fall

Anyone, she wrote, “has the right to free speech. No one has the right to be employed at a newspaper. That is a privilege.” She continued: “At the Collegian, we hold our staff members to high standards and require them to act professionally on and off the job, particularly when they are representing the Collegian…

Review: Myst Online: Uru Live

I sometimes wonder if half the fun of action games isn’t pretending to be a kid again: you can run and run and never get tired. Also, jump down the stairs without worrying about a sprained ankle. —Andrew Plotkin —Review: Myst Online: Uru Live (Zarf) That was just a parenthetical comment, but its the reason I…

Herding the Mob

Today we harness the masses for everything from choosing the next pop star on American Idol to perfecting open source software and assembling Wikipedia articles. But perhaps the most widespread and vital uses for group input online are in scoring systems. In addition to eBay feedback, these are the customer ratings that Amazon.com and Yahoo…

Career Crisis #2 (of 2)

Caring is easy. Keeping students engaged and operating at full capacity over a two-hour block is difficult. Serving every student the highly specific smoothie of success and failure — just enough success to encourage them, just enough failure to challenge them — is difficult. —Dan Meyer —Career Crisis #2 (of 2) (DY/DAN) A response to the…

On the Spread of Stupid

I recently crushed the dreams of about 400 high school students. I was asked to give them career advice, and so I told them to stop believing that they can achieve anything they want simply by wanting it. “I Believe I Can Fly” may be an uplifting song, but it’s a stupid life philosophy. You…