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”…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Video games DID NOT make this kid who he was, and it’s unfortunate that the correlation is there. The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he’s done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes…
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides that “[no] provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider,” and that “[n]o cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local…
—Pictaps (Roxik.com) Thanks to the Flash power of Roxik’s Pictaps, I can draw an effigy of the great Captain Kirk, and make him dance! Dance, captain dance! Your puny phasers are no match for my superior intellect! Bwahahaha! Man, it’s been a long day. Similar:So Long Blogging. Hello—Yep, We're Going to Say It—PloggingI still blog, because…
[…] ‘So in the church-yard she was laid; And, when the grass was dry, Together round her grave we played, My brother John and I ‘And when the ground was white with snow, And I could run and slide, My brother John was forced to go, And he lies by her side.’ ‘How many are…
The British people have a different type of English language. In some ways it’s the same as yours, but in other ways it’s quite strange. Learn here how to communicate with British people. You may have heard some British people talking in movies. The men are the posh baddies who often drink to much; the…
Your retro, old-skool little song enshrinesThe unrelenting jackboot five-stress beat Of heel-toe thumping heel-toe bumping feetIn fourteen rigid rhyming goose-step lines.What talent’s there? I’ll never march; I swarm!I curse your foolish rules, your chains that bind,That dare to organize my off-beat mind;For truly I don’t need no steenkin’ form.Why pack and prune, revise, rework, rephraseMy…
For a good many decades, thick fumes of incense have been wafting from the English literary establishment in the general direction of TS Eliot. The latest offering by the acolytes to the high priest is this study by Craig Raine, which admits that some of Eliot’s drama isn’t up to much but otherwise won’t hear…
—The Steampunk Workshop Link via boingboing. Reminds me of Thomas Jefferson’s PAA (personal analog assistant). Similar:More details in the powder room of my villain's lair. #Blender3DAestheticsThis is what the techbros are excited about? Really?Some 2300 years ago in ancient Greece, P…AcademiaThe Impact of Google on Our MemorySo what is it that makes us memorize les…CultureA.I.…
Still, what could be better than a crocheted stuffed Dalek, the greatest nemesis of Doctor Who? —EXTERMINATE! (Shigella) Via boingboing — though it’s described there as a “cozy” (that is, a decorative insulator that keeps a teapot warm). Similar:The Defector (ST:TNG Rewatch; Season Three, Episode 10) Cold War Brinksmanship, via Shakes…(Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break…CultureSons…
My tenure story is the all-too-familiar tale of the assistant professor hired to start a new program. That program becomes wildly successful, beyond anyone’s predictions. Someone has to administer the needs of the program, so the new assistant professor (aka me) handles it. As the program grows, she handles more of its administration. She and…
While computer and (especially) console games are just discovering the delights and benefits of community, board games have always been a social experience. And unlike the enormous teams required today for game development, board games can still be created by one or two people at a cost of next to nothing. (Admittedly, board games have…
About one in seven of the Shakespearean atoms in your body originated from his excrement. —An Estimate of the Number of Shakespeare’s Atoms (Jupiter Scientific) Deep thought of the day. Similar:Where Professors Send Their Children to CollegeTo understand this story, you have to ke…AcademiaWhen Perception Trumps Reality: Republicans aren't nearly as rich as Democrats estimate. D…Democrats…
I had not expected students to care only about their high grades (A or A- are the only acceptable “good” grades) and about getting work done so they can get on with their partying or video games (“relaxing”) or even sleeping. I had not expected that students would dash off a first draft and think…