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”…

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…

Federal Court Reaffirms Immunity of Bloggers from Suits Brought Against Commenters

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

—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:Fair use prevails as Supreme Court rejects Google Books copyright caseFair use…

We Are Seven

[…] ‘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…

Britain for Americans

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 enshrines

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…

The Steampunk Workshop

—The Steampunk Workshop Link via boingboing. Reminds me of Thomas Jefferson’s PAA (personal analog assistant). Similar:Stage Right's 'Seussical' offers songs, messagesThe Tribune-Review does a great job cove…Current_EventsDaily 10sq cm of control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #steampunkAestheticsSPJ Journalist’s Toolbox Tools of the Month: Transcription favoritesTechnology is wonderful. My journalism s…JournalismThe Incredible Shrinking Ad [The Future…

EXTERMINATE!

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:A Christmas Carol (WAOB Audio Theatre)Marley was dead. (I voice the narrato…BooksWhen the art director was too cheap…

At Your Service

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…

An Estimate of the Number of Shakespeare's Atoms

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:Tuxedo Pooh Reads Oscar Wilde I spent an hour on this. Below is the …AestheticsShakespeare's Globe Theatre, Minecraft Stylehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti…AestheticsSorry, but I am done hearing about the…