A Stand Against Wikipedia

While plenty of professors have complained about the lack of accuracy or completeness of entries, and some have discouraged or tried to bar students from using it, the history department at Middlebury College is trying to take a stronger, collective stand. It voted this month to bar students from citing the Web site as a…

[Hand-made Star Wars]

—[Hand-made Star Wars] (YouTube) Very dorky, but in a totally awesome, very cool way. Similar:Man of the People (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 3) When a tranquil envoy make…Rewatching ST:TNG Called to the aid o…EmpathyIf You're Getting Walled in a Cellar I Feel Bad for You SonAmusingHow Facebook is killing comedy (and other indie content…

A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope

Han and Luke get medals but Chewie doesn’t. Actually, Leia offers him one but Chewie turns it down. He got one of those things from Yoda about 20 years ago, but there’s no way he can tell her that. —A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope (Mornignstar) A great little detail that really helps this…

Of thought and metaphor

Even something as seemingly straightforward as asking for the salt involves thinking and communicating at two levels, which is why we utter such convoluted requests as, “If you think you could pass the salt, that would be great.” Says Pinker: “It’s become so common that we don’t even notice that it is a philosophical rumination…

Pac-Man Bathroom

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Aztecs vs. Greeks: Those with superior intelligence need to learn to be wise.

The encouragement of wisdom requires a special kind of education. It requires first of all recognition of one’s own intellectual limits and fallibilities–in a word, humility. This is perhaps the most conspicuously missing part of today’s education of the gifted. Many high-IQ students, especially those who avoid serious science and math, go from kindergarten through…

Pong: The Text-Based Game

The nefarious enemy of all that is good, the right paddle, has performed an act of agression against our sovereign right side by hitting the ball back in our direction.If we act fast, we may be able to intercept the ball. It is aimed for directly above our paddle! Move the great paddle up!Hold the…

Age of Wonders

The science fiction drug is available everywhere to kids, in superhero comics, on TV, in the movies, in books and magazines. It is impossible to avoid exposure, to avoid the least hint of excitement at Marvel Comics superheroes and Star Trek reruns and Star Wars, impossible not to become habituated even before kindergarten to the…

Why Video Games May Be Hard to Give Up

The researchers found that the games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn’t keep gamers as interested. Players reported feeling the best when the games produced positive experiences and challenges that connected to what they knew in the real…