With the aid of a photo, master illustrator Rob Sacchetto will hand-illustrate a custom portrait depicting you as a brain-chasing ghoul. —Zombie Portraits Similar:Set Phasers to Teach!Fans of Star Trek have thus already been…AcademiaWest Side Story (Aug 9-12) #somethingscomingCultureA picture of puffy white clouds floating in a blue skyAestheticsOffice Hours in the Pool Hall My favorite story…
When someone forwards you an urgent e-mail message, it’s often something you really do need to see; if a cellphone call breaks through while you’re desperately trying to solve a problem, it might be the call that saves your hide. In the language of computer sociology, our jobs today are “interrupt driven.” Distractions are not…
—Asteroid’s Revenge This resembles a videogame version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the modern play that retells Hamlet from the perspective of two minor characters. The website calls it “Asteroids Revenge,” but I’ll excuse the mistake. Similar:Using "Strive" as a NounObviously I know what my students mean w…CultureHacking the Attention EconomyThe techniques that are…
This short study examines Wikipedia’s credibility by asking 258 research staff with a response rate of 21 percent, to read an article and assess its credibility, the credibility of its author and the credibility of Wikipedia as a whole. Staff were either given an article in their own expert domain or a random article. No…
Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years. 1. Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the…
This face says, “GOD! I am WAY TOO BUSY having a mouthful of braces and a hot-rolled ponytail to smile for you, Mom! GOD!” —bershon (flickr pool) The world needed a word to describe this attitude. I haven’t been able to trace its origin, though. Update: My German classes were a long time ago, but…
Mr. Banks learns that the British Empire, its banks and many other manifestations of authority should be undermined, or at least taken less seriously. Life would be better if parents allowed themselves to dance like chimney sweeps and fly kites in the park. They shouldn’t just pay more attention to their children; they should become…
About 300 eighth-graders at South Valley Junior High in Liberty, Mo., are blogging this fall about Guerrilla Season, a book about a 15-year-old living in Civil War-era Missouri. The book’s author, Pat Hughes, is joining in the online discussion from her home in Philadelphia. “I love being able to communicate with the author because it…
NASA scientists conceded on Tuesday that the 10-year-old Mars Global Surveyor is probably lost in space after the U.S. agency tried unsuccessfully for two weeks to contact the probe. —NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor believed lost in space (Reuters) This link will probably expire soon, so here’s Wikipedia’s Mars Global Surveyor page. Similar:Firstborn (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season…
—Leonard Nimoy (Spock) – Music Video (YouTube) Watching this video caused me so much deep pain that the only way I could relieve it was to share it with you. You will probably feel either filthy or angry after watching it. Similar:4 writing lessons from the comedy of Joan RiversAll writers can learn from studying the…
We got to go there – but not back again … Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (who directed/wrote the Lord of the Rings films) —Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh Talk THE HOBBIT (The One Ring.net) Jackson and Walsh won’t be involved in The Hobbit movie or a planned prequel to The Lord of the Rings. Similar:All…
[Image showing a few paragraphs from a story spoofing the “Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective” book series.] >>> —Adam Cadre —The Case of the Captured Koala (adamcadre) Make sure you stick with it until you get to the solution, which is where you’ll find the gimmick that makes this story worth blogging — especially if you know…
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act may give shopkeepers the power to force Linden Labs to delete copied items, but it will not provide financial compensation to the victims of infringement unless they file a federal lawsuit. Given the cost of these virtual goods, there aren’t going to be many infringements worth the expense of suing.…
My robot came configured to make 384 donuts per hour automatically. —Donut Robot of Love 2000 (adw3345) How can you not read something that includes a lead like that? Via MeFi. Similar:Yahoo, You Nagged Me Too Many Times; Bye!I have a Yahoo account that I use when a…BusinessStandardized-test robo-graders flunk“According to professor of theory of kno…AcademiaThe…
A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende. The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia.…
You have a billion potential teachers. You have an opportunity to learn in ways that you or I could not even have dreamed of when we were in school. And you have an opportunity to shepherd your students into a much more complex, much messier, and much more profound world of learning in ways that…
Miss Weaser, from Tufnell Park, began testing gadgets for the blogging website Shiny Media, which posted the one-minute video clips on YouTube. The films included her demonstrating mobile phones, laptops, a GPS and even a Cyberman head. In September, they were spotted by producers from TV company Princess Productions, which had been commissioned to make…
—Dumb Azz Burglars, A MUST SEE WMV (YouTube) Do not — I repeat, NOT — drink milk while watching this, for it will shoot out your nose. This one is also kind of cute, though it’s too long. Similar:‘Not good, not nice’: At Florida rally, Trump says China has ‘targeted our farmers’They weren’t the most newsworthy…
You know, I’ve loved Firefox for a long, long time. I can’t live without my tabbed browsing, I’m literally lost without it, but with Firefox 2.0 someone at Mozilla has totally dropped the ball when it comes to the most compelling feature I use Firefox for, and that’s the tabs feature. —Duncan Riley —2 things…
Writers are always beaten over the head with the admontion “Show, don’t tell.” It’s not bad advice by any means. Often it’s pretty good advice. But, I know there are times when you should tell instead. For instance, in my Nanowrimo, I appreciate the word inflation, but I’m well aware that no one actually wants…