EL405 Students Tackle Blender's ''Gus'' Tutorial

EL405 Students Tackle Blender’s ”Gus” Tutorial (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) My New Media Projects students got into small groups and walked through my Flash version of Blender’s “Gus” animation tutorial. It looks like Blender3D saves some temporary files in such a way that the lab computer’s security restrictions cause some issues, because two of the student groups…

Still Not the News: Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs

Video news releases are pre-packaged broadcast segments designed to look like television news stories, that are funded by and scripted for corporate or government clients. (See “Fake TV News: Introduction.”) On April 6, 2006, the Center for Media and Democracy released a comprehensive report detailing TV newsrooms’ use of VNRs. The report, “Fake TV News:…

Best Invention: YouTube

Having started with a single video of a trip to the zoo in April of last year, YouTube now airs 100 million videos–and its users add 70,000 more–every day. What happened? YouTube’s creators had stumbled onto the intersection of three revolutions. First, the revolution in video production made possible by cheap camcorders and easy-to-use video…

Whack-A-Moliere

Whack-A-Moliere (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I made this with cleverpig.com’s Whack-A-Pig tutorial. Similar:Fact Check: No, an NPR story on the Trump supporters' attempted coup dated January 6, 2021…According to the Internet Archive, this …Current_EventsClose Reading of Sonnet 130: Form, Theme, and Cultural Context (and a Rage Comic)I’m preparing to teach Shakespeare again…AcademiaClickbait Tactics Drive the Writing of Headlines…

Physics for Future Presidents

[C]hocolate chip cookies (CCCs) have eight times the energy as the same weight of TNT. How can that be true? Why can’t we blow up a building with CCCs instead of TNT? —Physics for Future Presidents Via Metafilter. My eight-year-old son is a physics junkie. I can’t wait to show him the videotaped lectures and…

Once upon a time

“I’ve been making up bedtime stories for my children and suddenly I’ve had a brainwave. These stories are good! These stories are brilliant! I would be failing in my moral duty to my adoring public if I did not put them down on paper.” If my theory holds true, it is scary, because it suggests…

The Wikipedia and the Death of Archaeology

Given a sufficient amount of server space and the commitment to maintain it, a resource already exists that may not only sound the death knell of archaeology, but also the opportunity to enable a greater depth and sophistication of anthropology than has ever existed before. So radical an innovation would this new anthropological methodology represent…

Seton Hill University Information Technology's Special Comments about Internet Usage and Web Postings

Seton Hill University encourages self-expression and open communication as part of the student experience, in balance with the mission of Seton Hill University and the ideals of sensitivity, dignity and respect for self and for others. —Seton Hill University Information Technology’s Special Comments about Internet Usage and Web Postings (Seton Hill University) More and more students…

Best. Costume. Ever.

—Best. Costume. Ever. If your geek quotient isn’t high enough to recognize it, this is a mock-up of the power loader from Aliens. Similar:Computer scientist Leslie Lamport to [Brandeis] grads: If you can’t write, it won’t comput…I like introducing my English majors to …AcademiaThe daughter looks stunning in pink. AestheticsRascals (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6,…

Percentage of Chart Which Resembles Pac-Man

—Percentage of Chart Which Resembles Pac-Man (themot.org) Similar:Email (finding the right tone as a writer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXlgO…CybercultureAPNews.com Photo Still Says Sam Smith "declared his pronouns 'they/them'" a Week LaterThe Associated Press was widely criticiz…CultureToasty Warm Bed (designed by drunk AI neural net)AestheticsStanford to offer new undergraduate majors integrating humanities, computer scienceTraining humanists who can code like a…

Stephen Colbert on Blogs

—Stephen Colbert on Blogs (Youtube) My student Gabby Blanchard posted this on her blog. Hilarious. Similar:Poetry Writing: 10 Tips for Writing PoemsIf you are writing a poem because you wa…AestheticsOne Man's Mission To Keep AOL's Legacy Alive”Hi. I’m Jason Scott, and I am trying to…CybercultureSeven Guitars ( #AugustWilson #CenturyCycle, 5 of 10)August Wilson’s Century Cycle > …