Building a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin

—Building a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin (Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories) Via boingboing. Similar:Poetry Writing: 10 Tips for Writing PoemsIf you are writing a poem because you wa…AestheticsEveryone thinks AI is replacing factory workers, but Amazon’s layoffs show it’s coming for… Amazon announced Tuesday that it wil…BusinessProfit and Loss (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 18) Quark is…

Fantasy Congress

We The Creators of this site, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish Fantasy Congress for the United States of America. In this game, we…

Wishes

—Wishes (Despair, inc :( ) Similar:First Stanford code poetry slam reveals the literary side of computer codeLeslie Wu, a doctoral student in compute…AestheticsHide and Q (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 9) Riker, buffed up by Q, grants desires of the…Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…AmusingMy undergraduate connects the Leontes/Polixenes conflict in The Winter's Tale to a…

Thinking that Goes beneath the Surface

A month in hyper-space can scatter the brain. Traditional books offer readers respite from hyperactivity. The book’s definitive, closed, linear argument lets mind and sensibility enjoy moments of inner harmony. Linear text offers the kind of contemplative thinking that goes beneath the surface. –Heim, Electric Language: A Philosophical Study of Word Processing. New Haven: Yale…

A Place to Read

A place to read? How many students come to scholastic grief because they never find one? Last year the daughter of a friend flunked out of a huge state university because, she claimed, she could never actually read anywhere. The dorm room? Her roommates were all fun and games. The library? Far too noisy. In…

U.S. Cryptographers: 'FrpX-K5jE-Oc4n-e5Dn'

In a carefully phrased, 128-bit encoded announcement that has challenged U.S. security agency procedures, top officials of the National Cryptography and Information Security Council warned that “FrpX-K5jE-Oc4n-e5Dn” if “Ha4d-87gH-uiH3-gB5r-g8Bh” late Monday. —U.S. Cryptographers: ‘FrpX-K5jE-Oc4n-e5Dn’ (The Onion (Satire)) Similar:Dear Google: You Should Have Talked to Me FirstTeacher Jen Marten responds to Google’s …BooksChess robot grabs and breaks…

Universal sues video-sharing websites

Universal Music, the world‘slargest record company, has launched the established media industry‘sfirst legal action against user-generated internet sites in the wake of its distribution deal last week with YouTube, the most popular video-sharing website. —Joshua Chaffin —Universal sues video-sharing websites (FT.com) Note that YouTube isn’t the one being sued. YouTube actually cut a deal with Universal.…

Online world to get news bureau

Reuters has opened a virtual news agency in the Second Life online world. The bureau will be staffed by Reuters media correspondent Adam Pasick who will report on the lives and business dealings of Second Life’s residents. —Online world to get news bureau (BBC) Similar:Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism ReportSloppy journalism can…

Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action. —Jakob Nielsen —Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute (Useit.com) Similar:Making the Switch to GMail Our wonderful IT folks have set up a…CybercultureIndustriousness. Self-improvement. Thrift. And orange slime.…