The following list is made up of a few things I’ve noticed in a lot of the interactive fiction games I’ve tested or tried out. I’ve tried these games for reasons I can’t entirely fathom; admittedly, it’s easier and leaves fewer disfiguring scars than self-flagellation. It is not necessarily any less painful though. —Michael J.…
You rarely see, for example, a faculty member from an Ivy League university alongside one from a community college on a Modern Language Association panel, regardless of any research interests they might share. That shows the dangerous classism that pervades academe, something I admittedly did not see for myself until I began teaching at a…
Until recently entertainment reporting was in the hands of respectful, publicist-friendly titles such as Vanity Fair and The Los Angeles Times. Indeed, the latter recently opened one of its celebrity articles with this gem of a sentence: “One doesn’t so much interview Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne as sit back and watch as their friendship,…
The blog hurt the administration in two key ways: First, administrators were unable to focus on correcting the problems that led to the creation of the blog, and second, the administration’s clumsy and futile efforts to combat the blog simply compounded the anger and contempt on campus. —Daniel W. Barwick —The Blog That Ate a…
—Wintergreen ”When I Wake Up” (KeithSchofield.com) Is this for real? I’m not so sure the song goes with the images, but it’s still awesome. Similar:AI is better at writing poems than you’d expect. But that’s fine. Even the most rebellious poets follow …CultureClosing the Door on the Video Store Era (with tweets) · chutry · StorifyNow…
“It would have been a major oversight to ignore this portentous anniversary,” said Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, whose site now boasts over 4,300,000 articles in multiple languages, over one-quarter of which are in English, including 11,000 concerning popular toys of the 1980s alone. —Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence: Founding Fathers, Patriots, Mr. T.…
Infocom, king of the text adventure and the first behemoth of American computer game development, began not with a bang, but with an internet meme. —Lara Crigger —The Short, Happy Life of Infocom (The Escapist) There are some details about Infocom culture that are nicely placed. I like what Jeremy Douglass wrote about the genre of…
Capitalizing on youthful passion for video games, school leaders hope to keep more kids in school by offering the chance to conceive, design, build — and sell — their own video game. “That’s what they love,” said David White, the school’s chief academic officer. “That’s the hook.” —Scott Elliott —Reading, writing and video games (Dayton Daily…
—Blender Basics, 2nd Ed (pdf) (Central Dauphin High School) Where was this book during the last 3 weeks when I was struggling with random half-finished tutorials? Thank you, James Chronister! Similar:How Technology Has Changed The Way We WriteSocial media services have put writing t…CultureTwitter is testing a tool for reporting fake & offensive contentIt’s risky to…
In hiring, I look for individuals who demonstrate insatiable intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and analytical skills as well as firm control of the English language. Today, it is important for journalists also to have a sound grounding in science and business/finance. Sadly, I find that it is common to find journalism grads that lack all…
RideMax is a computer software program guaranteed to help you save time waiting in line at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. RideMax allows you to specify the attractions you wish to ride during your visit, then uses a sophisticated scheduling algorithm to order your attractions so that the amount of time you spend in line…
The report, written by Senior Research Specialist Amanda Lenhart and Associate Director Susannah Fox, says that bloggers are avid consumers and creators of online content. They are also heavy users of the internet in general. Forty-four percent of bloggers have taken material they find online — like songs, text, or images — and remixed it…
There are serious logical problems posed by any attempt to prove conclusively that a person does not (or did not) exist. No matter how many searches fail to prove the existence of someone, that failure does not negate the person’s possible existence. However, when a specific person’s specific occupation or background are made relevant as…
Summer Blogging Slowdown (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I’m going on a little family vacation, and won’t be back until Tuesday. We’re visiting my brother-in-law in New Jersey, and plan to visit Philadelphia, too. I hope this trip goes better than last year’s. Similar:Those emails can wait.PersonalDani Girl (Oct 1-3, 2015) at the Geyer Performing Arts CenterVinnie Tresco,…
—Knights of the Round Table — Star Trek TOS (YouTube) Amusing. Not side-splittingly funny, like that Bush/Blair mashup that was circulating last year. But still amusing. Thanks for the suggestion, Rosemary. Similar:Flipped Classes: Omit Housekeeping Mechanics from Recorded Lectures to Lengthen Their Shel…When a Facebook friend asked for tips on…AcademiaReport to bay 3, where tea will…
—Blender for the Faint Hearted — 06: Material Basics, Part 2 (SciFi Meshes) I’ve been working with the open source 3D design tool “Blender.” It’s powerful. Very powerful. It’s got an overwhelming number of buttons, and the existing documentation is incomplete. I have asked Seton Hill to purchase a handful of copies of a professional 3D…
Angry mother to preteen girl: “Don’t ever tell me to shut up again. That’s totally disrespectful. Now go and fill your damn water.” Similar:Man Infected with Ebola Misinformation Through Casual Contact With Cable NewsOn the other end of the link, the New Yo…AmusingCinderella Deadlines: Reconsidering Timelines for Student WorkI have been experimenting with midnight …AcademiaIn…
Although professors may hope to remove obstacles to success, innate personality and other environmental factors may influence learning more than what we are able to offer with the short number of hours we are in contact with students. Yet, there are some tactics that seem to encourage real engagement in undergraduate core classes: —Shari Wilson…
The 28-year-old, identified only as D.M., took a photo of his speedometer showing 170 km (100 mph) on a back road in northern Croatia and then put it on the Web site of his local municipality. Police found him three days later. —Hey! Who turned me in? (Reuters) Similar:Advice to First Year College Students on Freshman…
Qui ne se souvient pas du SPACE INVADERS, lun des premiers jeux vidéo — Aux commandes d’un vaisseau, il s’agissait de défendre la Terre contre des escadrilles d’envahisseurs venus de l’espace… Et bien, la plus grande partie de SPACE INVADERS de la planète a eu lieu le 24 juin 2006 au festival Belluard. —Space Invaders (notsonoisy.com)…