Challenged to retrieve the powerful Amulet of Yendor from a fathomless, monster-plagued dungeon, you’ll discover that the dungeon is actually a randomly-generated configuration of brackets, asterisks and periods; the villainous pit beasts are an assortment of letters (“O” for Orcs, “D” for dragons and so on); and your heroic avatar is nothing more than a…
You stroll outside and are delighted to see the sun just clearing the eastern horizon. It is a beautiful autumn morning and the air feels brisk as you take a deep breath. Across the way, you spot a jogger just before they disappear into a grove of tall ash trees. —Mike Tolar —Clink: A Clickable…
Retrogaming: 10 Links about Centipede (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Wikipedia’s Centipede (video game) I had no idea the PC in Centipede is a garden gnome. I always assumed I was playing an insect of some sort, squirting out venom to fight off attackers. (Elsewhere I’ve seen references to the PC having a magic wand.) The page is…
Instead of beginning their day with coffee and the newspaper, there to read what editors have selected for their enlightenment, people, and young people in particular, wait for a free moment to go online. No longer need they wade through thickets of stories and features of no interest to them, and least of all need…
I have a very hard time getting my son to go shopping, look for a new car, see a movie, travel.I told him what kind of life style could these people have. I told him the only thing he will end up in life having is a six pack of beer, a trailer, and a…
Despite the billions of dollars spent every year in this country on over-the-counter cough syrups, most such medicines do little if anything to relieve coughs, the nation‘schest physicians say. Over-the-counter cough syrups generally contain drugs in too low a dose to be effective, or contain combinations of drugs that have never been proven to treat…
Quotations from the Jerz Household (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) “I don’t want you to go back to work. I want you to be a real daddy, who takes care of me.” (Carolyn, age 3, contemplating the end of the Christmas break.) “Mommy, what does ‘neat and tidy’ mean?” (Peter, age 7, who studies the periodic table for…
When shown images of real-life violence, people who played violent video games were found to have a diminished response. However, when the same group were shown other disturbing images such as dead animals or ill children they had a much more natural response. When the game players were given the opportunity to punish a pretend…
Introduction: Gateway to the World On Friday January 6, I went to NY for my first self-planned and self-financed trip. I did the planning, the research, and I didn’t rely on my parents or older relatives for transportation (to get around Manhattan). I was pretty much on my own (of course I was accompanied by…
Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. In other words, it’s OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors,…
The 1979‘sMilton-Bradley Microvision was the first globally hand-held cartridge-based system. The first hand-held was soon forgotten during the fall video game crash in early 1980s until the concept was reanimated ten years later, Nintendo GameBoy, became the one of still standing and successfully brand-name video game in history of portable video game. Since Gameboy erupted,…
Just as other people don’t necessarily understand my work, I don’t understand how hard it is to drive a truck for 12 hours a day, to pick lettuce year in and year out, to raise a child with autism, to struggle with an anxiety disorder, to not understand math no matter how hard you try,…
We rail against sequels, we talk about how we want original titles, but–according to the indisputable sales data–continue to lap up unimaginative, derivative sequel after unimaginative, derivative sequel. Is it any wonder, then, that companies continue to crank out sequel after roster update after sequel? They’re financially rewarded for doing so! —Vladimir Cole —The folly…
As I grow older, new years don’t feel so new any more. Take this year for instance, it is totally packed with teaching and other tasks until the 10th of February. In the first 7 weeks of the semester I will be doing all my teaching this semester and next (until 1st of October). I…
The tragic miscommunication began when rescue workers deep in the mine called the rescue command center at the surface at 11:45 p.m. to report that the other 12 miners had been found alive. Gene Kitts, senior vice president at International Coal, said the call came into the command center over an open speaker and was…
An Associated Press dispatch first carried the news at 11:52 pm: “Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, more than 41 hours after the blast, family members said. Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation.”…
Google News snapshot preserves good, but inaccurate, news (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Google can’t tell the difference between all the different West Virginia mining stories that are popping up online. It may take a while for Google to adjust its focus, as the human editors post updates and Google gets around to re-indexing news sites. While I…
Family members learned early Wednesday that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coal mine have died. —Allen G. Breed —Families Say 11 of 12 W.Va. Miners Dead (AP|MyWay) This is horrible. The lead of Breed’s original story says the miners “were found,” but does not…
There is a famous journalistic legend about the time a young reporter covered the Johnstown flood of 1889. The kid wrote: “God sat on a hillside overlooking Johnstown today and looked at the destruction He had wrought.” His editor cabled back: “Forget flood. Interview God.” —Roger Ebert —Herbie Fully Loaded (Sun Times) Yes, I admit I…
I have the most difficult time interviewing people affected by tragedy. I find it hard to keep my composure. You’ve probably seen Nick Helms on CNN. He’s 25 and his father, Terry, is one of the men trapped. He’s one of the mine’s fire bosses and based on the scant information we have right now,…