This semester we are going to experiment with blog technology to practice working on your critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Frankly, I‘m not sure where this is going to go this semester, but I hope we will find this useful and productive. Students last term convinced me that blogs rather than course discussion lists…
Lau never expected to become a fortune-cookie writer. After graduating from Columbia with degrees in engineering and business, he joined Bank of America, then ran a company that exported logs from the Pacific Northwest to China. In the early eighties, he was hired by a Chinatown noodle manufacturer, which eventually expanded into fortune cookies. The…
The Love Bug is still a 1963 Volkswagen with a mind of its own and headlights that can freakin’ blink. Herbie is back with Ms. Lohan in the driver’s seat. The VW’s look and story hasn’t changed since actor Dean Herbie rode in “Herbie Rides Again,” “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo” and — perhaps the…
Hollywood actors unions have reached a contract deal with video game publishers, accepting higher pay instead of the profit-sharing they had demanded, the unions said Wednesday, removing the threat of a strike. —Voice Actors Win Bigger Check (Reuters | Wired) Just following up on a story I blogged earlier. Similar:Crowther's Adventure: Tough Memes to Squash…
Google has become the world’s most highly-valued media company after only 10 months of trading as a public company. It now dwarfs more traditional media companies such as Viacom and Walt Disney, which have stock market capitalisations of between $54bn and $55bn. — $80bn Google takes top media spot (BBC) Similar:NASA Just Found a Lost SpacecraftIf…
John Watson, who teaches journalism ethics and communications law at American, has noticed another phenomenon: Many students, he says, believe that simply working hard — though not necessarily doing excellent work — entitles them to an A. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a student dispute a grade, not on the basis…
Its doughnuts, available for many years only in the Southeast, had attracted a devoted, even fanatical, customer base. When the company decided to go national, it opened franchises in locations guaranteed to generate buzz — Manhattan, Los Angeles, Las Vegas — and customers lined up around the block. By August 2003, KKD was trading at…
The new so-called “size law” will force clothes sellers to display and exhibit larger clothes sizes in their stores, in an attempt to address the problem of bulimia and anorexia in teenagers. —Argentina to Implement Size Law (China Broadcst) Just filing this for the next time I get a freshman comp research paper with an “Advertisers…
—Bendy Lines in a Menu (Seton Hill University) Do you see it too? That’s one weird warping effect… I just downloaded The Gimp, a free, open-source replacement for Photoshop. I can probably kiss the next couple of hours goodbye… this looks like fun. Similar:Washington Post, Breaking News, Is Also Breaking New GroundThe Washington Post, famous for…
Much like the film industry, an overemphasis on blockbusters is one of the industry’s biggest weaknesses as far as encouraging innovation and creativity, say observers. “Future titles need to offer more than wild shootouts, violent explosions, and the wholesale cheapening of life,” says game designer Howard Sherman. “We’ve been moving in the wrong direction,” says…
If you saw her in Santa Monica, even in her Mex red apron, you would assume she was an actress. She could easily fill in for a bad blonde in a Mexican telenovela. Yet she shows little animation in her work, and falls short even in the conventional friendliness that I?ve received from checkers at…
While the debate on the moral virtues of any particular form of grade distribution fascinates as cultural artifact, the variability of grading standards has a more practical consequence. As grades increasingly reflect an idiosyncratic and locally defined performance levels, their value for outside consumers of university products declines. Who knows what an ?A? in American…
“Since the war has ended, all is good.” “Are the people happy?” I asked. Mr. Shukry paused for a moment, as if it were the simplest question he’d been asked in months, “Of course they are happy,” he said. “Are you Muslim?” I asked. “Yes,” he said. —Michael Yon —A Fork in the Road (Michael Yon:…
If you are skidding out of control at 95mph in your broken down Winnebago on an ice covered interstate, when a semi-truck filled with both poorly packaged fireworks and loosely bundled spark plugs slams on its brakes, it‘snot the right time to discuss with your passengers where y?all would like to stop for dinner. But…
The world is full of devices associated with the word ergonomic. A scholar trying to learn the word by studying the way it’s used in today’s culture is likely conclude that it means “curvy” or possibly “funny-looking.” Nearly all mice, trackballs, and other devices are now described as ergonomic; this doesn’t mean they’re all good…
What I am willing to predict, however, even at this early stage, is that the real loser in all of this will be PC gaming. Let’s start with Quake 4, which uses the “old” Doom 3 engine but still came across as one of the more impressive PC titles I saw at the show. Id,…
“(They’re) nuts if they think they deserve residuals for a half-day of voice-over work,” said Long. “A development team (might) slave away for two years to produce a title.” —Xeni Jardin —Coders Want Fatter Paychecks, Too (Wired) Similar:Rediscovering History’s Lost First Female Video Game DesignerRCA’s console never rivaled the impact o…CybercultureWindows 3.1 Turns 30: Here’s…
Over the last three decades, building materials have changed dramatically. Plumbing, flooring, siding, roofing – most are now made from synthetics. The same goes for the stuff inside the building, like foam rubber seat cushions, plastic computer cases, and nylon carpet fibers. As a result, today’s blazes produce two to three times as much energy…
Ross, a professional actor who had spent years working with theater groups across Canada, knew how to mimic all the voices in “Star Wars” – as well as the fluorescent hum of a lightsaber – when he set about adapting the trilogy for stage. Ross and director T.J. Dawe then devised ways to physically represent…
Yay for the students who… …hand in their assignment a week early and still manage to go above and beyond what is asked of them. …write far more than the required minimum by the time you ask for a rough draft. …progress from a C on the first exam to an A on the third…