Just as a shark must swim to breathe, a hard drive must be in motion to receive or return data. This air bearing technology, as it is called (pioneered at IBM in the 1950s), explains why dust and other contaminants must be kept out of the drive casing at all costs. If the heads touch…
I’ll be going to an academic setting in order to become a game programmer. What’s interesting is that just as there are film degrees (one of which I currently own) that combine the fields of literature and art with a variety of other disciplines, including physics among others, there are degrees in game creation. Places…
Missed your daily dose of Panda Cam? Don’t have the time to watch our pandas sleep? Boss expects you to do work? | Well, we have the solution right here. Our newest feature, the Daily Panda, lets you recap the daily escapades of Hua Mei, Bai Yun and Gao Gao thanks to our Panda Cam…
Here’s a suggestion that has worked for me: After leaving an employer, send your former boss and some co-workers very polite and thankful e-mails. Mention how much you enjoyed being there, knowing them, how much you learned and so forth. | Most of the time, you will get a reply. Bingo! There’s your letter of…
At the height of the Internet boom, e-books were hailed as the shining new tomorrow for publishers and paper books were heading for the scrap heap. | But the bubble has burst and electronic books are still the poor relation to the printed word with consumers preferring to turn the pages themselves when they curl…
“The entire ideology of information technology for the last 50 years has been that more information is better, that mass producing information is better,” he says. | But the net is now so much an machine with all the answers instantly, it has mutated into a “procrastination apparatus”, which spews information without much prioritisation Dr…
Many people, especially secular liberals, misunderstand the nature of religion in politics—which is, to be fair, ever shifting. To them, if it’s not about Jerry Falwell or Joe Lieberman, it’s kind of a blur. So, just in time for another religion-packed election, here is a guide to sorting through some common myths about God and…
—Facing and Fessing Up to Old Age (MetaFilter) A pleasant, if late, birthday present… a reminder on MetaFilter that I am not alone. Similar:Destiny (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 15) An ancient prophecy tests Kira’s fa…Rewatching ST:DS9 The station prepares …CultureRubric for the Rubric Concerning Students’ Core Educational Competency In Reading Things I…Sadly, this only…
Monkeys can control a robot arm as naturally as their own limbs using only brain signals, a pioneering experiment has shown. The macaque monkeys could reach and grasp with the same precision as their own hand. —Duncan Graham-Rowe —Monkey’s brain signals control ‘third arm’ (New Scientist) Similar:Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell…
Without getting into the politics (other than to say I find Sept 12 to be a useful, thought-provoking piece, and exciting new genre for games), I’m not sure why Greg and some of his commenters are so vitriolically opposed to calling Sept 12 a simulation. —Simulation Aggravation (GrandTextAuto) “Sept 12” is an interactive political cartoon —…
Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours. | And all the letters are the same….Sgt. Christopher Shelton, who signed a letter that ran in the Snohomish Herald, said Friday that his platoon sergeant had distributed the letter…
These are your panel questions. You will be asked some of them, not necessarily in this order: Is our fate in our genes or in our stars? Explain. What are the potential injustices or misuses of DNA information? Will the human genome diminish humanity by taking the mystery out of life? Jurassic Park was a…
In a few hours, my TV will care less about me. A show might attract relatively few viewers, and be panned by the critics, but if it attracts enough people in the magic age group of 18-34, it can pull in a lot of advertising dollars. In a few hours I will turn 35. Our…
Order and Respect in the ClassroomLitreracy Weblog) [Note: I’ve changed the title of this entry and edited it slightly — mostly by changing which words I used to link to Mike Arnzen’s blog. The previous version the previous version implied an association that I didn’t mean to create.] On his PEDABLOGUE, Mike Arnzen confesses he…
In a statement, SunnComm Technologies Inc. said it would sue Alex Halderman over the paper, which said SunnComm’s MediaMax CD-3 software could be blocked by holding down the “Shift” key on a computer keyboard as a CD using the software was inserted into a disc drive. —Ben Berkiwitz —Princeton Student Sued Over Paper on CD…
On the bridge, Baldwin counted to ten and stayed frozen. He counted to ten again, then vaulted over. “I still see my hands coming off the railing,” he said. As he crossed the chord in flight, Baldwin recalls, “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable–except for…
—Muppet Terror Alert (Geek and Proud) Found on Sarcasmo’s Corner Similar:Scholars' unconvincing case about the value of the humanities (essay)A literary work is a powerful tool for s…AcademiaTrying something a bit different for today's 10 sq cm of #steampunk #blender3d control pan…AestheticsBeautiful News Writing: "Rampaging rooster attacks girl."I don’t want to make light of a little…
Barriers are being destoyed at the same time as bridges are being built within the literary community just as in almost every other field affected by the almighty computer. Arguments fly on all sides especially as to what constitutes art. Progress constantly changes the determination–even when it may be that it is a subjective view,…
It must be that time of the semester (no, no, Michelle, not that time): people are talking about grading student papers. —Ron Vitia —Grading Papers (Vitia) I don’t understand the in-joke referring to Michelle, but the conversation that ensues is good. Via Clancy on KairosNews. Similar:About the Sinkhole in the Adjunct Faculty Lounge, and Other Mid-Semester…
A note from C.M. Worth reminds me to blog that Neil Postman, author of Amusing Ourselves to Death died this weekend. —Neil Postman, Mass Media Critic, Dies (NY Times) Similar:Twitter, after 10 years, hasn't been a money-makerRake-thin and bearded, Dorsey radiates a…BusinessThe real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15…