Interactivity Final Assignment: Create a Hoax. Submission: "Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence"

“Proposal. Develop a false website and organization concentrating on the newest national concern: videogame addiction and violence. This organization is called Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence (MAVAV, www.mavav.org). There is a great amount of stereotypes about people who play videogames (anti-social, depressed, unintelligent) and a lot of videogame violence bashing and blame (scapegoat) by…

What Should I Do With My Life

“Throughout the 1990s, my basic philosophy was this: Work=Boring, but Work+Speed+Risk=Cool. Speed and risk transformed the experience into something so stimulating, so exciting, so intense, that we began to believe that those qualities defined ‘good work.’ Now, betrayed by the reality of economic uncertainty and global instability, we’re casting about for what really matters when…

The Droves of Academe

“For recent Ph.D.’s looking for positions in the fields of language and literature, the frantic surroundings of the M.L.A. convention offer the only dusty rays of hope. It’s a bleak landscape for academic job-seekers in any field, but this year, a flyer in the conference press room trumpeted ‘the sharpest decline in Language and Literature…

Happy Birthday, Dear Internet

“The 1970s boast a slew of what could be pegged essential Internet milestones, including the advent of e-mail and the splintering off of ARPANET from military experiment to public resource. But perhaps the most famous of the lot is the acclaimed Jan. 1, 1983, switch from Network Control Protocol to Transmission Control Protocol and Internet…

Feeling Blue? This Robot Knows It.

“By processing information sent from physiological sensors the human counterpart wears, the Vanderbilt robot can detect when its master is having a bad day and approach with the query: ‘I sense that you are anxious. Is there anything I can do to help?’” —Feeling Blue? This Robot Knows It.Wired) The story includes an amusing opposing…

The Rise of “Synthespians”

“Mr. Serkis is the human actor behind the computer-generated (CG) character Gollum, a wizened Hobbit who’s part manlike, part evil beast. More than just giving voice to the character, Serkis provided all its movements and facial expressions, which were later ‘painted over’ by animators.” Gregory M. Lamb —The Rise of “Synthespians” (CS Monitor) Gollum is…

Tolkien's Translation of "Beowulf" Discovered

“The 2000 handwritten pages include Tolkien’s translation and appraisal of Beowulf, the epic 8th century Anglo-Saxon poem of bravery, friendship and monster-slaying that is thought to have inspired The Lord of the Rings.” —Tolkien’s Translation of “Beowulf” Discoverednews.com.au) Grendel-riffic! Similar:The Tempest, According to My 9yo DaughterShe’s 10 now, but here is her response t…CultureNarrating "A…

The Virtual Skinner Box

“EverQuest has a decidedly constructive and cooperative tone to it. There is no blood in the game. No disemboweled intestines splatter on your screen. Instead, players often find themselves chatting while waiting for a mob to spawn. The ranger may be fletching as he recounts a particularly close battle. The warrior chugs some Dwarven Ale.…

Battle of the Bones

Anthropologists have long looted the gravesites of native peoples in the name of science — and profit. But the recent trend to return those remains for reburial is not always welcomed by the cultures involved. “Far from being led by Native communities, the trend towards repatriation is driven by intellectuals on the cultural left, and…

Blogs Make the News

“In May, when pro-Palestinian activists attacked a group of Hillel students at San Francisco State University, the national press took no notice; there was a small mention in the May 12 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, nothing more. But bloggers — led by Richmond, Virginia, freelance writer Meryl Yourish — piled on the story….…

Austen writes Lord of the Rings

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Dark Lord in possession of a desire to rule the world must be in want of a ring.” —Austen writes Lord of the RingsPemberly.com) Hmm… that’s a bit of a stretch… “a Dark Lord in possession of The Ring must be in want of the world.” But…

Uncle Bill's Helicopter

“On September 23rd, 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter, after travelling from earth to mars, missed its re-entry to the atmosphere by 143 kilometers, and burned to a crisp. Why? One engineering group used english units, the other used metric. 3 years of labor. Toast. They’d made a big mistake. They’d screwed up. Email to engineering:…

Surgery Without Pain: A Tale of Revision

“[M]y first reaction was to abdicate and let the editor wield the knife. But that impulse quickly passed. If anyone was going to cut my story, it was going to be me, as painful as I knew it was going to be.” Chip Scanlan learns about brevity. —Surgery Without Pain: A Tale of RevisionPoynter Online)…