Good Definition of a “Realistic” War Game

"[T]hey ship 45,000 copies, and only 15,000 of the games allow you to proceed past the beach. That’s it. No refunds, either. You get off the landing craft; your screen goes black; your computer seizes up and cannot be rebooted. Game over, man." James Lileks —Good Definition of a “Realistic” War Game (The Bleat) Similar:Writing…

Approximating Life

Richard S. Wallace has created Alice, an artificial life form that gets along with people better than he does.  —Approximating Life (NY Times — registration req’d) Similar:Technical and Literary Writing: What’s the difference? « DekonztruktschonIn an advanced new media class, I’m intr…AcademiaMaking Connections in Virtual One-ShotsI often invite my colleague Kelly Clever…AcademiaWhen Perception Trumps Reality:…

One researcher’s unlikely crusade: to overthrow the on/off button.

"[U]sers—confounded by too many choices—fail to take advantage of their office equipment’s power-saving features."  —One researcher’s unlikely crusade: to overthrow the on/off button. (Technology Review) Similar:ChatGPT Can Be Broken by Entering These Strange Words, And Nobody Is Sure WhyReddit usernames like ‘SolidGoldMagikarp…CybercultureI have a daughter who does things. Here’s what she’ll be starting on next…

Do the good intentions excuse environmental scientists who oversimplify to get attention?

The Method of Lies vs. the Method of Truth: “The sincerity of the propagandist is no protection; some of the worst excesses in history were engineered by persons motivated by zealous belief.” Julian Simon Note particularly the (unsourced) quotation from Stephen Schneider, describing how environmental scientists manipulate the media in order to get attention: “[W]e…

User Empowerment and the Fun Factor

“It’s very enjoyable to visit a website that works, where everything just clicks for you. In contrast, a user interface that doesn’t do things the way you want feels sluggish, unpleasant, and possibly even hostile, despite the designer’s no doubt sincere attempt to invoke positive emotions.” Jakob Nielsen —User Empowerment and the Fun Factor (Alertbox) Similar:Proto…

Why Psychology has Failed

“Despite the best efforts of poets, emotions are largely beyond words, and this is another reason why, in Kagan’s view, psychology and psychiatry have stalled.” Peter Watson —Why Psychology has FailedNew Statesman) Similar:What It Takes To Change Your Brain's Patterns After Age 25Most of our brain’s patterns are solidif…HealthWhat Could Have Entered the Public Domain…

A Journey and a Book are Perfect Companions

“When Socrates was asked where he came from, he did not say, ‘From Athens’, but ‘From the world’, an attitude that our own reading and travels may encourage.” Alain de Botton —A Journey and a Book are Perfect Companions  (Times Online) Similar:Alice in Quantumland: A Charming Illustrated Allegory of Quantum Mechanics by a CERN Physi…Alice…

Pac-Man

“The kids who grew up steering Pac-Man around his dot-filled maze have grown up to make video games one of the biggest slices of the entertainment-industry pie. Yet no game to date has come close to dominating the popular landscape the way Pac-Man did in the early 1980s.” Chris Green —Pac-Man (Salon) Similar:Real or Fake? (News…

Intelligence Officers Read Between the Enemy Lines

“[T]he war on terrorism is unlike any other war in its dependence on intelligence, and the interrogators and “document exploitation” teams in Afghanistan occupy a crucial front.”  —Greg Miller, Intelligence Officers Read Between the Enemy Lines (LA Times) Similar:"I don't view Shakespeare's work as intimidating anymore." — midterm reflection from coll… “It has made me…

Lawmakers Blast Pledge Ruling

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is an unconstitutional “endorsement of religion” because of the addition of the phrase “under God” in 1954 by Congress. —Lawmakers Blast Pledge Ruling (CNN) Similar:Egypt sentences Al Jazeera journalists to years in prisonAn Egyptian court has sentenced two Al J…Current_EventsA Video…

Fling the Cow

FlingTheCow.com: A catapult… a target… a cow. Don’t just sit there… fling the cow! Similar:Seton Hill's Griffin Holds an iPad in Front of Admin Steps (Blender 3D Models)I textured the model I created yesterday…ArtApple threatens to remove Parler social networking service from App Store Apple Inc has threatened to remove the…BusinessChoose wisely… you have the…

The Origin of Stories: Horton Hears a Who

“Dr. Seuss makes Horton the sort of agent… who dominates stories from Beowulf to Braveheart, powerful, generous, and resourceful; and he makes Horton’s goals unmistakable, admirable, and urgent: the struggle not to be cast out of his community, the survival of a whole people.” Brian Boyd —The Origin of Stories: Horton Hears a Who (Philosophy…

Why Rockstar Games Rule

“I had seen a 9-year-old boy blowing away guards with a shotgun in a preview version of State of Emergency, an ultraviolent Rockstar game that encourages players to smash shop windows and assassinate executives in an urban street riot.  ‘That’s not cool,’ he said flatly. ‘We’re not about cute games for kids.’” Logan Hill —Why…

‘Er’ Cautions Listeners to Stay on Side

“Um … there’re these psychologists, right? And they’ve, uh, come up with, like, the idea that ‘um’ and ‘uh’ are really words, which speakers, um … use to highlight their conversational problems. Ok?” John Whitfield —‘Er’ Cautions Listeners to Stay on Side (Nature) Similar:Old English Has a Serious Image ProblemThis fall I will be teaching…

ZipUSA: Aimes, IA

The complex sociology of a college dorm: “‘We play video games at least half the day,’ says freshman Tyler Manker. He’s exaggerating. A little. He estimates that he spends five hours a day playing video or computer games, two hours watching TV or videos, and an hour on the Internet. Oh, yeah—he also spends three…

Dr. Toast's Amazing World of Toast

“I strongly believe that Toast is the very thread which holds together the uneasy seams of modern society. Therefore, it seems only appropriate that I pay some sort of homage to this humble Slice of Heaven.” —Dr. Toast’s Amazing World of Toast See also: weather-forecasting toaster; toaster art; “Flying Toasters” (a short story); “When Flying…

Orthodox Faith and Computer Programming

“What is in common between faith and programming?… both are about truth.” Hierodeacon Makary —Orthodox Faith and Computer Programming (Pravda) A thought-provoking little article, but even more surprising is its source. Yes, that’s Pravda, the official publication of the Communist Party in Russia. Similar:Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs broke the story of Hope Hicks's COVID-19 InfectionThose darned…

Welcome to www.villainsupply.com, your best online source for everything EVIL. If you are a supervillain, mad scientist, warlord, dictator, or despot, then this is the place for you. Similar:Topical Satire Is Not "Fake News."While I’ve been preparing to teach a cla…AmusingYouTube distortion after the same clip is re-uploaded 1000 timesIn theory, technology lets people make…

Guns and Roses

“Shakespeare was a hugely popular commercial writer who asked big questions about the world he lived in. The world has changed but the questions remain the same, and they still need asking.”  —Guns and Roses (Guardian) Similar:2001: A Space Odyssey – Discerning Themes through Score and ImageryIncredibly detailed close reading of the…AestheticsWhen you hear your…