Original Research–Good or Bad?
I recently rewatched Julia, the 1977 film starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based on a chapter in Lillian Hellman's memoir, Pentimento: A Book of Portraits. That chapter tells…
News Media Not Doing Its Job
As I drove to the airport in late September, I listened, as usual, to New Hampshire Public Radio in my car. Election season is upon us so much of the coverage that…
New Definition of “Friend”
One of the ways that I first knew that Facebook was having a major impact on our society was that I heard my friends in the real world, many of whom…
Increase Your Probabilistic Inference Skills
The latest salvo in the "games good for you" vs. "games bad for you" debate has been fired. For now, it seems that games are good for you. Researchers at…
Mad Men Mixed Media
Mad Men is one of the most interesting shows on television right now. The characters continue to reveal layers of complexity into the show's third season. The early 1960's setting…
Facebook Places
Here's the status update of one of my friends on Facebook today (August 29): "IMPORTANT!!! Facebook launched Facebook Places yesterday. Anyone can find out where you are when you are…
Barack Obama X?
I could not believe what I was hearing on NPR this afternoon. I had heard about the "Hussein" controversy when Obama was running for President of the United States, where…
Social Games
I recently traveled to Oxford University in England to present a paper at a conference called Videogame Cultures and the Future of Interactive Entertainment. The conference brought together aabout 25…
Translating Between Media
One of the best books I've ever read is a short novel about South Africa after the end of apartheid. The novel is the Booker Prize-winning Disgrace written by J.M. Coetzee, who won the…
Nothing is Real
I got back from a visit to England about two weeks ago. Throughout the trip, I thought about my friend, Robin, and her recent NEMLA panel on Post-Modern Tourism. Ann…
Security Theater Revisited Redux (Redux Redux …)
If you've read this blog before, you know that I'm interested in (and amazed by) the security theater that pervades our airport experiences. I'm in Washington, DC as I write…
New Ways of Thinking
A year or two ago, in one of my classes at the InterLakes Senior Center, a man asked me how he could get a copy of the information he finds…
Technology in our Lives
On a flight back from England recently, two college-aged women sat in front of me. I overheard one of the women say to the other that she doesn't like technology. …
The Post In Which I Get Philosophical
Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I am an agnostic. So it might be a surprise to learn that this post was inspired by a sign on a church. …
FaceBook Profile Pictures
The BBC is sponsoring a very cool project to get people excited about science. It's called So You Want To Be a Scientist. Over 1300 people submitted ideas for scientific questions…
The iPod Touch
I haven't written in a while. The end of a semester and a sinus infection will do that to a person. But that doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking…
The Common Cold
I have a cold. It is a very common cold. Nothing special. Just enough to make me want to sleep at 2 in the afternoon. We can land humans on…
Wii Streaming
A few months ago, Liz bought a Roku so that she could stream Netflix content to her television. She complained slightly about the $80 price tag for a device that…
Toyota Software
Toyota has been much in the news lately because of questions about the performance of a variety of their cars. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that…
Pattern Recognition and Pseudo-Security
One of my favorite shows on NPR is On The Media. Each week, the hosts examine a variety of topics related to the media, mostly in the US. I hear…
