We’re Not Telling Stories
One of the aspects of game analysis that my students struggle with has to do with the dramatic elements of a game. According to the text that I use in…
A Lipshitz by Any Other Name
Here is one of the most amazing stories about an unthinking reliance on technology that I've heard in a long time. Verizon does not allow the setting up of accounts that…
Philosophy of Jokes
On Word of Mouth today on NHPR, I heard an interview with Jim Holt, the author of Stop Me if You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes. His…
Non-FaceBook Friends, Beware
Pat sent me this article from the New York Times. So if you're a non-FaceBook friend of mine and I don't return your phone call, I hope you'll understand why.…
Identity Management
We joined millions of other Americans yesterday and went to see The Dark Knight. An interesting side note regarding my previous comments about immediacy--the movie opened Friday and the current…
Adventures in Time or Why I’m Freaked Out by FaceBook
Because so many of my friends are completely addicted to FaceBook (and threatening not to be friends with me anymore), I decided to join two days ago (less than 36…
Conservation
Spain (and probably most of Europe) is way ahead of us in terms of energy conservation. Flying into Barcelona, we were struck by how many wind farms there were in…
Back Online
We got home last week from Spain. Great trip and only a little interaction with technology. We did find a place in Barcelona that offered free Internet access and so…
Unplugged Vacation
We're leaving for Spain tomorrow. For the first time since 2000, we are not bringing a computer on vacation with us and so we will be completely unplugged. I'm looking…
The Real No Longer Exists
We went to Alpine Adventures in Lincoln, NH yesterday with a group of friends to ride the ziplines that they have set up in the woods on Barron Mountain. We…
Blogging for Health
The June 2008 issue of Scientific American has an article called "The Healthy Type", which is about the therapeutic value of blogging. Research reported in the February issue of The…
Did Robin Williams Say That?
Jeannette recently told us about an email that she received that is supposed to be a transcript of a "comedy" routine by Robin Williams. We discussed the fact that we…
Hyperconnectivity
I recently wrote about being connected while traveling and said that I didn't think it was necessarily a good thing. A recent study suggests that too much connectedness, called hyperconnectivity,…
Wii Fitness Age
The Wii has a lot of features that you can use with the basic set up. One of the most popular seems to be the fitness test that comes with…
Traveling with Technology
I just got back from the annual Eastern Communication Conference in Pittsburgh. As I sat in the airport waiting to come home, I started thinking about the amount of technology…
Games for Little Ones
The other day, Evelyn and I were in BJ's in Tilton buying large quantities of gum and soap when I spotted a display of games for the Wii. I've been…
Professional vs. Personal
Ann recently said to me that she was surprised to find that I had put pictures of my niece and nephew on my PSU web page. She had expected my…
Games as Rhetorical Tools
My friend Beth sent me information about a game that has been making some headlines in England and France. It's called Miss Bimbo and apparently there are about a million…
iPods and the “Real World”
There have been a number of stories in the past few weeks linking a rise in violent crime rates to increased popularity of small electronic devices like the iPod. The…
