This is a learning game I programmed quite a few years ago. I’ve rewritten the code so that it should play more smoothly and perhaps be a little easier to read in the test results area.
The game is very simple: Larry Lobster tells you what to do. You just click on the letter bubbles to pick the right ones. A perfect score frees the trapped submarine from the bottom of the ocean.
Next up – an iPad version!
In 1965 Pavel Klushantsev made this Soviet film about how a voyage to the moon might happen. I’ve seen and posted other footage from this great science fiction director, but this is interesting because its color has been restored to saturated magnificence. Don’t worry that you can’t understand the Russian language. Just watch and enjoy the 60s communist enthusiasm! You will be treated to astronauts cavorting on the lunar surface while wearing space suits that look to me like nearly perfect adaptations from popular speculative illustrations of the time. The technical detail of this film is really quite amazing. NASA might want to refer to it while trying to re-acquire its lost Apollo knowledge.
It is apparent that Kubrick had his eye on this director’s work as he prepared to make 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you know that film, you will catch the shots I’m talking about.
In a deeply troubling sign of the mentality of Penn State University’s student body, mobs of students rioted yesterday in protest of the university’s firing of football coach Joe Paterno. He is the coach to whom a child rape was reported by a graduate student who witnessed the crime and allowed it to continue. That graduate student is now active receivers coach, Mike McQueary. Why this person has not also been fired is a total mystery. Paterno apparently thought his duties only required him to report the grad student’s allegation to his boss. He neglected to call the police. It would seem that he also neglected to follow up on the crime at any time during a nine-year period. The moral failure of such neglect is immense. Penn State University was certainly correct to eliminate such a person from its staff as quickly as possible. But the callous disregard for the damaged lives of the young rape victims on the part of the Penn State student body is not only revolting, it is frightening. These are young adults about to move into society and take jobs. They are supposedly educated. But they are raging in the streets and destroying journalists’ equipment over a football coach who refused to take any sort of adequate action following the brutal rape of a ten year old child.
It would amaze me if the university did not immediately act to expel every student it could identify as having engaged in violence against the journalists’ van at the very least.
These are students that I would want nothing to do with. Ever. I’m sure there are students who disagree with these rioters and those should not be lumped in with these barbaric people. This is a mob that has been fielded by this university. It simply cannot be ignored. They are a repulsive example of what Penn State University has to offer to the state it serves and to its nation. They have no apparent feeling about the rape of a child. They seem to believe that a man can ignore his duty to protect children and still maintain his status as ‘living legend.’ These people in this rioting mob should remember for the rest of their lives exactly how they behaved in the face of children who were raped and who went unaided by the heartless, reprehensible Joe Paterno and other members of the Penn State administration. Horrible. Disgusting.
Here is video of the student attack on a journalism van. It appears to have been taken by one of the rioting students. Mature content with language:
Would you hire one of these people for your company? Would you want one of these people living next to you?
Quirky Pictures conducts another animation workshop for school children. This time it was a nine day workshop at Great Missenden C of E Combined School. The students made four films based on tales from around the world. I love the freely drawn lines and cutout characters combined with the very matter of fact narration by the kids. They are good storytellers. What fun art classes like these must be. I never had so much fun when I was a kid. I’m a bit jealous.
The U.S. government wants you to keep your house tidy and clean. If you don’t, it’ll get blown up and burned to a cinder by an atomic bomb blast. Seriously. This is the entire message of this ridiculous 1954 U.S. government educational film about the effects of a nuclear blast. It seems obvious to me that if you were working for the U.S. government in the fifties you were just a drooling simpleton. This film actually goes from mind-boggling insanity to postmodern masterpiece if you squint at it in the right way. It represents nearly everything you need to know about the 20th century in America.
This is a five-part documentary by British filmmaker Adam Curtis about the rise of nuclear energy in the United States. These sections make up A is for Atom which is a 1-hour segment of a much longer science and politics television series called Pandora’s Box. It chronicles the development of the nuclear power industry and shows clearly how little was ever understood about what would happen or what should be done during a nuclear accident.
Parts 2 – 5 after the jump
An informative and lovely little film by Ben Hillman for all the nitwits out there who think the earth is only around 5,000 years old.
Excerpt 1 – First Men in Space:
The film is in Russian but you absolutely do not need to know Russian to enjoy it! Unfortunately, I can’t find the entire film, only these three excerpts.
Pavel Klushantsev’s 1957 film, Road to the Stars, features astoundingly realistic special effects that were an inspiration and obvious blueprint for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey ten years later. The film is an extended form of science education, building upon existing 1950s technology to predict space exploration of the future. The sequences with astronauts in zero gravity are incredibly realistic. The second excerpt from the film features the construction of and life aboard a space station in earth orbit that is not only convincing but also beautiful. There are several scenes with space station dwellers using videophones that anticipate the famous Kubrick videophone scene.
Excerpt 2 – Space Station:
Excerpt 3 – Moon Landing:
Katy Perry sang this song for Sesame Street and then some nasty parents complained about her showing too much cleavage for the little tot audience and so the piece was banned from the TV show! Oh no! What’s going on with parents? Maybe they’re turning into boobs. Don’t kids like boobs anymore? I did when I was a little guy. It ain’t called the boob tube for nothing. What’s the problem? She just wants to play. I’ll play with her. It’s actually a rather good music video.
Kids, if you have a parent who’s afraid of boobs you’ve got real problems ahead. Beware and seriously consider changing who you hang out with.
Salman Khan teaches math and science via YouTube video lessons. It’s called Khan Academy. He teaches a wide variety of subjects including algebra, calculus, biology, physics, chemistry and statistics. He thinks everyone should be able to get an education for free and he does not think universities are doing it properly. The education model needs to be rethought and rebuilt. Many people think so and that’s why Kahn Academy has so many students and is attracting venture capital money. He’s getting more viewers than most university web sites. Here’s a PBS NewsHour piece about him:
Here’s a lesson on adding and subtracting fractions:
The Philosophers’ Magazine has an interesting article about teaching philosophy to children. There is research that suggests teaching philosophy extends benefits across the primary school curriculum.
Philosophical intelligence is the capacity of the mind to solve the recurrent problems of human existence. Some of those problems stem from the activity of the mind contemplating its own existence, others stem from the challenges humans face living in the world. Philosophical intelligence is our ability to organise our ideas and concepts into mental maps and models of the world. It involves processing information and trying to find meaning at a conceptual level, for example, by asking questions such as What is love? What is truth? What is beauty? But can children engage in this kind of questioning?
I think it’s a natural fit for kids to think philosophically. They love asking big important questions that seemingly have no answer. It’s the best of all games to play with a kid. Big questions and even bigger answers!
Read the article: Can Children Philosophize: The Case For
