When I did a brief stint in IT for a public school system a few years back, I observed a few teachers using Schoolhouse Rock DVDs in the classroom, but I can't say how common this usage was. I am pretty sure that it wasn't in any way sponsored or endorsed by the district, though. Which is a shame, because Schoolhouse Rock is kind of awesome.

This? This is pretty meh.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 7:46 AM on June 8, 2008

Then we can dig it!
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 7:36 PM on May 24, 2008

Many Eyes, which seems similar to swivel, might also be worth a look.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 4:52 PM on March 14, 2008

If you haven't already, read the press release.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 9:37 PM on January 30, 2008

My read is that that Kirstin Hersh hopes that by making her music available to be shared, remixed, sampled, experimented with, etc, she'll encourage consumers/listeners who value that sort of thing to pay her for her content to ensure it continues to be produced. It seems that she's trying to get other artists signed on to work under the same model.

There's a pile of discussion about the "donation-ware" model of music distribution right now -- see In... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 1:25 PM on January 5, 2008

+1 Improved my otherwise less-than-optimal Christmas.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 1:50 PM on December 25, 2007

Even though I already love the original, that version of Free Fallin' rocks quite thoroughly. Massive props to the Garth Brooks version too, even though it doesn't work quite so well..

And Cotex, Wolfdog, I expect to see this on music like, yesterday. :p
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 12:48 AM on August 20, 2007

I met a German foreign exchange student at a party last year who claimed to be a family friend of Uwe Boll (he was surprised that I knew the name, though). I have no way to verify what I was told, but he said that Boll readily admits he's just in it to make as much money as possible off films made as cheaply as possible (and is apparently doing a very good job of it), using videogame licenses to draw in viewers to (relatively) low-budget flicks. While I can't stand the man's films, I must say... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 2:35 PM on August 16, 2007

I second "I want that life."

I always tell myself that if I somehow end up wealthy I'll buy my father's old M20C back and restore it, but you couldn't do this in that..
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 6:28 PM on August 14, 2007

As an undergrad I took a Bergman seminar taught by the head of our film department, who'd recently published a book on Persona. Every week of the semester we watched a Bergman film -- twice -- and read a hefty chunk of theory and background material on the films. It was one of the most intense prolonged emotional experiences of my life, honestly. I know that sounds weird, but you try watching Shame, The Silence and Cries and Whispers in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 10:59 PM on July 30, 2007

We just recently got a Five Guys in Frederick, MD, but then I moved. Now I have a Sonic, though, so s'all good. Mostly.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 3:48 AM on July 27, 2007

This is a very cool idea. I'm really hoping the execution lives up to the premise's promise. I might even have to take a crack at shooting some material..
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 4:31 PM on July 18, 2007

I'm thinking the GSV stuff is an Ian M. Banks Culture-series reference, but I'm as lost as anyone on the rest of it. Fracking dialup.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 2:17 AM on June 29, 2007

This is fun, but I can't seem to score in game mode. Has anyone worked out how to fool the CPU paddle?

Either way, sandbox is where the real fun is.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 3:54 PM on June 28, 2007

"Well, that was really nothing at all like the dressage events I've attended, which were timed races through a jumping course."

Are you sure you weren't watching the cross-county portion of an Eventing competition? Eventing combines three events -- dressage ring, arena jumping, and cross-country. That might explain how you're getting "dressage" and "cross-country" conflated?
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 3:00 AM on April 14, 2007

I imagine they're after the folks who think MySpace is a critical component of their social lives -- people to which ad copy like "she likes the way he blogs," etc, probably seems at least somewhat less trite than it does from our perspective.

That said, it's still a pretty crappy idea. In terms of pretentious perfume marketing, I have to give the Demeter people a nod for having pretentious perfume marketing that's at least amusing. I mean, they can sell women... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 6:14 PM on March 8, 2007

.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 5:12 PM on September 28, 2006

I met Duncan a couple of years ago when he composed music for a stage show I worked on in college. He seems to be a very chill guy, and he plays a great acoustic set. I'm glad (and not surprised) to see he's one of the artists embracing participatory media and turning it into a positive force for himself and his audience. If I ever get some time off work to compose/mix, I might take a stab at this.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 5:24 PM on September 23, 2006

.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 5:03 PM on September 23, 2006

Bear v. Shark!

No, I have not read it, but the title and concept alone are plenty amusing.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 8:57 AM on July 29, 2006

Are there any sites out there giving thought to the idea of how ships would plan maneuvers in space-war? Given near-unlimited visibility and limited manuverability, one imagines a "dogfight" between two spacecraft would look very, very different from any concept of a "dogfight" in air combat, or even the newtonian model from B5.

I once read a novel that discussed this, but I can't place it anymore. I remember that most of the spaceships were large... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 12:29 PM on July 28, 2006

When I was in college (not so long ago), one of my housemates was a cell biologist who loved this video. I always meant to post it here, but by the time I actually had an account, I forgot where to find it. Good catch, Turtles.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 8:31 AM on July 28, 2006

Wow, someone else who knows Subspace / Silent Death. In highschool, that game seriously ate several hundred hours of my time over the span of a few months.

For those of you willing to accept singleplayer, there's always Transcendence, which has a few things in common with Silent Death and Nethack.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 9:35 PM on July 14, 2006

Happy birthday to Metafilter! Haven't been here a whole year yet, but I can already tell my $5 was well-spent. Please continue to rock mightily in the coming years as ye hath rocked in the past, oh awesomeful Metafilter.

And yeah, cats on a scanner. Whodathunk?
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 10:23 AM on July 14, 2006

loquacious, you might be interested in EyesWeb and/or Processing. The former is a computer vision toolkit; the latter is a Java API intended for experimental interactive art. I built an interactive dance piece using these tools, plus some homebrew "glue" (a simple socketserver) to get the two pieces of software talking to eachother, this spring as a senior project in university -- it isn't the optimum solution, but its also free.

You might also want to check... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 8:46 PM on July 10, 2006

Bear vs. Shark?
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 3:57 PM on July 10, 2006

It's pleasant to see S8 written up in the blue, since the fandom in general and their gargoyles chat in particular was a big part of my teenage years. In many ways, that community is as responsible for my current identity as anything else. While I'm no longer actively involved, I still keep in touch with a few people I met through the site, and count one as a close friend.
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 8:38 AM on June 10, 2006

I have the distinct impression I've seen this before, but I can't remember where or when. In any case, thanks for sharing it!
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 8:36 AM on May 21, 2006

Lik-Sang carries a wide variety of video game accessories, including PS2->USB converters. I know other vendors carry them as well, but these're the people I've ordered from in the past. I've never played Guitar Hero -- the last console I owned was an Atari XT -- but I've seen it, and it looks like this PC thing might be fun, if I can pick up a used controller somewhere that won't break the bank..
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 9:30 AM on May 17, 2006

Also, Neustile, this looks to be more or less a PC clone of Guitar Hero in the making. For a relevant analogy, compare the open-source project StepMania to Dance Dance Revolution. (Sorry for the double-post.)
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 9:31 AM on May 17, 2006

The application is for creating files to be used in a Guitar Hero knockoff/emulator. As in the original Guitar Hero, the music plays, and you're supposed to finger/strum along to it on the big fake fretboard. This app just lets you set which button presses and strums are "right" for a given song.

If you want to make music from scratch with your Guitar Hero controller, check out this hack instead.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 11:32 AM on May 17, 2006

Loquacious, that brought a tear to my eye. In a positive way.

I'm part of one of the first generations that can't really remember life without the internet. As you can probably guess, I'm an insufferable nerd. I'm not sure if I'd be a different person if I hadn't cut my teeth on BBSes and FreeNet (back when FreeNet was a dialup ISP, not a darknet app), but I know that contacts I've made across the wire, and information I've learned, have been invaluable to me.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Alterscape at 2:45 AM on April 25, 2006