November 18, 2010
The UCF Cheating Scandal
University of Central Florida professor Richard Quinn uses highly-detailed analysis to accuse many of the students in his Strategic Management course of cheating on their midterm exam. Since posting his online lecture, 200 of the 600 students in his class have come forward to admit they cheated using testbank exam answers. While some are calling Professor Quinn a "folk hero", many students in the class are now complaining because they feel their professor has been dishonest about where he obtained the information for his exams. But Professor Quinn isn't exactly responding in student news sources to these complaints.
Whit Stillman returns
“People make a big deal about your time away from doing film,” I say. “It is a big deal,” he says. “It’s pretty bad.” After 13 years of silence and a half-dozen aborted projects, Whit Stillman has finished shooting his fourth movie, tentatively called Damsels in Distress.
Beaten, Bound, Burned
Echoing the brutality of the Matthew Shepard case, a Texas teenager blames his slaying of classmate Josh Wilkerson on unwanted gay advances. (He has also been charged with failing to identify himself and attempting to take a weapon from an officer.) While the "gay panic" defense is often considered something of a joke, it's clearly still very much alive.
Tell the people about it!!!!
"The first grade boys are teasing me at lunch because I have a Star Wars water bottle. They say it's only for boys." (via) [more inside]
Nyanto mo Neko Darake (Cats of Many Varieties)
Nyanto mo Neko Darake (Cats of Many Varieties) is an exhibition in Kyoto featuring charming Edo-period (19th century) woodblock images of cats: playful cats forming themselves into the Japanese word for "blowfish," giant monster heads and skulls made of intertwining cats, ghost cats seeking vengeance. [more inside]
Kyle Gets Buckets
Kyle Gets Buckets. Kyle Singler, a senior on the Duke Men's Basketball team and the 2010 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, has become a Youtube sensation. The video has been featured on SportsCenter as well as on numerous websites. [more inside]
In this case, reaching "Pork Nirvana" could be considered a threat...
What do you get when you combine two pounds of bacon with two pounds of Italian sausage carefully crafted into a woven log of artery clogging doom?
The Bacon Explosion.
Don't go together like a horse and carriage...
Time Magazine (with commentary from Jezebel) look at the question - why would people get married in 2010? These are reports based on a Pew Research survey that complements results with findings from census data. [more inside]
Avatar Activism, The Harry Potter Alliance, and Pop Culture Fandom as the gateway to Social Activism
Back in February 2010, Palestinian activists dressed up as Na'vi and Avatars to bring more attention to the weekly protests against the West Bank barrier. Video of the costumed protest was edited to blend with Avatar footage, to emphasize the protesters' message. In another pop-culture world, The Harry Potter Alliance have run campaigns that tie themes from the stories to real-world issues, in an effort to translate the energy of fans into energy to get active in civil engagement, including a a fundraiser in January that raise raised $34,000 to support Haiti relief efforts. These efforts have been labeled "Avatar Activism," as discussed in a a recent Le Monde diplomatique article and a related piece on NPR. [more inside]
Will who blend?
brains = [ brain1, brain2, brain3 ]
Beyond the Black Rainbow
"Set in the strange and oppressive emotional landscape of the year 1983, Beyond The Black Rainbow is a Reagan era fever dream inspired by hazy childhood memories of midnight movies and Saturday morning cartoons." Trailer. [more inside]
A video interview with Cecilia Cassini, known as the world's youngest fashion designer.
A video interview with Cecilia Cassini, known as the world's youngest fashion designer.
The uneven waters of music rediscovery
Two unknown sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi have surfaced, which have collected dust and (doubtless) delighted the bugs for more than two centuries. This is the second find of Vivaldi compositions within a short time. A lost flute concerto has re-surfaced in Edinburgh and was performed earlier this fall.
If we read closely, however, parts the flute concerto "Il Gran Mogol" were already known to the musical world. [more inside]
20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web
20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web (SLH5P)
Warning: A modern browser is required. [more inside]
Cam Newton
Even if you're not a college football fan, you may have recently heard of Cam Newton. That's because, apart from being the most exciting and dynamic college football player this year, Newton has been dogged in the press by accusations that, during the recruitment process, Newton's father tried to squeeze $180,000 out of Mississippi State coaches and boosters in return for his son's enrollment. Ultimately, Mississippi State declined the "offer" and Newton decided to enroll at Auburn where, he claimed, "the money was just too great." Newton is still playing for the undefeated Auburn Tigers, who are attempting a run at the national title. Additionally, Newton himself is seen as the front-runner in the competition for the Heisman Trophy. But until the NCAA wraps up its investigation and declares Newton ineligible, the decision of whether or not to play Newton is in the hands of Auburn. Some people think that regardless of what Auburn does, they are headed for ruin and a heap of trouble. What kind of trouble? The kind of trouble that involves the FBI, money laundering, gambling (and gambling fraud), collusion, and a conspiracy to funnel cash to players that would be unrivaled in modern sports.
Happy Birthday, Alan Moore
"Alan Moore is a writer and magician from Northhampton. He's a stranger to hairdressers and worships his very own god in his very own way, blurring the lines between religious belief, magic, and the power of the creative imagination. If you film him from strange angles, you can make him look very sinister." It is his fifty-eighth birthday. The beard is pushing 40. [more inside]
"A Gift From the Heavens for Whisky Lovers"
During his unsuccessful 1908 attempt to reach the South Pole, universal badass Ernest Shackleton left five crates of Scotch whisky and two crates of brandy buried in the ice under the floorboards of his hut at Cape Royds. The crates were dug up in February, and conservators are working on ten of the 114-year-old whisky bottles, some marked with ‘British Antarctic Expedition 1907 Ship Endurance,’ with an eye on replicating the long-lost blend. [more inside]
Sir, we have a antimatter containment breach on deck 10!!!
MR PINK, MR WHITE AND BOTTOM
'This is the very odd story of the events that led to a horrific mass killing of Afghan civilians by coalition forces in August 2008.' 'It is the story of the Americans and the British striding into the fairy wood only to find themselves spun around so much by the Afghans that they do not know who is the enemy and who is a friend any longer. And they come out with a donkey's head. But on the way they kill 90 innocent people.' [more inside]
Homage to Sportswomen of the Past
Vintage photos of women in sport. "At the turn of the last century women in the western world were finding a voice, both collectively and individually. As the Victorian era lapsed in to memory and the Edwardian Era commenced many women chose to pursue sports." [more inside]
All Righty Then
Tom Shadyac is the director of terrible but hugely profitable Hollywood films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Patch Adams, and Bruce Almighty. (We'll skip right over Dragonfly with Kevin Costner.) Then he had an epiphany, sold his mansion and private jet, shed his possessions, moved into a Malibu trailer park, and started giving away his money. [more inside]
National Book Award Winner Patti Smith
Patti Smith, best known as a singer-songwriter (whose lyrics have occasionally been collected into books of poetry) has won the National Book Award in Nonfiction for Just Kids, her memoir of the years she spent living with the late artist Robert Mapplethorpe.
Whip it good
Good Rat
The subject of this week's This American Life, Schenectady, NY schools facilities director Steven Raucci was tried and convicted last year on arson and weapons charges after six years in which Raucci routinely exercised his power as union head, manager and close associate of the district heads to sexually harass, threaten and intimidate coworkers, including using explosives on enemies' cars and homes. Much of the district's investigative report is redacted.
"A scene that celebrates itself has nothing to celebrate"
Cartoonist John Allison of (Bobbins, ScaryGoRound, and Bad Machinery fame) has posted his take on the current state of webcomics in the UK.
Around the world in glance
The Knick Killer
Harvey Araton wrote that basketball star Reggie Miller has "a mouth that can stretch as far as his jump shot range." He might be right. Once, in a game against the New York Knicks, Miller so taunted Knicks guard John Starks that Starks headbutted him. Starks was summarily ejected. That incident took place during Game 3 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals - a series New York would go on to win in 5 games. [more inside]
fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu
Rage Guy started on 4chan as a way of expressing anger at mundane troubles. Hot Topic took the meme, mangled it, and put it on a shirt. But 4chan struck back: they declared that Rage Guy was now Race Guy [warning: irritating ironic racism] and that Hot Topic was supporting racism in youth culture. Today, Hot Topic announced they would be pulling their shirt from stores.
Grab a Kleenex
“Water” is a film about a young boy’s struggle to accept his fears, his mentally disabled father and his possible future duty. [more inside]
"It's never too early......"
A Public Service Announcement. Here are some sobering facts about the world today: Every day, millions of kids go to sleep having never been introduced to Chewbacca, and, worse, countless more think Greedo shot first. We here at Asylum want to make sure you and your child have an open and healthy conversation about Jar Jar and the differences between a "good trilogy" and an "uh-oh trilogy." So we've provided you with this, a PSA on talking to your child about Star Wars.
Unreal Estate
Man sells virtual space station for $635,000 in Entropia. Previously, same man buys virtual spacestation for $100.000.
My Art is about your seeing.
James Turrell works with light. His latest London exhibition Bindu Shards is booked out; which means you miss a mental orgasm. However Simon Collins has some photos.
Follows some more of James Turrell's work : -
Skyspace;
Bridget's Bardot;
A frontal Passage;
A 1999 interview;
James Turrell on flikr;
Previously;
more.
Follows some more of James Turrell's work : -
Skyspace;
Bridget's Bardot;
A frontal Passage;
A 1999 interview;
James Turrell on flikr;
Previously;
more.
Christian Bale Q+A
"You know the reason I picked this place? 'Cause it has nothing to do with my life. I never come here, ever. It's as far removed from any place that I would ever go to. And that's exactly why I chose it. 'Cause it has nothing to do with me."
ESQUIRE versus CHRISTIAN BALE
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