Top 10 Sci-fi movies of all time

Take note GST 364 wannabes: The Guardian put together a panel of 60-some scientists and thinkers to compile a list of the Top 10 Sci-Fi films of all time. Here is the list:

Blade Runner
2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Wars
Alien
Solaris
Terminator
The Day the Earth Stood Still
War of the Worlds
The Matrix
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Terra Nova: Virtual Worlds 101: Draft Syllabus

Terra Nova has posted a draft syllabus for an Indiana University course on virtual worlds that has some similarities to my winter term course (GST 364). Here is the link to the course draft syllabus: Terra Nova: Virtual Worlds 101: Draft Syllabus

Lava Lamps

Slashdot has an article about using lava lamps as an ambient indicator for when your software build fails. This is an example of using a common device in an uncommon way to solve a problem. It is similar to what the ambient orb tries to achieve in a more broad way.

Fraternity brothers get entrepreneur grant

NewsNet5.com - News - Cleveland Fraternity Brothers Develop Keg Wrap

It's a portable cooling wrap designed to make kegs more portable and to keep beer cold in pickup trucks, at the beach or in the back yard. Also, they say it would get rid of the annoyance and cost of ice replacement.

The idea was the brainchild of 22-year-old Adam Hunnell, a graduate student at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University.

Hunnell compares the Keg Wrap to a heating blanket that chills instead of warms. The wrap would be powered by a electric socket or a car cigarette lighter.

Hunnell and his fraternity brothers Aaron Noland and Nathan Slavin got a $20,000 entrepreneur grant to develop the Keg Wrap.

Presentation: Weblogs for Faculty and Students

Download the presentation here: DOC format, SXW format.

Blogger & Blogspot
Bloglines

syllabi

Due to my aformentioned hard drive failure, I lost all the syllabi that I prepared for the 3 Fall classes :( I'mnot sure why I didn't FTP them to the course web sites, not sure what I was thinking there. Anyhow, my goal today is to recreate them using the few notes I had written in my "mad professor notebook". As soon as the syllabi are re-done, I'll post on each of the course pages.

Richard A. Bartle: Professors

Richard A. Bartle: Professors

an excerpt:

Professors all wear glasses. The lenses are usually thick, scratched and dirty (as are the professors).

Men who are professors have a big bald patch at the front. At the back they have either long, frizzy hair or an even bigger bald patch.

Women who are professors have grey hair that looks like cloth. It hasn't been combed since they were 12.

Professors quite often invent things. These rarely work.

Students come to listen to professors. These also rarely work.

There are two main sorts of professors. Absent-minded professors can think but can't remember. Mad professors can remember but can't think. The very best professors are both, and can do neither.