Friday, February 29, 2008

Teaching Technique: Inform your students you will tell one lie each class

This was an insidiously brilliant technique to focus our attention - by offering an open invitation for students to challenge his statements, he transmitted lessons that lasted far beyond the immediate subject matter and taught us to constantly checksum new statements and claims with what we already accept as fact. Early in the quarter, the Lie of the Day was usually obvious - immediately triggering a forest of raised hands to challenge the falsehood. Dr. K would smile, draw a line through that section of the board, and utter his trademark phrase "Very good! In fact, the opposite is true. Moving on ... "

As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the students unnoticed until a particularly alert person stopped the lecture to flag the disinformation. Every once in a while, a lecture would end with nobody catching the lie which created its own unique classroom experience - in any other college lecture, end of the class hour prompts a swift rush of feet and zipping up of bookbags as students make a beeline for the door; on the days when nobody caught the lie, we all sat in silence, looking at each other as Dr. K, looking quite pleased with himself, said with a sly grin: "Ah ha! Each of you has one falsehood in your lecture notes. Discuss amongst yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you next Monday. That is all." Those lectures forced us to puzzle things out, work out various angles in study groups so we could approach him with our theories the following week.

Read more.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Clock by Scott C.



More photos here.

Eddie Van Halen and Toto were key components of Michael Jackson's Thriller



A new cd with various bonus tracks was recently released to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Thriller. I had no idea that the "core of Thriller's music was executed by members of Toto" (link), or that the "uncredited guitarist who whipped out the fluttering, squealing solo on [Beat It] was Eddie Van Halen, whose extracurriculars ranked among the provocations for singer David Lee Roth's 1985 departure from the megalithic rock band Van Halen" (link).

Southern California wasn't icy during the Ice Age

The current issue of Natural History magazine had some interesting information: even when great ice sheets blanketed much of North America, the climate in Southern California (except for snowcapped mountain peaks) can best be described as Mediterranean.

Even during the Ice Age, Southern California looked something like this:



Image by William Stout.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Mimic Papercraft (Monstrous Treasure Chest)



Download it here.

Final Fantasy VII on the NES




Link. Via.

Advertising: Most memorable Christmas ever

I have no idea what they're saying, but this ad for Found Magazine is awfully funny. (NSFW)

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Delirium plush



Link. Yes, the eyes are mismatched.

Friday, February 22, 2008

British hospitals meet goal of serving ER patients within four hours...

Unfortunately, they did it by:
keeping thousands of seriously ill patients in ambulance 'holding patterns' outside accident and emergency units to meet a government pledge that all patients are treated within four hours of admission.

Those affected by 'patient stacking' include people with broken limbs or those suffering fits or breathing problems. An Observer investigation has also found that some wait for up to five hours in ambulances because A&E units have refused to admit them until they can guarantee to treat them within the time limit. Apart from the danger posed to patients, the detaining of ambulances means vehicles and trained crew are not available to answer new 999 calls because they are being kept on hospital sites.

Via.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Salacious Crumb bomber nose art



It appears on the new Lego Star Wars Republic Gunship. More photos here.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Stunning diamond necklace - - only $25














$25 each
, and the price includes a "sexy gift box." Via.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Echo Park Time Travel Mart Photos





Large gallery here showing off the unusual merchandise.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Monday, February 11, 2008

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Raven sculptures





Buy. Via.

Adorable plush light bulb



Link.

Adorable Hulk Plush



Best plush I've seen all year. And that's saying something. Here's the creator's store and MySpace page.

Friday, February 8, 2008

There was almost a 2D adventure game based on The Naked Gun

“We signed up Leslie Nielsen and even paid him. We managed to get the license for the game which was not an easy thing for a developer but the deal had a time limit: we had to sign up a Publisher to put the game out by a certain date or we had to hand back the license. We also obtained the rights to use the tune from the film and negotiated a flat fee, which was not something easy.”

Read more.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Toycutter Updates



Recent posts at my action figure, vinyl toy, and miniature customizing blog include how to make a mold, how to make a roof out of cardboard, a chess set based on H.R. Giger's Alien, a Boba Fett vinyl toy, and Drax and Super Skrull action figures.