tingilinde

a pronunciation guide

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Is it Kuh-TAR, like guitar? Or Kuh-TAH, like the British pronunciation of catarrh, a phlegmy sore throat? What about the business executives who bang on about how you are 100 percent wrong and should be saying KUH-ter, like cutter (or gutter), or something that more approximates KAT-ar?

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how do you make the perfect toy?

Why are some toys classics and how do you make a new one?

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But learning and development can’t be the only reason certain toys stick around, wrote Baxter, who is chair of the anthropology department at Chicago’s DePaul University and an archaeologist and historian of childhood. After all, here were two items—a rotary phone and mouse ears—that have persisted despite having no clear connection with the present. “The emotional connection adults have to this iconic toy has kept it in the marketplace despite the fact that a rotary-dial landline phone is technologically irrelevant for children today,” Baxter wrote. The same could be said of Mickey Mouse ears. The toy hasn’t appeared on TV as much in recent years, is no longer featured prominently in Disney’s theme parks, and is based on a character who is “increasingly peripheral to the Disney brand.”

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the pokémon fossil museum

larping at disneyworld

Lean-forward fantasy in the land of the Mouse.

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“Do you know about the term ‘magic circle’?” Lizzie Stark, an American larp designer, asked me, a few days before I went to experience the Starcruiser myself. “It separates your reality from the reality of the experience that’s being created for you.” In the nineteen-fifties, when Walt Disney sought real estate for his first theme park, in Southern California, he feared that the grandeur of the Pacific would overshadow his creations, so he settled away from the ocean and encircled the park with a railway. Every part of Disney World builds boundaries. Guests board the boats of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride only after walking through a warren lit by lanterns and piled up with cannonballs and wooden barrels. By the time they get to their vessel, they can almost smell the sea.

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crepusculus

It was Crepusculus in Los Angeles on Saturday while San Franciscans could celebrate today. Folks around NYC will see it on Tuesday the 7th.

It marks the earliest sunset of the year..  A day that, due to the Earth’s inclination, elliptical orbit and astronomical day length that isn’t 24 hours, varies depending on your latitude. One also celebrates the latest sunset in the Summer.

The name is homemade, but seems about right. So if you want another holidays - you’re welcome!

 

 

 

the old math behind a hot card game

The math behind Spot It!

a tip of the hat to Greg

a test of chinese control?

Setting limits on video games

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China has a new rule for the country’s hundreds of millions of young gamers: No videogames during the school week, and one hour a day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.

China on Monday issued strict new measures aimed at curbing what authorities describe as youth videogame addiction, which they blame for a host of societal ills, including distracting young people from school and family responsibilities.

The new regulation, announced by the National Press and Publication Administration, will ban minors from playing videogames entirely between Monday and Thursday. On the other three days of the week, and on public holidays, they will be only permitted to play between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The announcement didn’t offer a specific age for minors, but previous regulations targeting younger videogamers have drawn the line at 18 years old.

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wingspan

The board game has been around for awhile and is very popular - particularly with women.    Here's a piece on it.

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Crucially, it is difficult to play Wingspan in a way that brings you into direct conflict with others. Indeed, it’s possible to make plays in the game that help your opponents, and the game encourages such moves—playing a bird, for example, who not only collects food for you but for everyone. That’s why, in general, you tend to score more points when you’re playing with more people. Success, in Wingspan, is not a zero-sum game. When my family first started playing the game, I, a competitive dad, chose the variation in which only one player can maximize the end-of-round bonuses. But to my surprise I soon agreed with my kids that it was more fun to play the variation in which everyone has the opportunity to score the maximum bonus if they all succeed at the designated tasks. The game has really tamped down my competitive drive. I’ve found that during the hour or so it takes to play, I rarely have any sense whether I’m winning or losing. And at the end, I am curious to find out how I did, but my enjoyment does not necessarily correlate with my victory or defeat.

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cranky uncle

Dealing with misinformation - now a free game.

 

geoguessr record run

Geoguessr is a game with Google maps where you're dropped into a random location in the US and have to figure out where you are using clues from streetview and a map that doesn't show your position. 

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