6 Times The Onion Had People Completely Fooled Update (9/17/2012): Add ESPN's Stephen A. Smith to the list. Photo credit: Flickr user Afraid of Ducks The site Literally Unbelievable showcases normal people on Facebook who have been duped by satirical articles from The Onion. 1. Last year The Onion ran this article, in which the very real Californian Parenting Institute was "quoted" about a "study" they did that found that no matter your parenting style, it produces unhappy adults. “Despite great variance in parenting styles across populations, the end product is always the same: a profoundly flawed and joyless human being." As the article was passed around the internet and lost its attribution, parents who read it became concerned. 2. In 2002, the Beijing Evening News mistakenly reran this Onion article as fact. When informed that the article was a spoof, the editor of the newspaper was surprised, telling Reuters that the reporter who covered the story was “pretty reliable.” 3. Back in 2000, people weren't as familiar with The Onion.
My Galaxies How One Teacher Turned Sixth Grade Into An MMO Editor’s Note: Ben Bertoli is a long-time Kotaku reader and commenter, a lifetime, dedicated video gamer and a sixth-grade teacher in Indiana. He reached out to Kotaku this past week to share the story of how he turned his class into a role-playing game. The enthusiasm and motivation of the children in Bertoli’s class evoke the success stories seen in gamified experiences such as Fitocracy. Here, Bertoli explains his creation, ClassRealm, how it works and what motivated him to develop it. Video games and education. Two passions in my life that I tend to keep separate. I wouldn’t be as well read as I am today if it wasn’t for video games. As I was describing my video-game-related teachings to my buddy Courtny, we began talking about incorporating gaming into education. I worked on my classroom system for a month before I had it completely devised. Knowing I could get some supportive and insightful feedback I even ran the idea by my pals on Kotaku. 1.
Come on Facebook.. Realistic Pokemons Painted To Human Scale This is a series of realistically painted Pokemons by DeviantARTist arvalis (aka RJ Palmer -- check out his page for ultra high-res shots). It says in his little bio he likes dinosaurs, so we're pretty similar. Except I LOVE dinosaurs. I am dino fan numero uno. My buddy Terry tries to claim he is, but he's not. He's not even number two, although I tell him he is just so he doesn't get all sad on me. Terry: my wife is baking hundreds of cookies i am gather up my clothes and shit we are leaving in like.. an hour or so Me: WAIT -- WHERE THE F*** ARE YOU GOING? Hit the jump for nine more and a bonus Samurai riding a t-rex because I'm into it. Thanks to Wayne and Matthew B, who agree it's all fun and games till somebody uses a magic wish to turn Pokemon real and they run rampant and kill us all.
Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time Massive dehumanization, totalitarian government, rampant disease, post-apocalyptic terrains, cyber-genetic technologies, societal chaos and widespread urban violence are some of the common themes in dystopian films which bravely examine the ominous shadow cast by future. A dystopia is a fictional society that is the antithesis or complete opposite of a utopia, an ideal world with a perfect social, political and technological infrastructure. A world without chaos, strife or hunger. A world where the individual potential and freedom is celebrated and brought to the forefront. In contrast, the dystopian world is undesirable with poverty and unequal domination by specific individuals over others. Ranking the List We thought it would be interesting if we could coagulate the most commonly cited dystopian movies and rank them not to preference, but to an average score made up of both Rotten Tomatoes (RT) and IMDB ratings. 50. In the nation of Libria, there is always peace among men. 49. 48. 47.
squishable.com: they're giant round fuzzy stuffed animals. hug them. 124ke3d.gif (544×408) How Rewards Can Backfire and Reduce Motivation Surely one of the best ways to generate motivation in ourselves and others is by dangling rewards? Yet psychologists have long known that rewards are overrated. The carrot, of carrot-and-stick fame, is not as effective as we’ve been led to believe. Rewards work under some circumstances but sometimes they backfire. Spectacularly. Here is a story about preschool children with much to teach all ages about the strange effects that rewards have on our motivation. It’s child’s play Psychologists Mark R. Since parents so often use rewards as motivators for children they recruited fifty-one preschoolers aged between 3 and 4. The children were then randomly assigned to one of the following conditions: Expected reward. Each child was invited into a separate room to draw for 6 minutes then afterwards either given their reward or not depending on the condition. Rewards reduce intrinsic motivation Reviewing 128 studies on the effects of rewards Deci et al. (1999, p. 658) concluded that: Overjustification
How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done - Archives By John Perry I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, a grant proposal to review, drafts of dissertations to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things. All procrastinators put off things they have to do. If all the procrastinator had left to do was to sharpen some pencils, no force on earth could get him to do it. To make structured procrastination work for you, begin by establishing a hierarchy of the tasks you have to do, in order of importance from the most urgent to the least important. The most perfect situation for structured procrastination that I have encountered occurred when my wife and I served as resident fellows in Soto House, a Stanford University dormitory. Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. At this point you may be asking, "How about the important tasks at the top of the list?"
Not quite the king of the swingers yet... Baby gorilla Kukena takes his first tentative (very wobbly) steps under mum's watchful eye By Tom Gardner Published: 20:19 GMT, 9 May 2012 | Updated: 06:43 GMT, 11 May 2012 Every mother knows there's a time when you have to let go and watch your children make their own way in life. And it seems there's nothing different in the animal kingdom, as western lowland gorilla Salome keeps a watchful maternal eye on her seven-month-old son Kukena who leaves her side for the first time since birth. The little primate summoned the courage to go off and explore his enclosure in Bristol Zoo. Finding his feet: Little seven-month-old Kukena ventures away from his mother's side for the first time at Bristol Zoo since birth Watchful gaze: Mother Salome keeps a cautious eye on the newly intrepid Kukena as he explores Bristol Zoo Although still very wobbly, Kukena managed to pull himself up on to his back legs and can walked on all fours. Mammal keeper Alan Toyne said: 'Kukena is making fantastic progress and is developing well. This time however, Salome conceived her baby naturally.
The happiest dog I have ever seen Government Shutdown Appreciation Station — Shutdown 101: What's Going To Happen Tonight At Midnight? The Rubik's Cube Solution How to Solve the Rubik's Cube in Seven Steps The world's most famous puzzle, simultaneously beloved and despised for it's beautiful simple complexity, the Rubiks Cube has been frustrating gamers since Erno Rubik invented it back in 1974. Over the years many brave gamers have whole-heartedly taken up the challenge to restore a mixed Rubik's cube to it's colorful and perfect original configuration, only to find the solution lingering just out of their grasp time and time again. After spending hours and days twisting and turning the vaunted cube in vain, many resorted to removing and replacing the multi-colored facelets of the cube in a dastardly attempt to cheat the seemingly infallible logic of the cube, while others simply tossed it to the side and dubbed it impossible. The Rubik's cube, it seemed, had defeated all. Humanity required a solution, so intelligent gamers went to work to take down the so-called "frustration cube". Rubiks Cube Terminology and Move Notation Left Right Dedmore H