Think

In late May, arcane tweets about buying weapons and assassinating people began showing up in my Twitter feed.  I asked what was up and received an invite to join a spy ring and play Spymaster.

Opinions are divided on how ‘social’ social networking is. This Twitter-based spy game presents an opportunity to look at why.

In late April, we lost our beloved Nutmeg. As the first pup to roam our halls, she will forever be the original Big Spaceship dog.

A Löwchen (“little lion” in German), Nutmeg was a stoic canine, whose admiration was difficult to earn. Smart to the point of discernment, she had her favorites and didn't let just anyone linger by her side. Lest you think she was shrewd, know this: Underneath her gray fur was a heart that would bring the Tin Man to his knees.

Journalism, like busking, is the practice of performing news in public places for tips and gratitude.

An indelicate definition but, considering 10 straight quarters of decline, the newspaper industry is not too far from becoming donation-based. Today, when a person pays for the news it’s by choice, rather than need.

This is not to say that we don’t value a good busker. When getting news online, sites operated by traditional media companies seem to be the most popular and trusted. Even though a slew of amateur reporters have entered the market, people still skew toward high quality output, choosing newspapers over blogs – but not paying for either.