Tag Archives: book

Sustainable, sharing communities explored in Karen Litfin’s book ‘Ecovillages’

Karen Litfin is a University of Washington associate professor of political science and author of the book “Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community.” She answered a few questions about the book, and her work, for UW Today.

Q: What is the main message of “Ecovillages”?

A: After teaching global environmental politics for two decades and watching planetary conditions deteriorate, I grew disenchanted with top-down solutions. I also grew tired of making my students anxious, depressed and guilt-ridden. If our ways of living are unraveling planetary life-support systems, then we must answer the question: How, then, shall we live? (more…)

Read More

‘Earth Perfect?’

Professor’s new book examines nature, utopia and the garden

“the result of humanity’s attempt to carve out an ideal place in nature, thereby fashioning a ‘perfect’ earth” — is the subject of a new book, co-authored and edited by the University of Delaware’s Annette Giesecke.

Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia, and the Garden is a lushly illustrated, 303-page volume that brings together essays from writers and experts across disciplines to study the relationship — historical, present and future — between humanity and the garden. (more…)

Read More

Artistry of ‘Contre Jour’ Comes to the Web with Internet Explorer 10

Game’s creator brings his vision to life with Internet Explorer’s immersive multitouch capabilities.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 9, 2012 — After a busy summer with The Find, Pulse and Atari, Internet Explorer 10 today brings another well-known gaming experience to the Web in HTML5. The experience immerses users into a game rich with artistry and music, all while main character Petit – the one-eyed creature – seeks to save his love, The Rose. This world is “Contre Jour,” which is now available to play online as an interactive multitouch experience on the Web with Internet Explorer 10.

“Contre Jour” is not your typical game. Designed by Ukrainian developer Maksym (Max) Hryniv, the game draws many of its visual features, such as the use of black-and-white environment, from modern film noir titles such as “Sin City.” This design aesthetic is at the heart of the game. When making the decision to bring it to the Web, Hryniv was concerned whether it would really be possible. Assuming he could even build it, would any browser be capable of supporting the rich design, visual features and gameplay that requires multiple simultaneous touch gestures (i.e., multitouch)? After seeing Internet Explorer 10, the browser for Windows 8 that is leading the industry in its multitouch capabilities, he was willing to give it a try. (more…)

Read More

Mutltitasking May Hurt Your Performance, But It Makes You Feel Better

COLUMBUS, Ohio – People aren’t very good at media multitasking – like reading a book while watching TV – but do it anyway because it makes them feel good, a new study suggests.

The findings provide clues as to why multitasking is so popular, even though many studies show it is not productive.

Researchers had college students record all of their media use and other activities for 28 days, including why they used various media sources and what they got out of it. (more…)

Read More

Shiller Paper Cited As One of the Century’s Top Economic Articles

An article written by Robert J. Shiller, the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, was recently named one of the “top 20” articles in the 100-year history of the American Economic Review (AER), the premier journal in the field of economics.

“Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to Be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?” was published in the June 1981 edition of the AER and became a focal point of debate and research over the question of whether changes in stock market prices are driven by rational expectations — what’s called the efficient markets hypothesis — or by other forces. (more…)

Read More

Amazon’s Kindle Digital Text Platform Extends 70 Percent Royalty Option to Books Sold to Canadian Customers

*Authors and publishers can now earn more money on every book sold to Canadian customers Kindle Digital Text Platform changes name to Kindle Direct Publishing*

SEATTLE, Jan 21, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that the popular Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) is extending the 70 percent royalty option to include books sold to Canadian customers. This royalty option is available for books sold to Canadian customers from the Kindle Store for Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, or one of the Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac, Windows Phones and Android-based devices. Kindle Digital Text Platform is also changing its name to Kindle Direct Publishing. (more…)

Read More