Today I learned that it's possible to write a cover letter that actually clarifies your interests and plan. I wrote the following in a cover letter yesterday (slightly adapted for posting). I read it over today and realized that it really DOES sum up my current life plan. Can't say that about many cover letters!

I want to educate people to be more awesome. When my classmates at Harvard ask why I'm in grad school for educational media, I blather something about the pedagogical potential of interactivity for reaching students of multiple intelligences. That's true too. But I also just want more cool people to hang out with – even if I have to make them cool myself.

Games are scaffolding. That's an ed school word, but it could very well be a gaming word too. Scaffolding allows students to grok sophisticated ideas by taking them there step by step, so that each stage is a well-supported progression from the previous. Games are scaffolded as well – when you level up, you have proven the ability to tackle harder bosses. When you unlock a new clue, you are biting off a manageable chunk of the meta-puzzle. The naturally scaffolded structure of games and puzzle hunts means that you can use them to make people do all sorts of fun things they wouldn't normally do.

Engaging video games are great and all, but it's far more awesome to appropriate video game mechanics to have fun in Real Life. A pervasive game can be used to encourage exploration in an old fort, critical thinking in a museum, willingness to wander off a trail in the woods, absurd behavior in a public place, and a whole range of other activities that I, in my infinite objectivity, find valuable.

I design games because games help people do cool things they wouldn't do otherwise.

A bit rough, yeah, but that's totally the idea! :)

So today I learned that in 1969 they turned off Niagara Falls. I KNOW, right???

Jenny: I already ran out of work to do, like an hour ago.
me: You can read about how they turned off Niagara Falls

me: or King Ludwig II of Bavaria
Jenny: yeah, how did they do that?

Jenny: they turned him off, too??
me: well they had this giant red dial

me: and Superman didn't get there in time to stop them
Jenny: man! I hate it when that happens
me: and they dissolved Kryptonite in the water

me: so he couldn't go manually refill the waterfall with his Superlungs

me: or supermanually, as the case may be
Jenny: hahahahahahaha

Jenny: that's a great adverb

Jenny: how did we get the falls back?
me: well that's a helluva lot of water to divert, and all that water power actually creates enough electricity to provide 1% of the nation's daily electricity use (true story)

me: Which is of course why Lex Luthor was interested in the first place, not just because it would make a good headline in the Daily Planet

me: but when you take THAT much electricity, and put it with THAT much water

me: you're gonna eventually be like "oh come on, it can't really hurt that much"

me: and try to go for a swim.
me: That's how Lex lost his hair.

me: Fully electrifying the water (cuz when the person fell in it went zap) made the kryptonite particles disperse to a safe level

me: and Superman was able to dive in, rescue Lex, and then shift the dial back to its correct setting.

Jenny: ....wow, Liz. Wow.

Jenny: that is both a brilliant plot for a tv show and a staggeringly misleading portrayal of how electricity works

Sesame Street presents: Mad Men

Sesame Street will be doing a Mad Men parody next season, and over on Jezebel they were fantasy-casting the Muppets in various Mad Men roles. Hate to break it to the Mad Men fans looking for a bit more actual parody in their Sesame Street, but here's how it will actually go:

Grover has a clipboard and a megaphone. Prairie Dawn, a camera.

GROVER
Alright, gather round people, gather round! Now today I, Grover, will be making my deee-rec-torial debut. So don't mess up! Places!

Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar, and others take places.

GROVER
"Mad Men," take one. Roll film, Prairie Dawn. Action!

The cast weeps. Big Bird blows his beak into a giant handkerchief.

GROVER
Stop! Stop! This is terrible!

ERNIE
Gee, I thought I was being real sad.

BERT
I was very touched, Ernie.

ERNIE
Why thanks, Bert.

GROVER
Quiiieeett! I don't want you to be SAD men. I want MAD! Sad is what you feel when the top scoop falls off your ice cream cone, or when your favorite toy breaks. Show me MAD!

EVERYONE
Oh okay -- We understand -- Yeah sure boss.

GROVER
Alright? Places! Mad Men, take 2. Action!

Everyone grins. Ernie giggles. Elmo dances around.

GROVER
No no no no no!

ERNIE
Was that better, Grover?

GROVER
That wasn't Mad Men! That was Glad Men! Way too happy, yes, far far too happy and glad. No happiness!

EVERYONE
Okay Grover -- Will do -- Not a problem.

GROVER
Okay. Good. Do you understand what I mean by mad? Like how you feel when you get woken up too early, or when you can't find your baseball, or when you have to eat a plate full of brussel sprouts.

EVERYONE
Ew.

BERT
Ooh ooh, brussel sprouts, I want, me!

GROVER
That is mad. Do you all know how to feel mad?

ERNIE
We sure do!

GROVER
Great! Wonderful! Fantastic! Show me the mad! Not sad, not glad - mad. Mad Men, take three. Action!

He looks at his cast, and suddenly they are all wearing plaid shirts.

GROVER
What is-- . Oh. I see. Plaid Men. You're wearing plaid. WHY ARE YOU WEARING PLAID I TOLD YOU TO BE MAD HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU--

ERNIE
Mad Men, take four! Action!

Prairie Dawn spins the camera around on Grover and films him going ballistic.

GROVER
--HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO JUST ACT MAD WHY DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND GROVER'S ARTISTIC INTENTIONS WHAT IS THE--

ERNIE
Now *that's* mad! Heeheehee!

Aaand scene.

Sesame Street's Liz Lemon