Star Wars: The Musical

The Walls are Closing In   It’s all my fault that now I hear their death – their screams of pain within their final breath. No, we are alive. And thanks to you, we’ll get out. A whole song about such a literal event?  Songs in musicals, even if they are showpiece numbers attached closely…

Airport Security

Emily Short reviews a game that tries to make a point: While I sympathize with the message of the game, it didn’t really work for me, for two reasons. First, the game is irritating to play. It’s impossible to undo mistakes (if you accidentally confiscate someone’s pants instead of his shoes, for instance, as I…

Dan Rather Files Lawsuit Against CBS

Words fail me. The LA Times is among many sources reporting that… Longtime CBS anchor Dan Rather filed a $70-million lawsuit today against his former employer, alleging that executives at the broadcast network broke the terms of his contract by marginalizing him in his final days at CBS News and forcing him to retire early.

Students' 'Evolving' Use of Technology

Andy Guess (Inside Higher Ed): So technology’s utility in the classroom comes down to how it is used. The question, then, is: How can educators adapt their teaching methods to emerging technologies? And should they? Skeptics might point out that even students themselves are ambivalent when it comes to using the Internet and other digital…

Two Decades of American News Preferences

Pew Research Center Public interest in news has changed slightly over the last two decades, but in a manner that suggests no meaningful trend. The average reading for the Pew News Interest Index did slip during the 1990s from 30% to 23%, a seemingly noteworthy decrease that represents nearly a fourth of the original level.…

Attention Span Breakthrough

My five-year-old sat and listened for over an hour while I read the first chapter of Gregor the Overlander and the first chapter of The Hobbit.  Earlier that day she had found an old beat-up costume jewelry ring that another kid on the playground said he found in a stream.  When the park time was…