People hate reading instructions, and will only glance at them after they are already frustrated and behind schedule.
I already bought the thing, and I’m only looking in the manual because I can’t figure out what’s wrong with the non-working piece of junk, so I don’t really want to read a chipper note congratulating me on my purchase. People hate reading instructions, and will only glance at them after they are already frustrated…
I just realized I’ve been misspelling and mispronouncing “detritus” all my life.
I’ve been a college English faculty member for over 20 years and I just realized I’ve been spelling and pronouncing “detritus” wrong all my life. A short while ago I realized I had typed “detrius” — and that’s how I heard the word in my head — “DEE tree us.” But the word has an…
In January 2001, I was blogging about Bill Clinton’s #WhiteHouse security deposit, anachronism in the #Titanic movie, a textual detective, and #email #etiquette
In January 2001, I was blogging about The Onion: Clinton Not Expecting to Collect White House Security Deposit Anachronisms in the movie Titanic A textual detective who helps the FBI solve crimes and says Clement Clark Moore did not write “A Visit from St. Nicholas” A student whose client backed out needed a project, so…
I’m just getting around to watching this speech from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Impressive!
I really never paid much attention to Schwarzenegger’s time as governor of California, but because I was in living in Wisconsin during part of former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura’s time as governor of Minnesota, I guess I expected bluster and bravado. Yes, waving the Conan sword certainly provided manly spectacle for the groundlings, but the…
Clues (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 14) Data’s faslehoods nonpluss and Picard thinks he’s sus, that’s a re-do
Rewatching ST:TNG After the crew blacks out, Picard investigates Data’s mysterious behavior. Although I haven’t seen this episode since it first aired in 1991, I remembered it as a strong episode, with a script that respects the audience’s intelligence. I didn’t remember the Dixon Hill holodeck sequence, which was longer than necessary. Instead of showing…
In December 2000, I was blogging about typeface snobbery, freedom in video game spaces, the first email message, and T.S. Eliot’s anti-semitism
In December 2000, I was blogging about Typeface snobbery (The Onion) Videogames as gendered play spaces (Henry Jenkins) Who wouldn’t want to trade in the confinement of your room for the immersion promised by today’s video games? …. Perhaps, my son finds in his video games what I found in the woods behind the school,…
I accidentally did too much DuoLingo. I don’t want to advance to the harder league. Come on, Valerie…
McCain’s 2008 Concession Speech: Republicans interrupt their candidate’s concession speech to cheer about what the election of his opponent says about the USA
That moment during McCain’s concession speech in 2008, when he mentions Obama, and a ripple of boos begin. McCain, his face showing disapproval, holds up his hands palms down — a controlling gesture, but a calming one. He says the simple word, “Please,” and patiently waits until his audience settles down. He says he just…
In October, 2000, I was blogging about bobbed hair, Woolf, a CFP for interactive fiction scholarship, the hyphen in e-mail, and a book with glow-in-the-dark pages
In October 2000, I was blogging about The F. Scott Fitzgerald Short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (background; full text) A biography of Virginia Woolf The precarious status of English as a global language A call for papers for a special issue of Text Technology devoted to interactive fiction (I have a copy on my shelf…
Really enjoyed Prime Stage Theater’s video presentation of Mockingbird.
Obviously I would have preferred to see it live, but the pandemic-era video presentation — with clever graphics that indicate stage actions and pop-up text that augment the recorded performances — was subtle and touching.
Being a deaf lipreader during a pandemic means increased social anxiety
Even social events are a minefield. The more people there are, the more spread out everyone is. My excellent lipreading skills can’t surmount distance. I also find myself avoiding things I used to enjoy, like going to stores by myself. I don’t want to worry about one-way conversations.
“Adfl etgjw ilserj mjikas!” That’s what everyone will sound like, if I can hear them at all.
What’s a deaf person to do, at least until face shields become de rigueur?
Story Pitch: How writers present an article idea to a busy editor
I hoped this slide would appeal to my students as I taught them about pitching a news story.
In August, 2000 I was blogging about poetry, presidential wordplay, home-schooling, online learning, and a search engine you may have heard about.
In August 2000, I was blogging about Top 10 Tips for Writing Poetry (which I’ve updated over the years and is the most popular page on my site today) Richard Lederer’s presidential wordplay (“I predict that at the end of the campaign. Gore will be bushed and Bush will be gored. Then we’ll have either…
Don’t call it “social distancing” or you just might get a polite correction from the administration. These are *physical* distancing markers on the quad.
What are ‘Judeo-Christian values’? Analyzing a divisive term
block of American society. But for critics of how the term is used today, Judeo-Christian is vague, historically flawed and even inflammatory. These opposing views reflect a deep rift in American society and illuminate very different fundamental political beliefs.
“This is a term defined by exclusion,” said Shalom Goldman, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, arguing that the term is often used to reject secular values and Muslims.
“It’s essentially saying our values are not the values of the Enlightenment or the Constitution, but instead our values are the values of the Bible,” he said.
Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance, called the term a “generalization” and said it is one “Christians in particular use to put a patina of universality on a certain Christian culture in the United States.”
Video Tips for Students: Don’t do what I’m doing! You can’t see my eyes, the background is distracting, you’re looking up my nose and the lighting is awful.
You might have been asked to submit a short video assignment. Don’t do what I’m doing! You can’t see my eyes, the background is distracting, you’re looking up my nose and the lighting is awful. This short video demonstrates some quick tips that will greatly improve a video submission assignment. Your instructor and your classmates…
Sentence Definition: Species = Genus + Differentia
Jerz > Writing > Technical Writing Tips
I went with frisse.
German uses esse “to eat” for people, but frisse “to feed on” for animals. This is a bear, so “I am eating a potato” should naturally be “Ich frisse eine Kartoffel.” But it’s an anthropomorphized talking bear, which implies the self-awareness of “Ich esse eine Kartoffel.” But surely a bear that knows…
Thinking about physical therapy and cheerful, chatty older gents…
I feel like I’m living in a sitcom. A cheerful, chatty older gent was using the physical therapy table next to me this morning, delivering a constant stream of pleasant banter on the order of “Are you workin’ hard, or hardly working?” I’m attending PT twice a week because I noticed a decreased range of…