When I’m looking for a picture I’m going to use in an academic project, I typically search Creative Commons; however, Google’s image search is quite useful. The interface is changing to make it easier to view a picture in context (and a little harder to download an image without visiting the source page). The the…
Every Friday since Columbine, one schoolteacher has asked her students to to submit a list. Who would they like to sit next to next week? Who has been an exceptional classroom citizen this week? Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s…
Don’t use that “18 school shootings since Jan 1” meme. It’s misleading. I’ve lost track of how many times this image has popped up on my social media feeds. The 18 “school shootings” marked on that map include an instance in which a third-grader accidentally pulled the trigger of a police officer’s holstered gun (nobody…
I announced that my 300-level Media and Culture class would spend an hour in monastic silence, collaborating on a Google Doc. I expected the students would understand I was helping them get into the mood to appreciate the 14th century setting of The Name of the Rose. What I didn’t expect was an awesome drum…
Okay, on closer inspection I see the red hearts, but the sentiment is clear. Similar:The Booming Japanese Rent-a-Friend BusinessWe had a case recently where a dying man…BusinessFascinating, and very sad, story behind an iconic National Geographic photo.Fascinating, and very sad, story behind …AestheticsWhy Do So Many People on YouTube Sound the Same?So it turns out…
Similar:Stage Right's "The Secret Garden": Performing with My Talented Daughter This weekend has been magical. Frida…CultureHearing "Godzilla on My Mind" author Wiliam TsutsuiPersonalSecond episode of “Electron Jones” paranormal detective audio series is up. waobaudiotheat…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTe47W3S…AmusingAt Computers and Writing #cwcon for the weekend.Am I wise now? At an event for encouragi…AcademiaAnd again I ush.PersonalI didn't exactly…
Those who remember Jane Eyre solely as required reading in high-school English class likely recall most vividly its over-the-top Gothic tropes: a childhood banishment to a death-haunted room, a mysterious presence in the attic, a Byronic hero, and a cold mansion going up in flames. It’s more seemingly the stuff of Lifetime television, not revolutions. But as…
The top suggestion for a Holocaust search no longer points to a denier’s website, but Google’s search algorithm still makes some truly awful suggestions. (I’ve turned off the suggested search feature on my browser.) The top result for “Black lives matter is a hate group,” for instance, leads to a link by the Southern Poverty…
Our local paper did a story on how libraries are changing to meet the needs of students. I’m teaching a course on the history and future of the book, so we’ll be talking quite a bit about the physical medium; however, printed material is no longer central to a college education, so the print collection is not central to our library.
Similar:No focus, no fights, and a bad back – 16 ways technology has ruined my lifeInsightful, funny list. (This guy is a g…AmusingWhy the trial by ordeal was actually an effective test of guiltHow could an ordeal-administering priest…CultureScript: Prospero Makes a Circle on the Beach. Scene Designer: "How?"I was amused by this little note…
I got an email this morning from someone who went to my high school a few years behind me… she is now a high school teacher, and had asked the lit magazine editor to dig up a spoof of Beowulf she remembered reading back in the day. I only barely remember writing it. This excerpt…
Similar:Midsummer opens tomorrow.PersonalThank you, anonymous person who left a container of Oreo minis outside my door.PersonalThe Cosmic Brownie fairy has visited my office. Is “brownie fairy” redundant? Thank you an…PersonalSet design for a virtual production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Post-apocalypti… AestheticsThe storage shelves of my fantasy steampunk CGI starship will need props with appropriate…
Last year, SHU did not sponsor a bus trip to Washington D.C., so I did not arrange a field trip to the Newseum. Seeing a chunk of the Berlin Wall, an antenna from the World Trade Center in front of a display of 9/11 front pages from around the world, Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski’s cabin, and…
Me: It took a few days for the spool of microfilm to arrive via interlibrary loan. I’d use this steampunk contraption to manually seek the right page in the book. But I found it. Crying stock photo child: (Sniff) Checking sources was scary ‘n’ hard in 2006! Me: Yes it was, crying stock photo child. Yes…
Facebook has monetized access to online content. The mobile apps make it difficult for you to actually leave Facebook to follow a link, which means Facebook is increasingly showing other people’s content, bypassing the creator’s own ads (and their “subscribe” and “comment” and “contact us” and “archive” buttons). As Internet comedy writer Matt Klinman puts…
It was pleasurable to encounter a familiar reference to Plato’s Phaedrus (which I just assigned in my Media & Culture class) in this Atlantic article on memory in the digital information age. With its streaming services and Wikipedia articles, the internet has lowered the stakes on remembering the culture we consume even further. But it’s…
I don’t generally like teaching with slide decks, but students are used to them. I use a typeface that makes it easy for me to pretend I’m creating Okudagrams for Star Trek: TNG computer displays.
Similar:The Zombie Argument that Refuses to DieThe idea that generations of Shakespeare…AcademiaSaint Crispin's Day Speech from "Henry V"Dennis Jerz performs the famous speech p…CultureInto the depths of code. Algorithmic archaeologies and cave fantasies in video gamesThe full article (by Angelo Careriis) in…AcademiaA Pedestal, A Table, A Love Letter: Archaeologies of Gender in Videogame HistoryA…
I learned a lot while watching this video. I didn’t realize how much of this movie was driven by off-screen narration. The whole “The Death Star will be in range in five minutes” sequence was added in post. Similar:I just looked up the context for the bald guy dropping the chili. I guess I was…
When I do a career planning unit, I am often amused by the students who list “design skills” or “very creative” on their resumes, yet use the exact same MS-Word default resume template. A second observation is that students typically used their cover letters to describe their own emotions (e.g. as their burning desire for…