Yesterday, I asked my students, “How many of you spent $4 on a cup of coffee in the last month? How many have spent that much to support local news?” “If people don’t get local news, they don’t know what’s going on in their community. If they don’t know what’s going on in their community,…
Similar:A little board-gaming for Labor Day.PersonalHelp! I may be running out of excuses for not wearing…Help! I may be running out of excuses fo…CultureNerdling spots typo in space exploration textbook.PersonalIt's probably safe to throw these out.PersonalMy big brother and my son facing off in chess. I am totally outclassed here.PersonalWould YOU trade a Hank Aaron…
Similar:The Cosmic Brownie fairy has visited my office. Is “brownie fairy” redundant? Thank you an…PersonalDrawing of Once on This Island by the amazing Rebecca Scassellati.PersonalMy son just handed me my serving of noodles in the butter substitute container. Recycling.AmusingTouch Me Now: York Plays 2025A cast of hundreds participated in a pub…AcademiaI dunno what to call…
Similar:Puns really matter to us over here in English.I swore I would wield my powers only for…AcademiaI regularly teach A Raisin in the Sun but haven't seen a live production in decades. Looki… AwesomeSpring 2023 Grades: Submitted! (I only had 3 last-minute submissions to mark today.)AcademiaMore world-building props for a fantasy #steampunk #Blender3D project.DesignIgnorance Meets…
This looks like a deliberate attempt to plant a “fake news” story, presumably in order to discredit the Washington Post for falling for it. Verify, verify, verify. The Post did its homework, and did not fall into the trap. Sadly, this story will be used to discredit people who come forward with legitimate sexual assault…
I spend a lot of time re-educating my students, assuring them that my job as a college professor is not to give them a checklist, and then award points for each item they ticked off correctly; nor is my job to teach to a test. Shortly after I started teaching in my current job, a…
Similar:FULL BLOOM (Aug 31-Sep 2)PersonalThe girl rehearsing as Babette in Stage Right's Beauty and the BeastCarolyn rehearses with Nick Lenz. Her sh…Current_EventsMinneapolis protest cleanup: Did you share this meme without fact-checking it? (Don’t spre… A Facebook meme with 52k reactions a…CultureEach of these #retro #neovictorian #steampunk control panels takes me about an hour. #gree…AestheticsSoldiers…
I’m frustrated by these accursed conference proposal maximum word counts. (10) Curse you, conference proposal word limits. (6) Damn proposal word counts!! (4) Cut wherever possible. (3) Trim wordiness. (2) Simplify. (1) Actually, that helped. Back at it. Similar:Ukraine’s Three-to-One AdvantageThe author notes that he can’t confirm w…CultureThey called it a "flashlight" because early handheld…
Did you share fake news from Russia during the US Presidential election? Grudgingly following up on a Congressional order, Facebook will permit you to jump through hoops to find out. Because Facebook apparently does not have the technology to insert items of its choosing directly in user feeds, the social media company has helpfully provided…
A few minutes ago I heard about HQ for the first time, through a friend’s Facebook post. An item or two down in my feed I saw a different FB friend had linked to this story. The Daily Beast describes a tense encounter with a CEO who calls a reporter, threatens to fire his own…
Editor and columnist Jonah Goldberg questions his fellow conservatives who call for the resignation of Al Franken (a Democrat; junior senator from Minnesota), equating the allegations against him with the allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, all the while downplaying the serious allegations against Roy Moore (a Republication; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of…
I have nothing against essays, but not every writing task requires an essay. I tell my students they will be more successful if they produce a narrative personal essay because it’s the right genre for the occasion, not because it’s the only genre they feel comfortable writing. This handout is my latest attempt to help…
Similar:What gives you comfort? I collect lights. Some of these have magnets!!AmusingA quick Sunday visit to #fortligonier with my history-loving son.A quick Sunday visit to #fortligonier wi…CultureAmazing birthday cake, created by Jane Eyre herself, Karen Baum. (Thank you @kaboom1250!)PersonalSimulated iceberg, preserved artifacts and re-creations at the Titanic installation. …CultureLooking forward to this! @thepublicpghLooking forward…
The other day I found myself very annoyed at how much headspace was occupied by a free game I had downloaded on my phone. So I deleted it. I still go into fight-or-flight mode when I’m drafting a text and a phone call comes in. I like to page through the my notebooks full of…
Similar:Mask up.PersonalFor God's sake John, sit down!CultureJournalists are vital to the health of a free nation. #firstamendnent #freepressPersonalLiz Fosslien's insightful comic on unhealthy conflict vs. healthy conflict.PersonalPfully Pfizered and pfeeling pfine so pfar. Current_EventsI just discovered what will grind up a significant portion of my free time over the break.So Khan Academy now has a…
Similar:Trying something a bit different for today's 10 sq cm of #steampunk #blender3d control pan…AestheticsTop 8 events not to miss in DecemberMy daughter Carolyn appears as Young Est…CultureThe girl's modern dance choreography workshopAestheticsMy outward-bound editor's graduation cap.PersonalThe stair railings on my #blender3d #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser need some realigning….AestheticsHere's a close look at the scepter leading…
Similar:A #neovictorian #steampunk ship-of-the-line needs a dramatic flag and a conveniently locat…AestheticsThe Better Angels of Our WritingCopy editors are to the world of publish…AcademiaThe Case for Breaking Up With Your ParentsI already felt fairly independent from m…AcademiaMathematics and What It Means to Be HumanA humanities faculty member and a math f…AcademiaShe’s wearing a shirt with…
During the Christmas break of 1996, when I was working on my Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, I asked my boss at the Engineering Writing Center if I could log about 10 hours converting a bunch of paper handouts into hyperlinked web documents. I actually put in about 20 hours, and slapped into shape…
Similar:Finished Reading "Fibble," Book 4 in "Heck: Where Bad Kids Go."I finished reading to my daughter the fo…BooksLearning the hard way, by making mistakes and starting over. The fore section of the fanta… AestheticsThank you, anonymous donor of Mardi Gras candy.Okay, on closer inspection I see the red…AestheticsThe girl as the Spanish Soloist in…
Numerical errors usually occur for one of these five reasons: A journalist mishears a correct number given to them by a source and fails to double-check it. A source unwittingly provides a mistaken piece of information and the journalist fails to verify it. A source deliberately fudges the numbers and the journalist fails to verify…