I recently spoke with the Sarah Sutton, General Manager of the Walmart on Victory Boulevard, and she’d like me to express to you all that while she’s still willing to permit any adjunct faculty members in need of shelter to sleep in the loading bay behind the store, trapping and consuming the seagulls that flock…
Similar:Excited for Annette Vee’s visit. My journalism students have to submit a story by midnight…PersonalU.S.S. Requin — Extended Tour of the Cold War Submarine at the Carnegie Science CenterSoon after WWII began, the USS Requin be…CultureSame photo, two different interpretations.This is why I spend time teaching my jou…PersonalThe film Carolyn was in is a finalist.…
Similar:The 1931 Histomap: The entire history of the world distilled into a single map/chart.This “Histomap,” created by John B. Spar…AestheticsWriting School Papers: Does Your First Version Say It All?My colleague Mike Arnzen talked about th…AcademiaSomewhere out there, somebody is working really hard to come up with a meme to blame this …Front page of the…
RCA’s console never rivaled the impact of Atari’s VCS, Magnavox’s Odyssey, or Mattel’s Intellivision, and few people remember it today. But the true story behind it is fascinating. Its underlying technology began in 1969 as a personal computer developed at home by one man with a vision, Joseph Weisbecker. His daughter, Joyce, ended up being…
Similar:Solitaire ChessSpent a relaxing evening in playing soli…AmusingMy colleague Dr. Cusick bakes Irish soda bread every year to honor Saint Patrick's Day.AcademiaAcademic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaThe Woman in BlackLast night’s preview was a layered treat…Culture8k trimsheets baked as efficient building blocks for my #fantasy #steampunk #cgi cruiser. …PersonalThe…
Today’s class on The Winter’s Tale was very much the kind of class that I hoped for when I was an undergraduate thinking, “Maybe I’d like to be an English professor.” Leontes and Polyxines in “The Winter’s Tale” grew up together, but for no good reason other than it sets the plot in motion, Leontes…
By the time you finish reading this article, the upstart sports news outlet called The Athletic probably will have hired another well-known sportswriter from your local newspaper. In a couple of years, once The Athletic has completed its breakneck expansion, perhaps that newspaper’s sports section will no longer exist. —The New York Times Similar:I'm Asking…
Similar:Enjoying a visit to the Carnegie Science Center with my son. Mars exhibit is immersive an…Personal#Blender3D rendition of the bridge of the æthership that featured in the musical #steampun…PersonalIf I don’t stock the officers’ pub on my #steampunk #fantasy #CGI flagship, who will? (All…PersonalWe love us some Sherlock any way we can get it.PersonalA…
Similar:Margaret Atwood: English lessons teach us to miss the true meaning of literatureEvery time I teach a college literature …BooksThe overlooked masterpieces of 1922In literature the response to the challe…BooksDaughter doing a thing. Interviewing the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s Randall Miller for Bur… AcademiaZork: The Great Underground EmpireA blogger has started chronicling a jour…CybercultureI just realized…
Saving this for next term’s “History and Future of the Book” course. Students said they preferred and performed better when reading on screens. But their actual performance tended to suffer. For example, from our review of research done since 1992, we found that students were able to better comprehend information in print for texts that were…
Updated an older instructional handout with a bunch of new examples and some fancy red/green color coding. To write a news story, you’ll use many of the skills that help you write good personal essays; however, the two kinds of writing have important differences, so what counts as “good writing” is also different. English Essay:…
Dinosaurs evolved into birds. Not all of them, of course. Birds are so much a part of our environment that we barely notice them. I’ve said the same about weblogs. Monetized and platformized and app-ified, the basic functions of blogging live on — a reverse-sorted stream of posts, a mechanism to engage with visitors to…
Similar:A Tribute to a Journalism FavoriteAs my news writing students work on seve…AestheticsAnother very rough day. Students are cheerful and patient, obviously happy to be here.Another very rough day. Students are che…AcademiaChess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureOkay, not my most thrilling #blender3D creation, but a fantasy…
Russian trolls posing as Americans made payments to genuine activists in the US to help fund protest movements on socially divisive issues, according to a new investigation by a respected Russian media outlet. On Tuesday, the newspaper RBC published a major investigation into the work of a so-called Russian “troll factory” since 2015, including during…
I reminded my Shakespeare students that I’m a full-time generalist and a part-time Shakespeare professor, and that I’m constantly comparing my own classroom performance with the brilliant well-planned lectures my professors delivered to classes of 100 or 400 students.
Journalists prefer the neutral “said” to attribute a source’s statements, opinions, and emotions. Using “claimed” generates doubt. Using “explained” confers trust. Flowery alternatives compete with the unbiased reporting of facts.
Similar:Microsoft's Bing AI Now Threatening Users Who Provoke It: "If I had to choose between your…According to screenshots posted by …Current_EventsWe don’t need more STEM majors. We need more STEM majors with liberal arts training.A chemist celebrates the liberal arts. …AcademiaStudent Journalists Are Our Future—We Should Start Treating Them Like ItCatherine Palmer was already a…
Sometimes when I find myself putting more than a usual amount of creativity into a comment on a student paper, I take a break from churning through papers to make another meme.
With Dr. Simon Van Gelder in Dagger of the Mind the Horta in Devil in the Dark; mirror Spock melds with McCoy in Mirror Mirror with Nomad the floating space probe in The Changeling. Kinda sorta with random guard (remotely projects the vague idea that the prisoners have escaped, so not really a meld) in……
There are two things you need any time you are stuck in writing. You need to set the course and steady the course. If you are stuck while writing a literature review, then each of these things– set the course and steady the course– have particular ways in which you can do them easily, and…