Fortune’s fool, I wagered I would be spared and forsook my ad blocker, and now a pitiless gloom that will abide for 30 seconds has descended. No X in the corner will succor me. No five-second opt-out will rekindle the embers beneath this wicked mist. Lo, the Mazda Summer Sales Event nears. Stop my ears with wax! Forgive me! Forgive me! –The Onion
Google’s internal study of work groups found that successful teams are made of reliable, engaged workers who feel psychologically safe to take risks. Keeping this in mind the next time I introduce a group project. We learned that there are five key dynamics that set successful teams apart from other teams at Google: Psychological safety:…
It’s frustrating and terrifying that the current cultural climate makes this website necessary. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project that aims to comprehensively document press freedom incidents in the United States — such as the arrests of journalists, seizures of their equipment, interrogations and searches at the U.S. border, subpoenas to testify about…
Fascinating contemplation of color perception, as mediated by language. The tints of a rough sea range from ‘whitish’ (polios) and ‘blue-grey’ (glaukos) to deep blue and almost black (kuaneos, melas). The sea in its calm expanse is said to be ‘pansy-like’ (ioeides), ‘wine-like’ (oinops), or purple (porphureos). But whether sea or sky, it is never just…
I don’t ban technology in my classroom, even though I know some students can’t manage the potential distraction. (An early assignment in my freshman writing class demonstrates that multitasking is a lie — we can only pay attention to one thing at a time,,and though we can do something routine like fold laundry while also…
Similar:A few Dwarven Moments in Stage Right's Snow WhiteThe dwarf scenes were a real hoot. …DramaIn July 1999, I was blogging about Dante's ashes, Apollo 11, gender-neutral language, and …In July, 1999, I was blogging about: …CultureWest Side Story (Aug 9-12) #somethingscomingCultureFinished the girl's 10th grade homeschool evaluation with PA Homeschoolers Susan Rich…PersonalPeter vs. the…
Similar:Fancy a game of whist with your nemesis? The prospect of ruin adds piquancy to the pleasur…PersonalStar Trek Beyond was an enjoyable nerdy family outing.PersonalEye of Sauron, Hobbit Door, Palantir and One Ring Easter Eggs.AestheticsShe was a musical ingenue Sunday, filmed a slasher movie past midnight Monday, and was pre…AcademiaMy Parents (aged 72 and…
The ability to serve content faster than where it originated is the privilege of the platform on which people find it. Facebook, Google, and Apple have all been exploiting this privilege, which, while it does lower load times, is not conducive to a single, standardized web. And it deepens content providers’ dependence on those platforms…
The last book I read to her was Wuthering Heights; next on the docket had been The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, and I had chosen it specifically because it features a daughter who benefits unknowingly from, and then grows beyond the need for, her father’s storytelling endeavors. (Alas, that reading was not to be.)
Similar:Students Speak Up: Trust Us With DevicesThe students who are, in the first few w…CybercultureSeven reasons why blogging can make you a better academic writerI’ve been doing this since 1999. Why do…AcademiaPrototypes in Technical Writing: What are They?Many a high school student has muddled t…AcademiaGet Hands-on Writing Experience.AcademiaThe woman yelling at a cat is…
I’ve been contacted by editors who would just love for me to publish in international relations journals (I’m trained as an American literature specialist), or write a textbook on pretty much any topic I suggest. I’ve also seen my own web pages reproduced word-for-word, except for the removal of my name, in books other people…
We caught a gent last Christmas with £400-worth of stolen books in his trousers and elsewhere. We grabbed all of the bags back, but he returned about half an hour later to reclaim a half-bottle of whisky and his dream journal, which had been at the bottom of one of the bags of stolen books.…
Similar:A selfie with a Chekov action figure after learning of Anton Yelchin's deathCurrent_EventsShe was a musical ingenue Sunday, filmed a slasher movie past midnight Monday, and was pre…AcademiaThe girl on Halloween 2018. (The boy and I were watching the 1931 Frankenstein at the libr…PersonalEnjoying the “Science of Pixar” 3d computer modeling and storytelling exhibit with…
The dean sends me an email at 9:07pm. Instead of answering, I post about it on social media. Oh yeah, #partylikeaprofessor Similar:U.S. Public Wary of Biomedical Technologies to ‘Enhance’ Human AbilitiesAmericans are more worried than enthusia…CultureCelebration of Writing — a big presentation day for freshman writing classes.PersonalThe Icarus Factor (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 14)Rewatching…
Similar:The Blood and the BlameMoments after Donald Trump was…CultureThe Rivals at Seton Hill UniversityAcademiaA Video Game About Changing What Happens In Shakespeare's HamletElsinore is a game where you play as Oph…CultureThe Evolution of 'Star Trek'(Infographic) | Space.comThe first 45 years of Star Trek (in an a…DesignCheerful scene from @pictclassictheatre Jane Eyre (getting great reviews; 11 more…
The Onion reminds us not to normalize Spicer’s behavior. Similar:Liberal Arts Leaders: The 50 Best Professors Who BlogIt’s polite to say “thank you” when some…AcademiaThe difficulty is the point (teaching critical thinking skills differs from teaching facts…In the past few years I have seen more s…AcademiaThe coronavirus is today just as contagious and just as…
The only reason Facebook is paying attention to fake news is because it wants to monetize real news. (Monetize = control.) After initially dismissing the idea that Facebook plays a role in disseminating fake news, the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been working to remedy the problem. Facebook partnered with third-party fact-checkers such as…
Impatiently scanning store shelves while tersely repeating requests for an inventory of clothing and other items that would be taken along, local mother Susan Vernon, 51, channeled her escalating fears regarding her daughter leaving for college later this month into a fight about storage bins, sources reported Saturday. —The Onion Similar:Woman Yelling at Cat About…
The pressures on local news outlets have been building for years, driven by the twin devils of recession and the disruption caused by the shift to digital media. The impact was noted in a federal study in 2011. It concluded, “A shortage of reporting manifests itself in invisible ways: stories not written, scandals not exposed,…
To master a topic, pretend you are teaching it to someone. Use simple language and analogies. If you stumble, study the topic some more, then try again. Richard Feynman was a physicist who received a nobel prize for his work in quantum electrodynamics. He was notorious for asking his mathematicians to explain concepts in simple…