This is a challenging writing task. Presidential biographies are a staple of children’s book publishing, and of classrooms across the country. Nonfiction for children is a surging category, particularly in light of a Common Core mandate that schools put greater emphasis on it in their curriculum. Publishers like Penguin Young Readers, Scholastic and Time for…
All of us with Facebook accounts do work for Mark Zuckerberg. Our tagging, sharing, and liking gives Facebook valuable information that advertisers use to reach us. This article describes how Facebook has been courting news organizations, asking them to provide content tailored to Facebook’s needs. Facebook is not interested in an informed, educated public that…
My kids have never seen The Princess Bride. (This is an odd pop culture gap for my 80s-obsessed girl.) Similar:McCain: Dictators 'get started by suppressing free press' “If you want to preserve democracy a…CultureWe Had the Vaccine the Whole TimeYou may be surprised to learn that of th…Current_EventsValentines for Journalists Mark S. Luckie, MediumAestheticsYou have…
A literary work is a powerful tool for simulating what it’s like to inhabit someone else’s life. Not just tolerating difference, or grudgingly giving “the other side” equal time; but generating real empathy for the diversity of humanity. There is no Frigate like a Book To take us Lands away Nor any Coursers like a…
It’s extremely important to understand what a wide range of people are thinking about, and that includes being exposed to influential ideas that I disagree with. I’d rather not hide from an idea that has power, especially if it turns out I can do something about the issue. The headline is a little misleading… there…
NASDAQ.com throws shade via Reuters: Snapchat is popular among people under 30 who enjoy applying bunny faces and vomiting rainbows onto their selfies, but man yon Wall Street are critical of its high valuation, slowing user growth and lack of profitability. Joel Randewich, NASDAQ.com Similar:NASA prepares a Mercury probe for orbitNASA’s Messenger probe is about…
Free speech is valuable. It’s dangerous to set the precedent that it’s okay to censor speech as long as you side with the censor and against the position being silenced. A New Jersey school district has suspended a teacher after yearbook photos of two high school students were altered to remove President Donald Trump’s name…
Similar:Life would be so much better if all the interfaces we encountered looked like #Steampunk c…AestheticsOnce On This Island (next weekend)PersonalTonight's Supermoon.AestheticsThe Tribune-Review published a nice preview of Dani Girl.My daughter Carolyn, Matthew Hommel, Vin…Drama5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math OnlineMy son has finally found a math textbook…CyberculturePinkalicious — "Buzz Off"My daughter plays…
Similar:Picking up books for another termAcademiaIn between 3 walks and a chess game with my son, today I managed to churn out a second 10s…AestheticsLet's talk about books, old sport.BooksIconic 'West Side Story' still resonates todayCarolyn Jerz of Greensburg will be playi…ArtThe choreographer daughter is doing a thing.The choreographer daughter is doing a th…PersonalA…
Similar:In one small prairie town, two warring visions of AmericaGreat writing and great photography in t…Culture'Peter Pan Live' Was Never Intended to Be EnjoyedI didn’t watch the show (our cable-less …AestheticsI just tried Open Shot Video Editor, a free open source toolFor years I used ScreenFlow, which offer…Current_EventsHere's some good writing from The New Yorker:…
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope. Best case scenario? A virtual reality game that is either based around Portal or Half-Life, or unites the franchises into one experience. Valve has invested heavily in VR and clearly values the technology as an entertainment phenomenon – the Portal demo for Vive is one of the…
Similar:Carolyn and her friend Travis on Twin Day at summer camp.PersonalMaking sidewalks to go with the buildings. Tedious but will save time later. #blender3d #m…PersonalI’m really enjoying the embossed labels. #Blender3D (Making props for my fantasy #steampun…AestheticsOpening night. Support local artists in your community!PersonalPhysics simulation demo: crate made up of mostly loose boards. #Blender3d…
Similar:"If It's Not Baroque, Don't Fix It" Cogsworth Broadway Supercuthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6t-pef…AmusingIt's been a Dwarf Fortress afternoon. AwesomeYou, Too, Can Have a Viral Tweet Like Mine: Demystifying Poetic MeterSaving for the next time I teach “Intro …AcademiaA warning to college profs from a high school teacherMy students did well on those questions …AcademiaLet there be light The…
MTV recently ditched the “Best Actor/Actress” awards in favor of “Best Actor,” which suggests the gender-specific term “actress” is less popular among MTV’s target audience. I added that detail, fixed some broken links, and updated the graphic. See Writing Tips: Gender Neutral Language. Similar:When is Donald Trump kidding? When is he being sarcastic? When is…
With the money I saved by working on the car (watching a lot of YouTube tutorials) I bought a new midrange zoom, in the hopes I won’t miss shots by swapping lenses. And now my camera bag won’t quite zip shut. #ConspicuousConsumption Similar:The Enemy (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 7) — LaForge and a Romulan…
Similar:NASA has flown a drone on Mars. A tiny robot. A flying robot. On. Another. Planet. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succe…AwesomeProper commenting is an important part of coding any project, especially in an educational…Proper commenting is an important part o…PersonalReally enjoyed Prime Stage Theater’s video presentation of Mockingbird.Obviously I would have preferred to see…
Similar:Americans grapple with recognizing facts in news stories: Pew surveyThe more you identify with a particular …CultureSeton Hill Supports "Man of La Mancha" Student Outing (Feb 17 and 19)Seton Hill University students can atten…CultureCode is not literatureA literate programmer describes his atte…CybercultureStar Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch I was in college and grad school dur…CultureCooper…
While doing some spring cleaning around my computer desk at home, I noticed that there are scores of old PC games that are still stacked up within arm’s reach, even though I no longer even use a computer with an optical drive at that workstation. But these are games that have sentimental value for my…
Oppressors deny their own agency and dehumanize their victims by using the passive voice. I want my students to recognize this deliberate strategy, and to look for hidden actors and dehumanized recpients of injustice. (I try to teach about active and passive verbs in a more lighthearted way, but I only bothered to photograph and…
The voice of Wallace has died. The silly, plummy, character-driven steampunk/sitcom hybrid Wallace & Gromit films were a big influence on the tone of the “Captain Gearhart and the Magnificent Blimpship” steampunk bedtime stories I used to tell the kids. Peter Sallis has died at the age of 96, his agents have announced.The actor…