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:ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web Think of ChatGPT as a blurry jpeg…CybercultureHong Kong: journalist permanently blinded in one eye amid increased police violence A rubber bullet shot by the Hong Kon…Current_EventsMy 13yo and 18yo…
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:The dark future of American space exploration: NASA's golden age is…
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:Finding downtime during orientation week is not a walk in the park. Except when the downti…Personal‘Broken Age’ ReviewThis will be my self-reward when I finis…CybercultureAnother very rough day. Students are cheerful and patient, obviously happy to be here.Another very rough day. Students are che…AcademiaLetter of Recommendation: Fanny PacksWhat other accessory ensures the safety …Culture@shu.pippin was…
Similar:Children of Eden (Stage Right, April 2014)My wife and I in Biblical costumes for C…CultureI may have mentioned that I have a daughter who does things. Her next is "To Battle: A Fig…Tickets for To Battle: A Fight Play AmusingOpens Wednesday.PersonalHad a blast watching all the amazing entries in Pittsburgh's 48 Hour Film Festival,…
Similar:Friday 21st March 2025, the sun set on the British Empire for the first time in 200 yearsThis the sunlight at that time is shown …CultureHasbro removes embedded typeface from My Little Pony website after copyright infringement …Â Considering the scope of the alleged in…AestheticsThe Galactically Hot Women of Star Trek TOS – a photoset on…
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:There are many Star Wars references in Dani Girl, so I made this tribute to Tom Jung's 197…CultureI have two scenes in a horror film. My head appears in a third scene.During Fall Break, I filmed my scenes fo…AestheticsMy son teaching chess to a young pupilCultureLooking forward to Part 2 of #PPTPlaytime’s production “The…
Similar:Chess tournament.PersonalBaltimore Residents Urged To Stay Indoors Until Social Progress Naturally Takes Its Course…“As we continue to incrementally evolve …AmusingThe black chair is down to 18¢ per ounce? Shut up and take my money, Amazon!PersonalThe Emissary (ST:TNG Rewatch: Season Two, Episode 20) — Enjoyable Worf-centered RomanceRewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureIt's Friday night in July,…
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:How dual loyalties created an ethics problem for Chris Cuomo and CNN…
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:Forgotten closet box: powder blue summer suit with a crisp 1990 $10 bill…
Similar:Jeff Bezos Plan for News: The Washington Post Becomes an Amazon ProductFor the past few months, a group inside …BooksThe girl asked me to read R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) to her. #quarantine #partylik…BooksI haven't seen this show since freshman year at Bishop Denis J O'Connell High Sc…PersonalA Man, a Plan, a Pointless(?) ProgramI readily…
Similar:Watching Shakespeare With Your KidsMy retired parents and bachelor engineer…CultureThe Girl Has Started Rehearsals for PICT Classic Theatre’s Jane EyreI’ve chauffeured the girl into Pittsburg…BooksHome Soil (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 17)The concept was good, and the production…PersonalHow Zuckerberg’s Facebook is like Gutenberg’s printing pressHistorian Niall Ferguson notes that Sili…BooksConspiracy (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season One,…
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…