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:NASA reconnects with Voyager 1 (after months of confusion) NASA says it is once again abl…AwesomeThe ‘Liar’s Dividend’ is dangerous for journalists. Here’s how to fight it. The Liar’s Dividend suggests tha…CultureElon Musk has officially killed…
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:A Matter of Honor (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 8)Rewatching ST:TNG…
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:I voice the role of Electron Jones in this audio detective series. The first episode was r…Making this illustration in Blender3D wa…PersonalMinneapolis protest cleanup: Did you share this meme without fact-checking it? (Don’t spre… A Facebook meme with 52k reactions a…CultureI had a grand time recording this little story about a misunderstood genius who just…
Similar:The Girl Has Started Rehearsals for PICT Classic Theatre’s Jane EyreI’ve chauffeured the girl into Pittsburg…BooksLook how the box leads your eye down to the car, then the two signs lead your eye up to th…PersonalWe'll Always Have Paris (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 24)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…MediaThe girl's entrance as Marley's…
Similar:Impact of One-size-fits-all Web DesignI don’t particularly miss the splash lan…BusinessDeath to high school English”There’s such an emphasis on keeping stu…AcademiaJourney's End (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 20) Picard must relocate a North … Rewatching ST:TNG An obviously tr…CultureAnother social media post attacks journalists for doing their jobs — Updated Elijah McCla…If you’ve been…
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:Pop Culture Showdown with My Retro DaughterThe girl tried to weird me out with a vi…AestheticsEnjoying live theater.The Illustrious Invalid. @kinetictheatre_pghPersonalWhile at Sadecky's Puppets to record the role of Heidi, Carolyn met a new friend.We spent Sunday afternoon at the Sadecky…Aesthetics‘Twelfth Night’ is a Shakespearean hoot, and Prime Stage actors Carolyn Jerz, Malcolm MacK…Why…
Similar:A salute lost to historyHistory is complex and baffling and fasc…CultureIntroduction to The Skin of Our Teeth (optimistic, absurdist metatheater; Thornton Wilder,…https://youtu.be/1okt8MIVTtsAcademiaHow America fell in love with crazy amounts of air conditioningBy the 1950s, as air conditioners became…BusinessJANE EYRE Steps In and Out of Darkness at PICTJane Eyre is not a two-person show, and …AestheticsLooking up an…
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:Ideology shapes our view of reality, which affects what persuades us. EthicsHappy to…
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:My Kids Are Shatner Than MostI passed along to my geeklings an apprec…DramaTwelfth…
Similar:Lecturing is So Much Easier than Leading a DiscussionLecturing is So Much Easier than Leading…AcademiaPress X to Teach Ready to mash up gaming and teaching a…AcademiaFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg strides past fettered drones at Mobile World Conference. I’d like to think that all these peopl…BusinessAs I was preparing to take this screenshot, two more…
Similar:Are we spreading fake news about fake news?In a new research paper that Poynter say…CultureMale Supporting Characters in Recent Disney Princess Films Dominate the DialogueThe silly click-baity headline in the Wa…BusinessThe Cost of Defining Yourself as an Introvert or ExtrovertIn a nutshell, introversion is not about…CultureHere's to the grim-based photojournalist who saved my bacon ~35…
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…