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:PICT’s ‘Oliver Twist’ Offers a Different Kind of Holiday PunchThe first review I’ve seen. My daughter …BooksThe Myth of ‘Learning Styles’The discourse around “learning styles” (…Academia"Wolf!", cried the shepherd boy. (The whole thread is worth reading.)…
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:Incredible archer shows his speed-shooting skillsI know next to nothing 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:Dress rehearsal of The NutcrackerPersonalThere, in my morning snapshot of the kids home-schooling in the kitchen, is the cable I sh…EducationThe spoils.PersonalMy son showed me Seven Samurai. I had never seen it before. Amazing!I’m going to have to watch this one agai…AestheticsGraduation procession #classof2017PersonalWaiting for the house to open. @prime_stagePersonal
Similar:You may move your tassels from right to left. #classof2017 PersonalMy 10yo Created Bookmarks to Express Her Complex Relationship with ReadingMy 10yo has a complex relationship with …BooksMore delightful #steampunk control panels. These are computationally efficient bitmap rect…PersonalFinal grades are due tomorrow. My Fall 2020 is almost over. I survived.Final grades are due tomorrow. My…
Similar:Ode to Huckleberry Finn, Dec’d(Inspired by Emmeline Grangerford, Dec’d…CultureSeton Hill Supports "Man of La Mancha" Student Outing (Feb 17 and 19)Seton Hill University students can atten…CultureSeton Hill Student Journalists Launch Local Election Coverage Students in my journalism class are pu…AcademiaHow to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools In a writing-intensive class, studen…AcademiaElly…
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:I’ve roughed out earthen embankments for the city walls. I know there was at some point a …I’ve roughed out earthen embankments for…CultureThat’s water under the bridge! Crowds of NPCs charge across, sweeping the player along. G…That’s water under the bridge! Crowds of…AestheticsEach building in my #medievalyork simulation has four levels of detail (so…
Similar:That’s water under the bridge! Crowds of NPCs charge across, sweeping the player along. G…That’s water under the bridge! Crowds of…AestheticsBuzzFeed plagiarism, deleted posts: Jonah Peretti explains.In 2012 my former Slate colleague Farhad…BusinessThe Xplor Store: The Forgotten Carnegie Science Center Exhibit? (Guest Post by Leigh Jerz…The other day, my wife suggested a Carne…BooksBattle of Agincourt…
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:Fox apologizes for "error" in news story that created the impression Eagles…
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 automatic doors on my fantasy steampunk cruiser do work… kinda TThe automatic…
Similar:Fancy a game of whist with your nemesis? The prospect of ruin adds piquancy to the pleasur…PersonalLook at how many times this false claim of media conspiracy is being shared. Compare that …PersonalThe Fantasticks closes today at 2.PersonalTwitter suspends Trump's accountTwitter suspended Donald Trump’s account…Current_EventsApple threatens to remove Parler social networking service from App…
Similar:FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpNContestants had to stand with their hand…AmusingShould a Journalist Covering Rocky Horror Live Attend the Show in Drag?Is it a violation of journalistic integr…AcademiaI Quit Liking Things On Facebook for Two Weeks.She stopped liking, and started commenti…CyberculturePennsylvania is one of three states recognized by the CDC…
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…