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 girl will be performing as the Dew Drop Fairy in the Dec…
Similar:Merchant of Venice Part 2 live, now! #PPTPlaytimeDramaIt's a Didactic Day in the Neighborhood: Mister Rogers and Educational IdeologyI recently lamented that my kids are gro…AestheticsCongrats to all the winners at the Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Project! Bit-Sized Productions …Bit-Sized Productions was nominated for …ArtYork Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours…
Similar:What blogging wasI’ve maintained this blog since the spri…CybercultureKickball Ice Cream Maker Is Both a Stupid and Awesome Idea$35 Kickball Ice Cream Maker does exactl…AestheticsWhat happens if you hide everything on Facebook? I tried it for a day.Spoiler: not much really happened. Telli…AmusingWinnie the Pooh saga turns 100 years old todayOne hundred years ago today…
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…
The First Amendment of the constitution protects the incoming students’ right to say whatever they like, even if Harvard doesn’t like it. And, as a private institution that is not regulated by the First Amendment, Harvard has the right to kick out incoming students unwise enough to exercise their rights in this manner. (The government…
Just as comedians generally don’t laugh at their own jokes, Shakespeare doesn’t call too much attention to his own linguistic cleverness, which is one reason his work rewards close scrutiny. It’s not that he was being deliberately obscure or flowery — though some of his obsequious characters definitely exhibit such speech patterns. One line of…
Similar:Small Changes in Teaching: The Last 5 Minutes of ClassI just ordered the book Lang mentions in…AcademiaTo DoTo Do (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) 5: …AcademiaThe Emissary (ST:TNG Rewatch: Season Two, Episode 20) — Enjoyable Worf-centered RomanceRewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureThe dress we ordered for the “girl next door” role in The Fantasticks… vs the dress that…AestheticsThis history…
Similar:I dunno what to call this but it really hit the spot.Personal"I don't view Shakespeare's work as intimidating anymore." — midterm reflection from coll… “It has made me more confident in my…AcademiaStill in her make-up from her scene as Marley's ghost, with script in hand standing i…PersonalModular components to mix and match. The upper…
Could the absurd examples of bizarre public discourse please stop happening so I can investifart some of them? Similar:Aging Gen-Xer Doesn't Find Bad Movies Funny Anymore”I got this cool tape off eBay containin…AmusingTales from the Antiquities Theft Task ForceA shot of Kim Kardashian leaning ag…AestheticsThat's what's been bothering me since yesterday's #AirPod reveal. #manamanaNumber of times…
Most research subjects, when offered the chance to win $10 and read essays that opposed their views, or $7 and read essays that confirmed their views, chose comfort over the higher potential prize. Liberals and conservatives reacted basically the same–with liberals slightly less willing to read conservative views. (I changed the click-baity headline, which sensationalized the issue…
I remember being fascinated with and challenged by The Waste Land in high school, though it wasn’t until I read some of Eliot’s essays in college that it all sunk in. The same man who could write such clear, sensible prose when he wanted to explain could also construct densely packed, layered, gnostic verse. What…
Fake news is frustrating. Nothing new there. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Students in my freshman writing class often want to write their first college research paper on the topic of unrealistic images of women in advertising. Their first thesis is often something like “Advertisers should not damage women’s self-esteem by promoting…
I didn’t use Newsweek’s clickbaity headline: “Trump and JFK Are More Alike Than We Like To Think.” They are different in many ways, but JFK was remembered for mastering the new medium of television (people who listened to the Nixon/Kennedy debates on radio were more likely to believe Nixon won, but those who watched the…
To believe Donald Trump, you must believe two largely contradictory things. | You must believe that there are a slew of leakers in the executive branch who are providing damning details to the press illegally, and who must be rooted out and punished. punished….You must also believe that the press makes up imaginary leakers simply…
The girl was singing lyrics she learned from a friend. They were so bad I had to Google them. But the animation and tune were better than I expected. Wocka-chicka makes everything better, including this cheesy-but-catchy orc song from the 1980s animated Return of the King. Saving this for the next time I need motivation. Similar:Each…
While Pittsburgh has become more metropolitan in the last generation, the culture here one county to the east still bears witness to its rust belt past. This may sound dull as ditch water to those who believe that the “flyover” states are inhabited largely by clodhoppers, fundamentalist zealots and loudmouthed Babbitts. In fact, Lauck’s aim…
I like introducing my English majors to coding. Here’s a computer scientist who’s returning the favor, advocating the importance of writing skills. “If you succeed in attaining a position that allows you to do something great, if you do something that really is great, and if you realize that it’s great, there’s still one more…
By the end of the semester you will be able to: * Write a good clickbait headline * Fire off a snappy tweet to trolls * Use facts ironically to disprove the President * Locate Sean Spicer in a variety of diverse hiding places * Pin a congressional candidate in under 60 seconds —McSweney’s Internet…