For humans who like browsing through Wikipedia and also like playing old-school text adventure games, this is awesome. Wikipedia: The Text Adventure was written in June 2017 by Kevan Davis. Its map is pulled live from the Wikipedia API, and it uses all articles which have specified geo-coordinates. (If two articles share an exact location…
Some good observations in this essay. As the teacher, I am used to being able to set the pace and call the shots; and if I see a problem, I’m the one responsible for solving it or delegating the task. For me, acting is an exercise in humility and teamwork. I really enjoy the rehearsal…
Bret Stephens of the NYTimes says by accepting the resignations of three staff members who erred, CNN is supporting Trump’s rhetoric that (inevitable) errors in journalism are evidence of a conspiracy. If nothing else, Trump has the bully’s cunning to pick on a target more unpopular than he is. And like a bully, he knows…
Here we have possibly the only surviving backup tape of the source code to 30 year old historical game data being put into an oven and baked! | Have we gone raving mad? Have we totally lost it? What is this insanity? | The dish is: Baked tapes! Done nicely in your normal kitchen oven. Cook at 45C…
CNN is pretty upfront; three journalists resign after an internal investigation determines a story depending on an anonymous source was posted to the CNN website without undergoing standard checks. In the rush to publish, the editorial structure broke down. (CNN retracted the story before it was aired on cable TV; whatever they can verify will,…
Donald Trump has a lot to say about “fake news” — a label he hurls at almost any journalism that portrays him in unflattering light. It seems he’s been using a fake Time magazine cover in his clubs. The news organization has asked him to take down the fake covers. “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is…
Are Keds a brand that my college students would recognize as kid shoes? In a handout on how to write short stories, I used “Keds” as a brand name. Should I change that to something like “Spongebob Crocs” instead? Similar:Crazy-looking keyboards that never caught on As the typewriter become popular, it w…AestheticsI just found an abandoned…
With each other as validation, we began to articulate the real, dismal and frightening story of life in The O, which had as its unlikely recruiting grounds the 1970s food co-ops of the US Midwest. After a dramatic exit, I wrote the memoir Inside Out (2002). The book was an effort to understand how I,…
How does our 21st century understanding of mental health affect our understanding of Hamlet? As a teacher, I have for decades approached the play like this: If everyone in the audience agrees that Hamlet was sane or Hamlet was mad, then the production was a failure; Shakespeare’s text was ambiguous, and a good production should…
My sister the computer programmer benefitted early in her career because she was an excellent writer. She was so good at taking notes that people would invite to her important meetings so there would be a good record, and people would consult her about important topics covered during those meetings. My brother the electrical engineer…
Peter spent the day at a chess tournament — the biggest he’s participated in yet. He won three games and lost one, and won a trophy for “Under 800” — but the trophy plaque has a curious misprint. Similar:Drinking milk and using the #WaybackMachine to fix broken links in a 10-year-old blog post…PersonalSome editing and…
I already have some handouts on writing titles for web pages and writing titles for college papers. I don’t (at the moment) have a full handout on writing headlines for news stories. In this age of clickbait (“Clickbait Tactics Drive the Writing of Headlines on ABC News,” 2015), revisiting Poynter’s advice on writing traditional news…
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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:How "Hail Mary" Became Inextricably Linked to American FootballI am revamping an existing “News Writing…CulturePost-publication review as an efficient alternative to pre-publication peer reviewAndrew Gelman of “Statistical Modeling, …AcademiaImma Let You Integrate QuotationsIn the poem “Imma…
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 battle against airborne COVID has shifted. Why your mask 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…