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:College Seniors Confident about Their Work Ethic, Written & Oral Skills; Employers Disagre…According to the NACE 2018 Job Outlook, …AcademiaAdventure | T.M. CampGreat story of nerdiness and discovery a…CybercultureStop sharing those unsourced memes about "be woke" and "God doesn't need soldiers" — here…Pope Leo XIV, in his first address to jo…CultureAlas for You (Godspell, Stage Right)Three…
Similar:Evita in Zelionople CultureI can't really articulate why i enjoy crafting #steampunk control panels, but it's been a …AestheticsThis morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m… CultureShe feels pretty at the dress rehearsal (opens Thursday)On the ride home, in the middle of a spi…AmusingSecond episode…
Could the absurd examples of bizarre public discourse please stop happening so I can investifart some of them? Similar:Narrative, Creativity, and EvolutionMy students are finishing up Hayles, My …AcademiaCNN Holds Morning Meeting To Decide What Viewers Should Panic About For Rest Of DayKicking around ideas ranging from an upt…AmusingWhy the King’s Quest demo reignited my…
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:Hexagons…
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…
Similar:Me as a highshool photo-bomber, I presume at the cast party for The Music Man.DramaThe Penance of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, by Edwin Austin Abbey.This painting was inspired by the scene …AestheticsStudents in “A.I. and the Future of Literacy” are presenting now in Cecilian Hall. @setonh…PersonalPater Noster Passenger ElevatorsSome 50 years ago, my father took…
Successful people may just be lucky; focusing too much on their successes can silence the honorable failures that we can all stand to learn from. People who consider themselves “lucky” take more risks, and are therefore more likely to discover opportunities. They brush off their failures rather than dwell on them. People who consider themselves…
I wrote the following in 2004, when my son was 6 and my daughter was 2. The time is waning that my son will want nothing more than to play Battleship and The Magnificent Race with me all afternoon. Some day I’ll make a silly joke, and my daughter won’t giggle with glee, she will…
Sobering analysis. Would I be able to follow this advice in the unthinkable event I had a personal account to share? Terrorists use social media to recruit, but they also depend on you and the media to use it to amplify their message…. The motivation for terrorism is not mere murder or maiming but the…
Does the world need another working definition of digital humanities? Do you have one? Here’s mine. Digital Humanities is the deliberate, critical application of emerging technology to the study of traditional subjects such as literature, art, philosophy, and language, often (but not always) with a focus on how those traditional fields are now using emerging…
Many a high school student has muddled through a book report in a single caffeine-fueled sitting, but successful research term papers or quarterly progress reports require planning. In technical writing, a prototype might be a full table of contents (with summaries for each major section) and one or two complete chapters. If conducting a survey is…
The girl was concerned she wasn’t nerdy enough, so she’s taken to wearing a prop ring on a chain around her neck and calling it “My Precious.” (Photo credit: Kelly Tunney.) Similar:Meet octobot, a soft-bodied robot that looks like the futureOur future robot overlords never looked …AestheticsHistorians Admit To Inventing Ancient GreeksI knew it! Busted!!…