Party Like a Jerz

 My dad just made us root beer floats. Similar:Random sibling selfie.PersonalCarolyn's performance as Ariel #bardinbloom @ThePublicPGHSo good to see her preforming live on st…CultureMy colleague @crissycp offers warm soda bread and tea every year, as part of her authentic…AcademiaGrandpa Joe's Candy Store.Sugar rush at Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store….AestheticsImagine a world…PersonalWhere No One Has Gone Before…

Rest assured, there will soon be enough Rey toys to monetize the imaginations of the little girls who grew out of princess worship

The problems of female characters being under-represented in geek merchandise is real. But when it’s a secondary character like Gamora or Black Widow, at least toy companies have an excuse. When the girl is not just the star of the movie, but of the whole franchise, that’s another story. That character, of course, is Rey,…

When Asking the Question is Part of the News Story (New Example: Clinton Supporters)

I ask my journalism students to avoid using the phrase “When asked about…” as a default transition in news stories. While they are taught in freshman comp classes to introduce their quotes and then explain the significance of the quotes, to a journalist that’s just filler. This story from the Daily Mail (a UK publication…

The Chronicle of Higher Education Announces Plan to Limit, Curate Comments

By 2016, the terrain has shifted. Publications of all stripes are re-examining what it means to engage with their audiences and to encourage productive conversations. Quite a few of those conversations — including ones about our work — have already moved to social media. Many publications have played down comments or eliminated them altogether; others…

What Khan Academy’s Fun, Free Learning Empire Has to Do with Dystopian Social Control

Over the Christmas break, I’ve been churning through Khan Academy math drills, so that I can be a more effective homeschool parent. It’s actually kind of fun watching my score go up, and earning badges. In the way that birds who are trained to peck buttons for food think it’s fun to peck their little beaks bloody. As a grad student ploughing through…

A Thursday throwback to end 2015.

Similar:Waiting for the house to open. @prime_stagePersonalI broke the garage door when I left for work this morning. Fixed it when I got home.PersonalDaughter is in 2 theatrical productions opening this weekendThe daughter plays Laertes in Seton Hill…BooksI regularly teach A Raisin in the Sun but haven't seen a live production in decades. Looki… AwesomeLining…

Daughter made a Rainbow Loom Marty McFly. Note vest jacket and hover board.

Similar:My son teaching chess to a young pupilCultureWest Side Story Maria MontagePersonalGeometry and color maps for wooden desk tray. #Blender3D #practiceThe blue image is a “normal map,” which …AestheticsRemembering James Doohan on his 100th Birthday (found on the Star Trek Wholesomeposting Fa…When I was a kid watching the reruns aft…HistoryStick to facts, but write news…

And so it begins.

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Is There a Santa Claus?

Update, Dec 2020:   We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If…

NASA Releases New Earthrise Image

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon. “The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo…