Battle of Agincourt — 600 Year Anniversary of Henry V’s “St. Crispin’s Day Speech”

Sure, Marty McFly Day is interesting and all that, but Oct 25, 2015 marks the 600 year anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, the occasion for Henry V’s famous St. Crispin’s Day Speech, which, as Shakespeare rendered it around 1599, ends thus: This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er…

The Little Professor: How to write an essay about teaching that will not be published in the NYT, Chronicle, IHE, or anywhere else

All instructors have to assemble their own pedagogical toolkit from the many resources out there and restock it (and recreate it) as necessary.  There is no one single way of being effective.  There is no magic spell (previous post on this blog to the contrary) that will make all pedagogical techniques effective all the time.…

Humanities research is groundbreaking, life-changing… and ignored

Most arguments for “saving” the humanities focus on the fact that employers prize the critical thinking and communication skills that undergraduate students develop. Although that may be true, such arguments highlight the value of classroom study, not the value of research.But humanities research teaches us about the world beyond the classroom, and beyond a job.…

Verify or duck. Confirm each detail or leave it out of your news story.

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80 Days review

80 Days was my go-to game over the summer, though lately I have switched back to Faster Than Light. I haven’t had the chance to play the updated game, though I have installed it on my iOS devices. This paragraph, from Christian Donian’s review on Eurogamer.net, really impressed me. Great writing, and a great explanation…

Why Japanese Kids Can Walk to School Alone

It’s a common sight on Japanese mass transit: Children troop through train cars, singly or in small groups, looking for seats. They wear knee socks, polished patent-leather shoes, and plaid jumpers, with wide-brimmed hats fastened under the chin and train passes pinned to their backpacks. The kids are as young as 6 or 7, on…

And yes, that’s her picture in the program (from the PPT Shakespeare contest).

At PPT’s The Diary of Anne Frank.   Similar:Friday night board game therapy. #startrek #monopolyPersonalParadise Blue (so glad to be seeing more live theater lately)PersonalSecurity is Sleeping in the Back Seat of the CarFor decades, my mother collected paperba…EmpathyThis long-nelected CD-ROM case tucked away behind my monitor holds almost as many portable…PersonalWhat the ‘Grievance Studies’ Hoax…

Track and field fundraiser:photo by Carolyn. FIRST ONE!!!

Similar:Yes, we will see almost anything branded Sherlock Holmes.PersonalI created about a dozen basic building shapes, with textures to add variety. #goodenough #…I created about a dozen basic building s…AestheticsPrime Stage – "Twelfth Night" – Carolyn Jerz ("Viola")https://youtu.be/FlaO1VI1nbk The wife…CultureCarolyn plays Ti Moune in the Stage Right homeschool company "Once on This Island"…PersonalToo Short a…

My Kids Are Shatner Than Most

I passed along to my geeklings an appreciation for hammy sci-fi overacting.   Similar:Paradise (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 15) Anti-technology colony welcomes Si… Rewatching ST:DS9 In a runabout o…MediaChoosing Carolyn's HeadshotWhich of these headshots do you like bes…AestheticsDean Jones Dead: Disney Actor Was 84″The Love Bug” was one of the movies tha…Current_EventsVibing to…

Cave Gave Game: Subterranean Space as Videogame Place | Electronic Book Review

Electronic Book Review just published an article I wrote with Dave Thomas, on cave space in video game ecology. Parts of this article are a companion to my 2007 Digital Humanities Quarterly article on the 1970s text computer game Colossal Cave Adventure. Crowther’s translation of real world caving experience into the digital medium provides a…

The Tribune-Review published a nice preview of Dani Girl.

My daughter Carolyn, Matthew Hommel, Vinny Tresco, and my wife are in this show.  (My wife is also the director.) The show runs Oct 1-3 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 at the Geyer Performing Arts Center in Scottsdale, Pa.) Geyer production ‘Dani Girl’ offers inspiration to those touched by cancer. –Tribune Review Similar:Rocky Horror Show Live…

NASA confirms the best-ever evidence for water on Mars

Mars is the only [other] place where we have solid evidence for liquid [water]. —The Washington Post –– Similar:Hermann Zapf, the font designer behind Palatino and Zapf Dingbats, has died at 96Hermann Zapf, the designer of fonts such…AestheticsWander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found!Interesting news for historians of digit…Current_EventsFacebook Finally Rolls Out 'Disputed News' Tag…