Reading should not carry a health warning

Similar:Write instructions for busy grouches.Updating the graphic for a writing hando…AcademiaPipe Trouble’s government woes highlight gaming illiteracyInteresting discussion of a political ho…CultureWhat's a namber? (archived)Update, December 2024: Sadly, the “what’…CybercultureUnplugging for a Few Hours at Spruce Flats BogVisited a bog created when loggers clear…AestheticsSesame Street Is Moving to HBO, and the Symbolism Is CrushingI’ve been fascinated…

Reading should not carry a health warning

This is probably the first time in history that young readers themselves are demanding protection from the disturbing content of their course texts, yet reading has been seen as a threat to mental health for thousands of years. In accordance with the paternalistic ethos of ancient Greece, Socrates said that most people couldn’t handle written…

Hanging with the rude mechanicals @setonhilluniversity

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Similar:Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, 1960 Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells’s…AestheticsMars Curiosity rover sings 'Happy Birthday,' dares Earth to collect royalties One year ago today, NASA’s Curio…AmusingI'm not a big fan of Disney's corporate greed.I’m not a huge fan of Disney, largely be…AcademiaEssay on…

Play-Doh was Originally Wallpaper Cleaner

The story of Play-Doh began when Kutol, a Cincinnati based soap company, was about to go under in the late 1920s. Cleo McVicker, just 21 years old, was tasked with selling off the company’s remaining assets, which at the time comprised mainly of powdered hand soap. Once that was done, the company would be too. …

“Oliver Twist” is a story of redemption for PICT Classic Theatre.

Carolyn started rehearsals for PICT Classic Theatre’s Oliver Twist this week. She’s playing a member of Fagin’s gang. Last year in Great Expectations, she split a role; this year there is no double-casting, so she’s in every performance. I’ll be doing a lot of driving. This is not the musical Oliver; it’s the director’s original…

Surprise: Humanities Degrees Provide Great Return On Investment

The conventional wisdom is that humanities majors are wasting all that tuition money and dooming themselves to lives of underemployment. The conventional wisdom is wrong. Humanities degrees are actually worth well more than the cost of college. […] The present value of the extra earnings that graduates in humanities majors can expect over their lifetime…

Inaccuracy Of Every Single Detail Forces Student Paper To Pull Story At Last Minute

“We at The Recorder strive to ensure that every piece of writing we publish contains timely and thoroughly reported information, and because each sentence of this article contains at least one factual error, we made the call to kill it,” said editor-in-chief Hannah Lowry, noting numerous “red flags” in the article that included an incorrect…

It not only went VROOM, it carried chunky plastic letters that could spell VROOM.

Tonight, when I got home after all the evening’s ballet and piano lessons were over, I was plugging in my laptop at my desk and knocked down a little framed picture — it’s a photo my wife took of me on our first date. (On that same occasion, I also took a picture of her,…

Seton Hill takes on Shakespeare’s ‘Dream’

Students in my Shakespeare class will be attending this play. Student actors at Seton Hill University are off on a journey through one of William Shakespeare’s most popular romantic comedies, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Not even the writing style of the Bard — sometimes difficult to master for those new to the playwright’s poetic verse…

Editors and editorial board quit top linguistics journal to protest subscription fees

When I publish as a scholar, my goal is not to make money, but to share my intellectual creation. That’s part of my job description, so my university writes my paycheck with the expectation that I will publish. My publications will have more impact if more people read them. Hiding them behind subscription paywalls will…

Scaring People Can Make Them Healthier, But It Isn’t Always The Way To Go

As my freshman writing students assemble sources for their term research paper, I will point them towards this article, which raises ethical concerns about using fear as a persuasive tool. (Aristotle said that the appeal to fear, like that of lust, reaches our baser emotions; appeals to love, justice, patriotism, etc. are harder to create,…

‘Star Trek’ TV Series in the Works

I am not sure what I think of this. I’m guessing it will feature new characters in the rebooted universe, but I don’t see any info on that. Who exactly was the audience for this vague announcement? The new Star Trek will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic…

How ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Changed Sci-Fi Forever

I read this book for the first time just recently. Was totally freaked out by the chapter that moves us from a realistic YA world to a fantasy/SF world, and then even more freaked out by further twists. I can only imagine the impact it must have had in 1963. It’s a fantastical story featuring interstellar…

Every Post-Game Press Conference (Weird Al)

Similar:That 'Useless' Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest TicketWhat kind of boss hires a thwarted actre…AcademiaUPDATE: BREAKING: 'Star Wars' Returns — 'Episode 7' Slated For 2015 And More Movies Plann…The moment in Attack of the Clones when …BusinessNellie Bly statue to be unveiled at Pittsburgh airport ThursdayIn 1889, Bly became famous for an-around…AwesomeContext for…

After the haircut. The girl seems to like it.

Similar:Physics simulation demo: crate made up of mostly loose boards. #Blender3d #design #practic… https://youtu.be/OqqlWZvWaqM Physic…AestheticsI have a daughter who does things. If demon curses and buckets of stage blood are your thi…I have a daughter who does things. If de…AmusingSelf-Regulation: American Schools Are Failing Nonconformist KidsFor a while, we were part of a homeschoo…CultureA serious…

Before the haircut.

Similar:Basic details for #medievalyork city walls for a forthcoming scholarly theatrical project….Basic details for #medievalyork city wal…PersonalTime Squared (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 13)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…PersonalI'm not showing you my email inbox, or my laundry pile, or the state of my soul. Just…PersonalMy schedule every Friday this term. (Payback for teaching…

Special ed teacher quits: ‘I just cannot justify making students cry anymore’

The disorder is in the system which requires them to attempt curriculum and demonstrate behaviors far beyond what is appropriate for their age. The disorder is in the system which bars teachers from differentiating instruction meaningfully, which threatens disciplinary action if they decide their students need a five minute break from a difficult concept, or…

‘NPR Voice’ Has Taken Over the Airwaves

In literary circles, the practice of poets reciting verse in singsong registers and unnatural cadences is known, derogatorily, as “poet voice.” I propose calling this phenomenon “NPR voice” (which is distinct from the supple baritones we normally associate with radio voices). This plague of pregnant pauses and off-kilter pronunciations must have come from someplace.…

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.…