Nick Bain, 17, was in class one day when he calculated that only “2 1/2 to three hours” was actually useful instruction. So he decided to go out on his own to learn. —NPR Similar:Life would be so much better if all the interfaces we encountered looked like #Steampunk c…AestheticsTime’s Arrow, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG…
In school, we expect our professors to answer our questions, to return our emails, to invite us in for a consultation, to pay attention what we say and read carefully what we write. One of the important lessons of being a student journalist is learning how to deal with the unexpected. Unfair things happen in…
On a shelf in the slanty room under the stairs, next to her college textbooks, my mother kept a stash of inexpensive Peanuts paperbacks — dozens of them, which reprinted the newspaper strips, perhaps on a yearly basis, maybe more frequently. I spent many a summer afternoon reading through those books, and I remember sorting…
Similar:Another delightful caricature by Rebecca ScassellatiAestheticsOur 2014 class banner was an iPad. I can’t believe I just noticed that today.PersonalNerdling spots typo in space exploration textbook.PersonalHamlet!PersonalI had a blue checked shirt in my hand this morning, but she nailed the khaki pants.PersonalChipping away at the total as the final submissions pour in.Personal
My laptop drive is full & my comfort-food shelf is empty; however, that package slip was for a new external hard drive and a case of Clif Bars. #winning! Similar:Fantasticks (Theatre Factory, Oct 18-27) AestheticsQuantum's King Lear at Carrie Blast FurnaceThe girl and I were thrilled to catch Qu…CultureWho cares about hyphens, commas and capital…
Last week, I had a hardware emergency. A kid in a small-town hardware store spent about 15 minutes helping me find the right nut. I had the troublesome part with me, and used a vise on their worktable and their wrench to twist it in place. The nut cost 50 cents. I asked the kid if…
Similar:I can't really articulate why i enjoy crafting #steampunk control panels, but it's been a …AestheticsAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dartAestheticsMy more or less daily 10cm section of a #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dart…AestheticsVan Gogh Immersive Experience AestheticsIn the Hands of the Prophets (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 19) Keiko's…
The trick is that most people think they are getting a good deal out of Facebook; we think of Facebook to be “free,” and, as marketing professors explain, “consumers overreact to free.” Most people don’t feel like they are actually paying when the payment is personal data and when there is no specific sensation of…
3,486 words, 120 links, 57 lexias, and currently this is the only ending.
Social media services have put writing tools into the hands of people who probably don’t think of themselves as writers, but there they are, captioning photos and picking hashtags and maybe even pausing just a few seconds to edit before they hit “post.” This radio interview offers a good, informal overview of why people who…
I’ve been fascinated by the rhetoric of headlines surrounding the “Sesame Street moves to HBO” story. * HBO gentrifies ‘Sesame Street’ –VentureBeat * Sesame Street Episodes Will Shrink to Half an Hour –Time * Sesame Street Is Heading to HBO, and Getting Even Bigger –Esquire * This episode of Sesame Street brought to you by…
Similar:"Godspell" is sure to entertain audiences of all ages and faithsThat’s me in the white shirt, with a tie…CultureThe Classic Typewriter Page Frequently Asked QuestionsHow can I get rid of That Old Typewriter…AestheticsIn November 2000, I was blogging about the US Presidential election, mirrors, Arts & Lette…In November 2000, I was blogging about …BusinessMy kids…
Once classes start again, we will all have less time for the game of life. Let’s do some serious playing while we still can. Similar:We’re in Denial About the True Cost of a Twitter ImplosionThe public disintegration of a platform …Current_EventsWhat Happens When Digital Cities Are Abandoned?“The great paradox about these digital c…CultureVibing to a…
Use the command-alt functions to add sexual tension, plot twists, or a humorous interlude. —The New Yorker Similar:SCUBA Diving at the PoolBecause a beautiful sunny day at the poo…CultureEveryone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help Mom do the dishes.CultureWatched "Apollo 11" at local library with my son today50 years ago…
Jerz > Writing > Journalism I’ve spent the afternoon touching up some older journalism handouts, seeing which are still in good shape, which need some work, and which new ones I’ll need to create from scratch. I realize I’ve never actually written a handout on the inverted pyramid, writing leads, writing headlines, punctuating quotes from sources… of course there…
I have experimented with rewarding students for embracing complexity, taking risks, and for celebrating their failures. Returning to musical theater after a 25-year break has been a valuable lesson in humility for me, and a reminder of just how scary it is — exciting and scary — to do something new. The truth—for this parent…
I will always love Inform 7, but I chose to develop a journalism training game in Twine (because it will be much easier to teach Twine to my students). To prepare for my game, I spent about 6 hours (during my son’s last chess tournament) roughing out about 20 lexias. Since then, I’ve spent about 6…
The camera’s first good image came back a month ago, which was cutting things a little close for the July 16 moon crossing (NASA released the images on Wednesday), according to Szabo. “We were very much aware that the moon would be passing in view, and we worked very hard for it,” he says. The…
Several times I assigned Brenda Laurel’s Utopian Entrepreneur, which described the rise and heartbreaking fall of her girl-centered, girl-positive gaming company, Purple Moon during the 1990s. My own daughter (who is 13) has enjoyed man more opportunities to be both girly and nerdy — something that seems to have been a lot harder 20 years…
History is complex and baffling and fascinating. Reading this (an explanation that the stiff-arm salute that we now identify with the Nazis was a general gesture that was common in America before WWII) made my head spin almost as much as reading about the myth of 8 unbroken hours of sleep. A group of about…