NYT: G.W. Bush is “super-overexposed” and “so far to our right” — so they omitted his presence from “Bloody Sunday” coverage

The quotes in my headline are accurate, but completely misleading. Saving this for an example in my journalism class, demonstrating the obligation that journalists have to avoid the perception of bias in their reporting. A photographer for The New York Times says the publication did not crop former President George W. Bush and first lady…

5 tips for choosing the right typeface

When it comes to picking a typeface, you can’t rely on gut alone. Making the right choice depends on function, context and a whole host of other factors. But how do you ensure you’re going about it the right way? Here we give you pointers to send you in the right direction…Creative Bloq. Similar:Facebook Updates…

The Benefits of No-Tech Note Taking

I quibble with The Chronicle headline writer’s notion that paper & pencil are “no-tech,” but hand-written notes are valuable. Students tested right after a lecture tended to answer factual questions equally well regardless of how they took notes, but students who handwrote their notes did consistently better on conceptual questions. What’s more, when students were…

Local News in a Digital Age

Local TV news is the “most visible presence” in the news space, according to a Pew study, though most TV stories are routine traffic and weather reports and short, shallow “anchor reads” (in which the well-coiffed announcers read into the camera) rather than the result of thoughtful, original reporting. To paraphrase Into the Woods, “Visible…

Downsides of being a convincing liar

Test subjects whose test papers “accidentally” included the answer key had an inflated sense of how well they would do on a follow-up test that did not include answers, suggesting that the cheaters were not aware how much their performance on the first test was dependent on their access to answers. The people who’d had…

Mr. Spock, weren’t you wearing blue and black a minute ago?

Similar:The Secret Lives of Tumblr TeensThat feeling when you hit a million foll…CybercultureHave 40 years of mobile phones given literature bad lines?The X Files did a good job of embracing …CybercultureThis image of Mark Zuckerberg says so much about our futureA billionaire superman with a rictus gri…BusinessAmLit Rescue — Scratch GameA student in my “American…

Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83

Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83. — NYTimes.com. Similar:The ‘Little Free Library’…

I did not bother to click on the llama story or the dress story, and now you don’t have to, either.

Now I’m going to bed. Similar:SHU Italy Trip « blogs.setonhill.eduSeveral students on Maureen Vissat‘s M-t…AcademiaFacebook Finally Rolls Out 'Disputed News' Tag Everyone Will DisputeAnybody seen a post tagged this way? If …Current_EventsBoston bombings: Social media spirals out of controlA thoughtful analysis. Problem-solver…CultureNo, you’re not going crazy – package sizes are shrinking It’s the inflation you’re not…

Reflections on Flannery O’Connor’s “The River”

I’m teaching “The River” today in an “Introduction to Literary Study” course. Demonstrating that we know what to do if we ever encounter such a little boy in real life won’t help us to understand O’Connor’s literary accomplishment. From a Catholic perspective, the mysteries of God are beyond anyone’s understanding. Anyone who prays for God…

FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For ‘Open Internet’

Verizon and Comcast lobbyists hang their heads. Technolibertarians rejoice… within reason. The full text of the policy has not been released, so we’re not sure exactly what the policy means for supporters of keeping the Internet open and weird. The Federal Communications Commission approved the policy known as net neutrality by a 3-2 vote at its…