I’m nerdy enough to give my 15yo a used copy of “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.”

I’m nerdy enough to give my 15yo a used copy of “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” He’s halfway through it now. (Nerd kids are awesome kids.) Similar:700-year-old picture of 'Mickey Mouse' found in Austrian church”Walt Disney first sketched his characte…Art"I might be putting a little too much effort into designing the cravat for the…

Modern Masterpieces of Comedic Genius: The Art of the Humorous Amazon Review, Part Deux

I love me a good Amazon mock review. Here are several. From scientific miracles to literary criticism, by way of bodily functions and failures of common sense. Many moons ago, I wrote about the art of the humorous Amazon review as a modern masterpiece of parodic genius, embodying Arthur Koestler’s seminal “bisociation” theory of how…

I would never have chosen to watch “Cowboys and Al…

I would never have chosen to watch “Cowboys and Aliens” but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Similar:10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsTweet: For…

RT @dloehr: 12yr: “Those Muppets are lip-synching….

RT @dloehr: 12yr: “Those Muppets are lip-synching.” Similar:Desert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksHabits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking o…PersonalMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in…

RT @mkirschenbaum: Can’t see them well enough to r…

RT @mkirschenbaum: Can’t see them well enough to read, but guy sitting next to me is typing out short, broken lines of text. Tempted to ask… Similar:Maybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel…

Gettysburg Address event marks 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s historic speech

On the Civil War battlefield where President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that symbolized his presidency and the sacrifices made by Union and Confederate forces, thousands gathered Tuesday, historians and everyday Americans alike, to ponder what the Gettysburg Address has meant to the nation. —The Washington Post. Similar:Happy memories of PC games I played with…

Grr! That “15 Xs who did Y” link looked interestin…

Grr! That “15 Xs who did Y” link looked interesting, but on the first page I saw it was broken up into 63 parts. Bad meme. No link for you. Similar:Jury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentOverheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool…

‘Because’ has become a preposition, because grammar

The construction is more versatile than “because+noun” suggests. Prepositional because can be yoked to verbs (Can’t talk now because cooking), adjectives (making up examples because lazy), interjections (Because yay!), and maybe adverbs too, though in strings like Because honestly., the adverb is functioning more as an exclamation. The resulting phrases are all similarly succinct and…

Do television and electronic games predict children’s psychosocial adjustment?

Wow… what a drab, unquoteworthy, unsoundbiteable, graphics-free presentation of findings that will be of tremendous interest to the general public. TV but not electronic games predicted a small increase in conduct problems. Screen time did not predict other aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Further work is required to establish causal mechanisms.. Similar:Multiple Choice = GoogleNo big…

RT @avantgame: 11,000 kids tracked for A DECADE to…

RT @avantgame: 11,000 kids tracked for A DECADE to see if videogames lead to negative attention, behavioral, mood impact. Result: NO http:/… Similar:Desert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksShe doesn't have keys or a phone or an ID. Why does my tween need a purse?To stash her…

@JustJoshReardon Excellent work from the whole cas…

@JustJoshReardon Excellent work from the whole cast & crew. A great night of theater @setonhill #biglove Similar:In Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsRT @JordanFor:…

Setting out to take my teen to see #biglove at #se…

Setting out to take my teen to see #biglove at #setonhill Similar:Carolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsJury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentHabits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking…

Dennis G. Jerz | Associate Professor of English -- New Media Journalism, Seton Hill University | jerz.setonhill.edu

Nerd siblings are awesome siblings

My 15yo wanted to show me Terminator 4, but he opted to watch T3 w/ his little sister (her first time). Nerd siblings are awesome siblings. Similar:Sources tell Seton Hill University's Dennis Jerz that TV news websites emphasize self-prom…Sources tell Seton Hill University’s Den…BusinessThe Rule of Capek's Robots: A public lecture, in which the word…

Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course

Suddenly, something that had been unthinkable–that the Internet might put a free, Ivy League–caliber education within reach of the world’s poor–seems tantalizingly close. “Imagine,” an investor in the Professor’s company says, “you can hand a kid in Africa a tablet and give him Harvard on a piece of glass!” The wonky term for the Professor’s…