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:APNews.com Photo Still Says Sam Smith "declared his pronouns 'they/them'" a Week LaterThe Associated Press was widely criticiz…Culture12 Mistakes Nearly Everyone Who Writes About Grammar Mistakes MakesDescriptive grammarians…
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 Aliens” but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Similar:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from …TweetsHello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsIn Defense Of Metaphors In…
RT @dloehr: 12yr: “Those Muppets are lip-synching.” Similar:Yes, I do feel rather awesome right now.Lost brand-new earbuds. Reached in pocke…PersonalAnd the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsClassroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with the whole …BusinessHello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsRT @DDeClaudio:…
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:Yes, I do feel rather awesome right now.Lost brand-new earbuds. Reached in pocke…PersonalI asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingParallel…
Faculty who need to publish for professional reasons can be motivated for reasons other than a royalty check, so this sounds like a good idea. The Affordable College Textbook Act, introduced by Durbin and Franken this month, aims to lower book costs by promoting the use of open-source textbooks. Open books, as defined by the…
Once, someone really cared about these old periodicals. The bound copies have been weeded out of my school library. Post by Dennis G. Jerz. Similar:The Decline of Wikipedia: Even As More People Than Ever Rely on It, Fewer People Create ItI’m getting ready to introduce my freshm…CybercultureThe bots are coming. And they have poems. Yet…
I expect my English majors not to balk when I ask them to learn new software. One good way to learn is to shadow someone who already knows it well. Even better, work with a classmate who’s just a step or two ahead — that way they can both learn together. In my “News Writing”…
“Goddammit, I don’t know what to do!” Obama said, banging his hands in frustration against a wall of binary as the entire healthcare.gov mainframe suddenly froze, forcing all previously flowing lines of code to come to a complete standstill. “I can’t fix this! Get me out of this place!” “Please! Just get me out of…
Descriptive grammarians rejoice. Formal written English is not the only legitimate form of the language, and the rules of formal written English don’t apply in all situations. Sure, it’s useful to know when to use who and whom, but it’s probably more useful to know that saying To whom did you give the book? in…
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:Eye of Sauron, Hobbit Door, Palantir and One…
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:It's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s been nice knowing you, iPad3, but…TweetsI asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling…
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…
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:My more or less daily…
RT @avantgame: 11,000 kids tracked for A DECADE to see if videogames lead to negative attention, behavioral, mood impact. Result: NO http:/… Similar:My Minecraft-obsessed tween made this blocky foam pig at art camp. Next up: Stage Right summer musical th…AestheticsWhat kids do when Dad won't hand over the iPod So I’m not being selfish… this…
@JustJoshReardon Excellent work from the whole cast & crew. A great night of theater @setonhill #biglove Similar:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesJury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls…
Setting out to take my teen to see #biglove at #setonhill Similar:Hello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsTweet: Came…
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:The Declaration Of Independence, 240 Years Later (NPR)When in the Course of human events, it b…CultureMore split-screen actinghttp://youtu.be/EGgeZWskEs8DesignMemories of Toronto Yonge Street EncountersI arrived in Toronto in 1992 as…
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…
Now that Blockbuster Video has officially closed, I welcome Chuck Tyron’s Storify aggregation, which turned up this goodie: When I was a kid, movies like The Wizard of Oz were aired on TV once a year (usually during Thanksgiving weekend). At school the next week, everyone would be singing the songs and quoting the lines.…