RT @samplereality: Push the button Frank.

RT @samplereality: Push the button Frank. Similar:My Minecraft-obsessed tween made this blocky foam pig at art camp. Next up: Stage Right summer musical th…AestheticsShe doesn't have keys or a phone or an ID. Why does my tween need a purse?To stash her Lemonheads and Smarties. ht…AmusingHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of…

RT @goudyliv84: “Make it so, make it so, make it s…

RT @goudyliv84: “Make it so, make it so, make it so.” #StarTrek #Christmas youtube.com/watch?v=oiSn2J… @DennisJerz Similar:Carolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsClassroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with the whole …BusinessHello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsIt's been nice…

RT @CordeliaLogan: @DennisJerz If you are not watc…

RT @CordeliaLogan: @DennisJerz If you are not watching the Ron Burgundy press conference, you are missing out on real journalism. http://t.… Similar:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaAnd the girl has…

Why Our Brains Make Us Click on Lists

The article-as-numbered-list has several features that make it inherently captivating: the headline catches our eye in a stream of content; it positions its subject within a preëxisting category and classification system, like “talented animals”; it spatially organizes the information; and it promises a story that’s finite, whose length has been quantified upfront. Together, these create…

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:Slicing up a massively detailed trimsheet to simulate reflections and geometry for four va…PersonalRepublican National Convention: Scrutiny of Melania Trump’s speech follows plagiarism alle…As a college English teacher, I…

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:Hello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from …TweetsRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsHabits for happiness:…

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

RT @dloehr: 12yr: “Those Muppets are lip-synching.” Similar:In Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureAnd the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsDesert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksI asked my geekling…

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:Jury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentAnd the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsParallel structure in writing: Use…

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:Fact check: Trump lies about CNN at Mississippi…

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:RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsAnd the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And…

‘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:Google Pledges $300 Million to…