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:Do you really keep a diary?ALGERNON Do you…
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: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…
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:The Tyranny of Now (Appreciation…
RT @avantgame: 11,000 kids tracked for A DECADE to see if videogames lead to negative attention, behavioral, mood impact. Result: NO http:/… Similar:What kids do when Dad won't hand over the iPod So I’m not being selfish… this is …EducationI asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was…
@JustJoshReardon Excellent work from the whole cast & crew. A great night of theater @setonhill #biglove Similar:Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksHello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…Tweets10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessClassroom collaboration marketplaceWhile I am uncomfortable with…
Setting out to take my teen to see #biglove at #setonhill Similar:Habits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking o…PersonalFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaAnd the girl has succeeded in getting…
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:Your Brain Does Not Work Like a ComputerThe brain-as-computer is a powerful meme…HealthI can probably remove that link to LycosOn a web page that I posted in Nov 2000…
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.…
Update in a legal battle that’s been going on for 8 years. A long-running copyright lawsuit between the Authors’ Guild and Google over its book-scanning project is over, and Google has won on the grounds that its scanning is “fair use.” In other words, the snippets of books that Google shows for free don’t break…
My 15yo son’s Christmas wish list: “An iPod case that fits, and a letter opener. I hate to tear an envelope.” Similar:Tweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came around the corner and saw my kids h…TweetsParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesDesert Bus: The Worst…
Did all these stories spring from a common source? To resolve that question, Tehrani took 58 variants of the X-eats-Y tale and classified them based on 72 plot variables: For example, are the protagonists human children or animals? Male or female? What kind of creature plays the villain? Do the protagonists escape, and if so,…
“I am endeavoring, ma’am, to construct a mnemonic memory circuit, using stone knives and bearskins.” #StarTrek Similar:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To…
Introducing my kids to the classic #startrek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever.” They don’t make TV like this anymore. Similar:How hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from…
What inspires my awesome journos to meet their deadline? The “Empire Strikes Back” soundtrack. (Editor: “I love you.” Reporter: “I know.”) Similar:And the girl has succeeded in getting me to wear t…And the girl has succeeded in getting me…TweetsFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last…
Hey, Tony. See this photo of Shrek? Here, stand by this window, with the light on the left side of your face. Now, give me a closed-mouth smile. And tilt your head a little. Okay, that looks good. But I’ve got a spare hour or so. As a child of the 70s, I fondly recall…