The name “Bottom” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is already funny, but I expect my students will likely snigger at it, thinking of the “Silas Ramsbottom” gag from Despicable Me 2. I read The Tempest before I saw Disney’s Little Mermaid, so when I think of Prospero’s spirit Ariel, I do not think of a…
I remember having a Fisher Price airplane pull-toy, and a school that came with a chalkboard and a tray of magnetic letters. But this Sesame Street playset was the best. I was so excited about it my mom let me look at it in the box before “Santa” wrapped it and put it under the…
Maybe I’ll start a cover band, cleaning up hip-hop songs, remixing them as instant breakfast food jingles. I’ll call it “Minced Oats.” Similar:FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For 'Open Internet'Verizon and Comcast lobbyists hang their…BusinessAbout that Cough, Rough, Pony, Bologna MemeDo the spellings of cough & rough, p…BooksKey and Peele sportscenter teacher parody: New sketch…
If this professor thing doesn’t work out, I’ll start a nerd-rock band called “Force-choked by Jesus.” Similar:Tweet: Came around the corner and saw my kids huddled on…Came around the corner and saw my kids h…TweetsRT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #context htt…RT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #co…TweetsOverheard at Quora: "Why after all these years…
On a visit to the Washington DC area for my father’s 80th birthday, we did nerdy things. Similar:7 ways for teachers to beat the Sunday bluesTell yourself, I am rejecting these thou…EducationDungeons & Dragons & PhilosophyIn one of the most compelling chapters, …ArtI haven't seen this show since freshman year at Bishop Denis J O'Connell…
Many people think classical music is going to enhance brain function (the Mozart effect) or playing particular games sharpens ones cognitive function. These theories have been looked at in detail and they don’t stand up. It is disappointing in a way, but what we have learned is that exercise is the key thing for brain…
These small sculpted stones unearthed from an early Bronze Age burial in Turkey could be the earliest gaming tokens ever found, confirming that board games likely originated and spread from the Fertile Crescent regions and Egypt more than 5,000 years ago. –via Discovery News. Similar:Saints and Poets, Maybe They Do SomeI wrote the following in 2004,…
From PR Daily.com: In no particular order, below are some top journalism resources that can help PR pros understand today’s journalist and move toward a more cohesive, beneficial relationship for both sides: • Jim Romenesko (@romenesko and jimromenesko.com): Daily news, commentary, and links about journalism and media. • Sree Sreenivasan (@sree and sree.net): Columbia University’s first chief digital officer and a…
RT @Laroquod: @DennisJerz If #Blakes7 turns out to be a show you need Xbox/Win8 to watch legally (as per rumour), that’s a sad irony for a show abt rebels. Similar:Mythbusting UX design: 7 misconceptions about user experiencePerhaps the most common mistake of any b…BusinessNPR quits Twitter after being falsely labeled as 'state-affiliated media'NPR will no…
@Laroquod Fingers crossed re #Blakes7 Similar:10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureHabits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking o…PersonalWhat kids do when…
We as journalists can learn a lot from video games. They can help players explore unfamiliar worlds and experience stories, almost literally, through the eyes of another person. Designed well, video games guide players to feel emotion and conflict, as well as learn the intricacies of complex subjects and systems. They engage users in a…
Words many of us never want to hear: “It’s the transmission.” “We can’t get a technician out there until next Tuesday.” “Your ex will be there.” And, of course: “Welcome to our redesigned site!” —Why I Resist Web Redesigns (And Maybe You Do, Too) : Monkey See : NPR. Similar:MisSpelled: Premiering Oct 1In this podcast…
RT @KatySny: A big week for online news wp.me/p1VKki-eZ Similar:Overheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool …AcademiaIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night,…
I’m actually rather happy at the thought that somewhere in Facebook’s database exists a picture of my personal preferences that is so wildly inaccurate as to suggest this. Similar:One Man's Mission To Keep AOL's Legacy Alive”Hi. I’m Jason Scott, and I am trying to…CybercultureThat "Top 5" countdown listicle stuffs 5 pages of runners-up between #2…
It doesn’t happen often but when filler text is left and actually makes the printed edition, it’s a big, public embarrassment. Guess the rule of thumb is – always, always, always, always, always double check your headlines. They don’t call it dummy text for nothing. —15 Times “Filler Text” Become a Journalist’s Worst Enemy. Similar:7…
As “one big news team,” all 54 student reporters work for TCU360 regardless of their story’s medium. Content is published on the website and social media throughout the day, seven days a week. The Daily Skiff, still published Tuesday through Friday, acts as an aggregator of the week’s best content. The “leadership team” consists of…
Lots of links, lots of repeated key words, and multiple postings of a press release to different sites, are all red flags to Google under the new rules. Such actions are viewed by Google as blatant attempts to trick its algorithm into ranking a site higher than its allotted position. Yet these have all become…
Plenty more where those came from. The Lost Art of Proofreading. Similar:Both Sides in JournalismCultureA Classicist Goes to Work in Silicon ValleyKristina Chew writes about what her frie…AcademiaCNN Holds Morning Meeting To Decide What Viewers Should Panic About For Rest Of DayKicking around ideas ranging from an upt…AmusingUnderstanding the difference between credible information and propagandaIn…
This “Histomap,” created by John B. Sparks, was first printed by Rand McNally in 1931…. This giant, ambitious chart fit neatly with a trend in nonfiction book publishing of the 1920s and 1930s: the “outline,” in which large subjects (the history of the world! every school of philosophy! all of modern physics!) were distilled into…
Most of the time, I religiously avoiid watching TV news; however, every 2 years, right before I teach my “News Writing” class, I refamiliarize myself with what a large percentage of my students will think of when they hear the word “news.” (I listen to NPR for context, check the Drudge Report for hype, and…