RT @THATCampPGH: Is there anything more exciting than attending #THATCamp #Pittsburgh @ChathamU on Oct 5+6? We think not! Come meet, greet… Similar:10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This…
I have in the past griped on Twitter and on my blog about the clunky Turnitin.com web-based interface. You have to do so much clicking and dragging and typing and waiting for the screen to refresh, and there are places where the “delete” button appears right where an “OK” button was a second ago, so…
My father was a little distressed to learn that diagramming sentences was not a big part of my education. Learning Latin in high school was the best grammar education I ever got. After that, nothing about English (or, later, German and Old/Middle English) ever worried me. Most kids hated it. But for the kids who…
Morgan “Supersize Me” Spurlock spoke at Seton HIll in 2005 about the social damage caused by fast-food culture. (Morgan Spurlock autographed my hamburger wrapper.) The following article approaches the issue from another perspective. I, for one, scrupulously avoid buying a drink or fries, and always order a burger and salad from the McD’s value menu.…
I took my daughter to an Alice-in-Wonderland-themed library summer reading wrapup party, where she threw herself into every craft table. Then she wore one of her creations as we went grocery shopping. Meanwhile, my son, who stayed home to watch another DVD lecture on superstring theory, took out the garbage without being asked. Today…
My 11yo performed the part of “Patrice” in the clever coming-of-age musical “13” Saturday. Here she is with the leading character Evan (played by Anthony Marino — a very talented fellow with several movies on his resume). The content was a bit edgy for a cast that included kids as young as 8, so some…
We’re kind of in the eye of the storm, between a whirlwind summer and the routine of the academic year, and I really couldn’t disagree with my wife when she reminded me of this project. I remember using my original iPad 1 to sketch out the measurements for the wood I intended to buy in…
I don’t know her, other than as the author of this inspiring essay. May you, every day, connect with the brilliancy of your own spirit. And may you always remember that obstacles in the path are not obstacles, they ARE the path. —Jane Catherine Lotter Obituary. Similar:Why I Still BlogI particularly value blogging because of…AcademiaIn…
At a certain point, the transit papers will get so complex that you will, inevitably, start making a lot of mistakes. This can become a serious problem as every incorrectly reviewed passport will deduct more and more cash from your pay at the end of the day. With your family’s lives on the line and…
I used to say that PowerPoint slideshows were the fan-fold-paper computer banners of the 1990s. Similar:In Defense of DistractionIf you’re a fan of lifehacking, you’ll a…CultureRadio News Delivery: How to Sound Like a Radio BroadcasterListen to a short news broadcast, such a…AestheticsIn journalism, the speech is more important than any speaker. (Put newsworthy quotes first…EducationHow…
With great power comes great responsibility. Looks like I need to create a new unit on design. @jessiedylan @abbfleck @goudyliv84 @KatySny Similar:Hello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsOverheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool …AcademiaProto iPads and Paper Coexist in Classic Star…
Does anybody know of any local (within an hour or so of Greensburg) professional or college productions of Shakespeare this fall? I’m taking students in my “Shakespeare” lit seminar to see Seton Hill’s “Comedy of Errors” in September. “Romeo and Juliet” at Pitt Playhouse in mid-December is too late for me. Similar:LLM error rates I…
One year ago today, NASA’s Curiosity rover touched down on the surface of Mars and began studying the planet. The rover may be lonely out there on its first birthday, but it won’t go entirely without celebration: NASA has repurposed Curiosity’s soil analysis system to play the tune of “Happy Birthday to You” out loud for…
The lineup is solid, no doubt about it, and speaks to the health of and the prospects for what’s come to be called “long-form journalism.” (Why long-form instead of just “long,” I couldn’t tell you. But, as long as I’m in a parenthesis, I can say that another positive development is the arrival of several…
I took my kids to a water park all day, and spent it completely off the grid. This is big news. The Washington Post Co. agreed Monday to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family’s stewardship of one of America’s leading news organizations after four…
I made a lot of impulse Kindle purchases during the phase when so many books were $9.99. I’ve never bought an iBook… whenever possible, I buy via Kindle instead, as a consumerist means of protesting Apple’s meddling with the price of books. US regulators have called for Apple to be forced to cancel certain e-book…
If I ever over-react to a tweet, I hope the tweeter is as understanding as Hilary Sargent. Politico’s Ben White changed his Twitter profile photo yesterday to a new photo, which showed him kind of smirking (or something). A week or two ago I yelled at Business Insider for not including Ben White in some…
Businessman John Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, has entered into an agreement to buy The Boston Globe for $70 million, a massive drop from its record $1.1 billion price two decades ago. Similar:Prophet Motive (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 16) The Nagus's eccentricities a… Rewatching ST:DS9 Quark is enjoying a…BusinessReading…
The kids and I enjoy nerdy board games. (I love both of you very much, but when we play Star Trek Monopoly, Daddy is ALWAYS the captain’s chair.) Similar:Teaching Composition with Interactive FictionI’m on a committee that is exploring a m…AcademiaThis Is What Summer Vacation Is For: Designing a Steampunk Airsloop with Blender 3DSummer vacation…
To summarize the findings: because they didn’t teach to the test, the professors who instilled the deepest learning in their students came out looking the worst in terms of student evaluations and initial exam performance. To me, these results were staggering, and I don’t say that lightly. Bottom line? Student evaluations are of questionable value.…