Just finished watching a two-part episode of classic Star Trek. I know all the old episodes backwards and forwards, since as a kid I made audiocassette tapes of the after-school reruns, and listened to them over and over. (The writers were never confident that the special effects would be any good, so a character always…
I keep a silly personal blog devoted to a six-legged toy that both my kids have outgrown but which still amuses me. I sometimes use that blog, and that toy, in classroom activities, and occasionally students develop an affection for what I called a “hectopus” (combining “hexagon” with “octopus,” though I concede “hexapus” would have…
Just as early filmmakers couldn’t have predicted the level of ongoing interest in their work more than 100 years later, who can say what future generations will find important to know and preserve about the early history of software? While the notion that someone might go diving into some long outmoded version of Word might…
RT @THATCampPGH: @DennisJerz Registration is open for #THATCamp #Pittsburgh! Spread the word…. Similar:Overheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool …AcademiaIt's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s been nice knowing you, iPad3, but…TweetsJuror's CreedWhile researching my obligations for #ju…CultureI'm no longer surprised, but still want…
Every second is a deadline, every instant is a potential publication. Mistakes like this happen, and a healthy organization focuses on how to fix the system to avoid the problem, rather than on whom to blame. It looks as though they’ve fixed it, but for a glorious 16 minutes this was the Chicago Tribune homepage.…
If I can get the English majors in my news writing class interested in the statistics unit, I’ll be very happy indeed. “When I first realized that I had signed up to be in what is essentially an English class with only accounting majors, I expected the conversation and discussion of the books we read…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40MbeApiXXI Here are some clips from a heartfelt, belty ballad that my daughter and her good friend will be singing this weekend in “13: The Musical.” They’ll each be playing the part of Patrice (the protagonist’s love interest) on different nights. The song is “The Lamest Place in the World.” We spent a fun afternoon…
Lest you think this is just a complicated revenge scheme against my mom (which, let’s be clear, it is), it’s this exact phenomenon that keeps driving Facebook’s user engagement numbers down. Far more than the fears about future employment, more than the creepy coworker who “likes” all your bikini pictures, it is the fear of…
You dont actually get hired by Amazon. Almost everyone is employed by a staffing service. First though, you have to kill an hour and a half of your time filling out an application online and taking insane personality test. Im not sure why they have such a lengthy test Ive filled out a lot of…
I can’t summon up actual nostalgia for the postal service. Telegrams were always a much a better plot device: “It’s a telegram from my Aunt Sadie, you know, the one I’ve never mentioned before but whose pet allergies would no doubt disrupt Junior’s new dog-walking business. It seems she’s in town, but she doesn’t say…
This is certainly a joke, but it’s funnier than the original: You probably remember KTVU’s royal eff up with reading obviously fake Asian names for the pilots of the Asiana crash. Names like “Wi To Lo” and “Ho Lee Fuk”. It looks like a Korean news agency is having some fun at KTVU’s expense. After…
No big surprises here, but this blog post does a good job explaining why doing well on multiple choice questions does not prepare students for college. I took this sample AP test and Googled the 40 questions exactly as written. It took about 2 seconds to find the answers – and that was checking a…
“Police have cornered the suspect who reportedly put as many as 25 words on single line of this text. If caught, he faces… … a lengthy sentence.” Via Cheezburger Similar:McCain's 2008 Concession Speech: Republicans interrupt their candidate's concession speech…That moment during McCain’s concession s…CultureHarper Lee to publish new novel, 55 years after To Kill a…
In the restaurant parking lot after dinner (thanks, Grandma Pat) I mentioned to Carolyn that today is National Dance Day. She rarely needs much encouragement to perform. Similar:CNN fires Chris CuomoThis is what an ethical news organizatio…Current_EventsToday's 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel went pretty fast. At this stage I'm mostly re…One of many…
“Peter, if black holes aren’t a good conversation starter at the picnic, what else might you try?” “Superstring theory?” That’s my boy. Similar:After lights out, the girl is knitting.PersonalA Successful Failure: The TI-99/4A Turns 40My family had one of these when I was 12…AwesomeAnd again I ush.PersonalMorgan 'Super Size Me' Spurlock at Seton Hill Morgan…
To stash her Lemonheads and Smarties. http://t.co/Fr1luEpZ2b Similar:Distributing Candy at Holiday ParadeCurrent_EventsNotes on Teaching August Wilson's Pittsburgh CycleI first taught Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle…AcademiaNipper Hears "His Master's Voice"As a kid growing up in Fairfax County, j…BusinessIt's not just you — we are all more forgetful during the pandemic, experts say. Here's ho… Pandemic living can make…
This one is #3, “Man Lurking by Fence.” 19 Book Cover Clichés. Similar:Valentines for Journalists Mark S. Luckie, MediumAestheticsResearch Before Google Books (from 2006)Me: It took a few days for the spool of …AcademiaToasty Warm Bed (designed by drunk AI neural net)AestheticsCanada's Globe and Mail Uses Expandable Inline Meta-articles to Explain Its CoverageJournalism matters. Educated…
In her new novel, Codecrafter, Sandbothe constructs a fantasy world to introduce programming possibilities to young readers. Programming is sorcery, and code makes spells. The novel focuses on Tagglinde, a young daughter of a lord, and her entry into the world of sorcery through learning programming, and using her knowledge of programming to defeat her…
For me, it’s an upgrade from 16 to 32GB. Also, I tried out a mini & ended up preferring the portability to the large screen. @textfiles Similar:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaYes, I do feel rather awesome right now.Lost brand-new…
Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you from your backup and get to work! Note to self: next time, before handing in iPad, take screenshots of the icon configuration. (I’m glad I blogged my goodbye to the old model, because I can reconstruct the home screen from that photo.) Similar:It's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s…