Blogging this so I can find it when I teach my “News Writing” class this fall. People do like to prank journalists with fake names. In this case, the reporter did what you’re supposed to do — get confirmation — but sheesh. KTVU reports fake racist names of Asiana Airlines 214 pilots from NTSB intern…
I recently bought a new phone. since then, I have answered an incoming call in my car. It felt awesome. Similar:RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from …TweetsTweet: Came around the corner and…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:Slashes in Legal WritingI’m not a student. I found your we…BusinessThe Gift of the Magi (by O. Henry; read by Dennis Jerz; We Are One Body Audio Theatre)I recorded this oral interpretation of a…CultureAppreciating the production values and so-stupid-it-might-be-brilliant comedy in Avatar: T…The…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Media Bias Chart 8.0 (Left vs. Right; Fact vs. Propaganda; Complex vs. Clickbait; Idle Cha…From AdFontes Media. If you never…CultureR.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) Artistic Prosperity TrailerWe rehearsed and recorded a Zoom recordi…ArtComputer scientist Leslie Lamport to [Brandeis] grads: If you can’t write, it won’t comput…I…
A thoughtful reflection on religion in Star Trek. While Humans aren’t depicted as participating in any form of organized religion (there is a reference to a Christmas party here, a nod to monotheism there), the series also includes a distrust of science and technology, regularly depicting mad scientists, societies over-dependent on technology, etc.) that insists…
If you’re legally present on a public street or sidewalk, you can legally photograph anything in plain view. (This includes children and crime victims… but just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s always a good idea.) If law enforcement engages you, ask whether you are free to go; if so, then move out of the…
Standardized testing rewards standardized thinking, while excluding creativity, resilience & other “soft” skills. I have started gong out of my way to remind students in my classes that I am not comparing their papers to a “correct answer” in the back of my book — I want them to learn a habit of mind that…
It’s a good day when one’s nerdiness is an asset to a colleague. Similar:Why 'Gangnam Style' Is Actually a Study in Mind ControlI’m not sure “thank you” is the right wa…CultureGoogling Is for Old People. That’s a Problem for Google.When I ask my students to use the librar…AcademiaAbove the ready-room desk is the captain's power-napping…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:A study in breaking news headlines.For the UK Guardian, the news is the wor…CultureChildren of Eden (Stage Right, April 2014)My wife and I in Biblical costumes for C…CultureThe Unbearable Weakness of Trump’s MinionsNote that the URL of this story indicate…AcademiaThe Outrageous Okona (TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 4)Rewatching…
Keep a local backup of anything important you’ve entrusted to online services. There’s no guarantee that, years from now, those services will honor the terms you agreed to. Backed by new investors, including singer Justin Timberlake, Myspace (after dropping the capital ‘S’) has been rebranded as a music-streaming service, with a new sleek interface, and…
Penn and Teller are involved with this story. Worth a read. The only record of the game’s existence was a handful of review copies that had been sent out to journalists in the weeks before the publisher went bust, in 1995. The game remained a curious rumor until September, 2005, when Frank Cifaldi, a freelance…
Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices. #ethics #books The Federal lawsuit claimed that Apple, led by then-CEO Steve Jobs and senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, conspired with HarperCollins, Hatchett, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster to drive e-book prices up from the $9.99 price point Amazon had established. –readwrite.com Similar:Emily Short's…
RT @spj_tweets: How TV could suffer the fate of newspapers: @alanmutter shares the second installment of his two-part blog – http://t.co/l… Similar:In Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One of the counters from …Tweets10 Rules of Internet – Anil…
RT @DepressedDarth: Dear J.J. Abrams, If the new Star Wars is bad, you will forever be known as Jar Jar Abrams. Sincerely, Star Wars fans Similar:I may have mentioned that I have a daughter who does things. Her next is "To Battle: A Fig…Tickets for To Battle: A Fight Play AmusingGambit Part 2 (#StarTrek #TNG…
I really like MailChimp’s “Social” plugin, which not only publishes a WordPress blog entry to Twitter and Facebook, but also collects responses from Twitter and Facebook users and collects them as WordPress comments. Today I installed a different plugin, Twitter Tools, which is really just a single tool — it lets you create a WordPress…
Habits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of life. At bedtime, in order to avoid a nightly litany of complaints, I ask my glass-is-half-empty-and-I-hate-the-pirate-glass-and-there’s-a-bug-in-it tween to list three good things, two neutral things, and one sad thing about her day. Sometimes if she needs to share more than one sad thing, I…
While researching my obligations for #juryduty Thursday, I came across this “Juror’s Creed.” The gender-specific reference to men, the instruction to reflect upon the virtues of democracy, and the instruction to respect the judge’s education all hint at a historical context for the creed. Institutions never put their creeds into writing unless they feel those…
Spent a productive work day doing nothing but optimizing my blog. Added a very nice plugin for displaying thumbnails of related posts. Similar:This Is What Summer Vacation Is For: Designing a Steampunk Airsloop with Blender 3DSummer vacation means if I am telling my…AestheticsThey called it a "flashlight" because early handheld lights weren't designed to shine…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:We Are Hopelessly Hooked [on our Gadgets]We check our phones 221 times a day—an a…CultureThe difficulty is the point (teaching critical thinking skills differs from teaching facts…In the past few years I have seen more s…AcademiaHappy memories of PC games I played with…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Heard any good stories lately?My daughter has a terrible time settling…Books14% of Americans [say that they] have changed their mind about an issue because of somethi…Young men are more than twice as likely …CultureJerz and Daughter Teach Scratch (Digital Storytelling Tutorial)In the past I have…