I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:Making a case for a singular ‘they’ I am definitely on team revise…Current_EventsEncyclopedia Smithsonian: Star-Spangled Banner and the War of 1812 When he saw “by the dawn’s early light…AestheticsInternet Explorer cheated its way to the top, and I won't miss itI started teaching…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule bookBy a set of strange coincidences, compli…BooksHow to DisagreeIf we’re all going to be disagreeing mor…EssaysWhat if Generative AI turned out to be a Dud?I’m sad thinking of all the students who…BusinessThis Is Your…
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 the British Tell Better Children’s StoriesIf Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn wer…BooksAnother square of #steampunk control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #a…AestheticsChoose wisely… you have the power to turn this wrap into a sandwich or a candy bar… or…AestheticsI never…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m… CultureNews organizations held off on reporting Venezuela raidThe New York Times and Washington Post l…Current_EventsI didn't mark a single paper or set foot in a classroom. Here's why this prof is…
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:Special ed…
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:Carolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is a Campaign Against Twitter Ref…Fascinating use of social media. To be c…Current_EventsHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday…
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:Script: Prospero Makes a Circle on the Beach. Scene Designer: "How?"I was amused by this little note on the …AmusingFind yourself someone who makes you plomeek soup like Nurse Chapel…
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:A selfie with a Chekov action figure after learning of Anton Yelchin's deathCurrent_EventsAmazon may well be the most evil company in techLast week, I had a hardware emergency. A…BusinessEvery day on my fantasy…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:What about Socialization?Sometimes, I worry that by homeschooling…Current_EventsJulius Ceasar: The Politics of Powerhttps://youtu.be/yhAqqHQ-KNYCultureFantasy football and the cold future of robot journalismFor fantasy football players, the servic…BusinessImagine all the people. Just reading their damned syllabus.These are not the rhetorical choices I w…AcademiaHeard any good…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Police respond to Twitter bot sending death threat to another Twitter botJeffry built himself a harmless little T…CybercultureTelekinetic Coffee Shop SurpriseBlogworthy promo for a movie I have no d…AmusingStudying STEM Isn’t The Career Boost We ThinkTurns out, getting a STEM education may …AcademiaWhy You Should…
“Bach is not for the weak of mind.” — Miss Renee, my kids’ piano teacher. “I’m in trouble.” — Peter, my son. Similar:On set. #indiefilm #historicaldrama #creativity #enjoylifePersonalJury Duty UpdateI’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-…GovernmentI'm marking them faster than they come in, which is a good thing. I won't be doi…PersonalJournalism: Muzzle your biases. Seek…
While I am uncomfortable with the whole “classroom as marketplace” metaphor, since it’s pretty much gamifying without the fun, I am nonetheless interested in this strategy for encouraging students to collaborate by having them attach a value to the artifacts they present to the class for sharing.. We shop for everything from apps to ideas.…