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:Hello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsMaybe I'll just delete these QUARTER OF A MILLION spam comments.Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in …CybercultureDesert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:Details like headlines matter. Journalists should work hard to avoid being misread.If you were this person’s attorney, you’…Current_EventsIn April 2000, I was blogging about HTML frames, the future of reading, grammar, Kairos, a…In April 2000, I was blogging about… …BooksWriting IndexJerz > About > Dennis G. Jerz…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Canada's Stratford Festival losing 'Shakespeare' from its nameAttending this was one of the handful of…CultureCitations: Efficient In-text QuotationsWhen writing a paper in MLA style, prefe…AcademiaHow Common Core Testing Damaged High School English ClassesHelping my students understand how my ro…AcademiaA Book Itself Is a Little Machine:…
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:Spent a half hour taming this tangle of cables (left) with a little tiny six-inch-wide car…Aesthetics"You work for the @CollegeBoard?" the bright-eyed teen behind the fast food counter asks. …”Unsweetened tea. And can you use this c…AcademiaIf I don’t design the sign…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:Mr. Chen Goes to WuhanA Chinese media personality with over ha…CultureEmpty InboxMy to-do do list and my “Follow Up” fold…CyberculturePreteen Acting Scene Version 2 – YouTubeI had a free evening and a copy of Blend…DramaI had a singular time voicing Sherlock Holmes in The Mystery of Dr. Watson…
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:Snow White:…
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…CultureProto iPads and Paper Coexist in Classic Star TrekRewatching the classic Trek episode “The…CybercultureFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with…
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:Not bad for a couple hours of work. #blender3d #blender3dart #steampunk #neovictorianNot bad for a couple hours of work. #ble…AestheticsThe Visitor #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 3) Old Jake…
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:Enjoying more live theater.CultureYour first #blender3d retractable #steampunk landing wheels will be your worst. But you ha…Your first #blender3d retractable #steam…AestheticsAnd to think… I had just decided to retire this meme because the…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:100 Word ChallengeIt is a weekly creative writing challeng…CultureShrek Image Mashup (Musical Theatre Promo)Hey, Tony. See this photo of Shrek? H…Aesthetics7 web design trends you’ll actually see this year and how to survive themContent is often finalised many months a…CybercultureWhy Do People Share…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Toasty Warm Bed (designed by drunk AI neural net)AestheticsFirst They Got Sick, Then They Moved Into a Virtual UtopiaWhen my son was about five, I sat him on…CultureThe Great Works of SoftwareI realized that each one of these techno…AestheticsWikipedia founder Jimmy Wales wants new Facebook…