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:Proto iPads and Paper Coexist in Classic Star TrekRewatching the classic Trek episode “The…CybercultureOverheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is a free course-management tool …AcademiaI asked my geekling…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:King Hedley II ( #AugustWilson #CenturyCycle, 9 of 10)August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoi…BooksI studied philosophy and engineering at university: Here's my verdict on 'job relevant' ed…She double-majored in engineering and ph…AcademiaShakespeare Popularized Falconry TermsEnglish is full of figures of speech pop…CultureIn January…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Hello, there, mini.Hello, there, mini. Let’s restore you fr…TweetsTo Learn More, This High-Schooler Left The ClassroomNick Bain, 17, was in class one day when…CultureHistorians Admit To Inventing Ancient GreeksI knew it! Busted!! “One night someone …AcademiaHow Poetry Helps You Improve Your WritingWhile I’d rather see…
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:Look how the box leads your eye down to the car, then the two signs lead your eye up to th…PersonalThe Coronavirus Is Rewriting Our ImaginationsPossibly, in a few months, we’ll return …CultureThree more performances of Jane Eyre. Closes Saturday night! @pictclassictheatrePersonalI…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:AP reporter’s mistake: Did the punishment fit the crime? Reporters have been sometimes fired …EthicsWinners Chosen in Annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene ContestMichael Henninger took this wonderful ph…BooksValid for any new yearEthicsMy 10yo Sings "Hopelessly Devoted to You"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq81GeqAY…PersonalBasic details for #medievalyork city walls for a forthcoming scholarly theatrical…
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:My 20-year-old…
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:Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is really noteworthy. Today the Pre…Current_EventsParallel structure in writing: Use it!These comic panels…
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:New Facebook Notifications Alert Users When They Not Currently Looking At Facebook “We hope these helpful new alerts will …AmusingMars Curiosity rover sings 'Happy Birthday,' dares Earth to collect royalties …
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 friendly gangster was parked at WalMart in Johnstown yesterday.This friendly gangster was parked at Wal…Personal‘People are rooting for the whale’: the strange American tradition of Moby-Dick reading ma…When I went off to…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Carolyn made it to the next round of the 2017 PPT Shakespeare Monologue contest. Finals ar…CultureDuke stops assigning numeric values to essays, test scoresThis story is about the admissions proce…AcademiaDon’t worry: It’s not just art!Before a school play, a principal worrie…Aesthetics‘Snowplow parents’ may…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Darkest Hour (2017)I’m not a huge fan of war movies, but my…CultureDigital Humanities: A DefinitionDoes the world need another working defi…AcademiaOne Does Not Simply: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Internet MemesWhen we envisioned a journal of visual c…AcademiaAfter 10 Years of Blogs, the…