I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:Ross deserves better "Friends": a defense of nerdsI was not a fan of this show, but I am a…CultureThe 22 rules of storytelling, according to PixarMy favorite: “Once upon a time there was…ArtShakespeare’s Genius Is NonsenseJust as comedians generally don’t laugh …CultureUnpopular grammar…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Language Log » 25 Questions for Teaching with "Word Crimes"A little perspective is good. So is genr…AcademiaSpring office cleaning thoughts: 1) I used to print a lot. 2) I have enough tote bags. I used to print a lot. I have e…AcademiaWhy liberal arts and…
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:Yahoo, You Nagged Me Too Many Times; Bye!I have a Yahoo account that I use when a…BusinessMy daughter found where all the missing pens and pencils end upAmusingReally, WCCC? AcademiaI let her tend the rabbits.Great production of a very moving story….BooksTrump communications…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:We were pretty even for about 25m, but I let him get my queen, and I had no hope after tha…PersonalTopics in Am Lit: August Wilson — Online J-Term course starts Dec 16.PersonalEvita in Zelionople CultureIn August, 2000 I was blogging about poetry, presidential wordplay, home-schooling, online…In August…
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:Creative writing…
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:RT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #context htt…RT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #co…TweetsI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is really noteworthy. Today the Pre…Current_EventsCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person:…
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:How do you know when your #steampunk fantasy cruiser has enough lamps? #blender3d #unity3dhttps://youtube.com/shorts/YF3z91jL7Pc …AestheticsCaroll "Big Bird" Spinney was originally to be on NASA's doomed Challenger flight And he was…
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:Reading Literature on Screen: A Price for Convenience?Because all of my Seton Hill students ge…AcademiaMy mom’s Lionel train set (a gift from her father in 1948) had been in storage for 35 year……
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Rehearsal Rabbi-CamThis weekend, I will be playing the rabb…CultureA professor examines why her students seem to act so helpless (essay)This essay on college students acting he…AcademiaNarrow ParsersCreating n00b-friendly interactive ficti…CybercultureAuthor of 80s classic The Hobbit didn't know game was a hit The Hobbit stood…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Udacity's Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes CourseSuddenly, something that had been unthin…AcademiaThe Rise of "Synthespians"”Mr. Serkis is the human actor behind th…ArtWhy are we so bored?On average we spend six to seven hours i…CultureCarolyn Gombell Is Not a Real Person: #JusticeforCarolyn Is…
“Bach is not for the weak of mind.” — Miss Renee, my kids’ piano teacher. “I’m in trouble.” — Peter, my son. Similar:The Portable Writing desk — the Victorian laptopFocusing on the materiality of writing, …Aesthetics"Know that I glory in this nose of mine."Was browsing YouTube for a few of my fav…AestheticsUpdated Media Bias Chart…
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.…