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:Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook prices.Judge: Apple conspired to fix eBook pric…BooksIn Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor:…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:We’re in Denial About the True Cost of a Twitter ImplosionThe public disintegration of a platform …Current_EventsAcademic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaStopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening – By Donald J TrumpI have a pretty…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Versu's Epilogue: How an Interactive Fiction Pioneer's 15 Year Project Ended Up in Limbo a…However there’s a particularly sad tale …BusinessThey Should Have Used Another TypefaceHave you ever noticed that the letters “…AestheticsBBC News – TS Eliot's widow Valerie dies aged 86 She guarded her…
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:"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania."PersonalYou don’t hate millennials. You hate 21st-century technology.A favorite observation about millennials…CultureWho choked up while reading aloud Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” during a lesson on creative nonf…Who choked up while reading aloud Sagan’…PersonalWork-Life Balance, from 11(!) Years…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:It's Friday night in July, and I'm jamming with my fall course preps.The dean sends me an email at 9:07pm. In…AcademiaIt was Mrs. White with the revolver in the ballroom. #winning GamesOpening night. Support local artists in your community!PersonalWhoops, I Accidentally Used a Photo of Donald Trump in…
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:All Sheep…
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:10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessParallel structure in writing: Use it!These comic panels cover the issue well….HumanitiesRT @JordanFor: One of the counters from the Civil…RT @JordanFor: One…
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:Pop song lyrics use more negative words ("hate", "sorrow") than 50 years agoThe use of words related to negative emo…EmpathyThe Trouble with Tribbles: A Television Adaptation by Richard GoreyShaenon K.…
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:Professor Sees Parallels Between Things, Other Things”By drawing parallels between things and…AcademiaSynergistic Synthesis XVII Sub B1 Chair by Kenneth SmytheAfter my daughter’s theater workshop, I …AestheticsI'm having scads of fun designing #steampunk control…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Intagrate Lite Plugin ProblemsI’ve been using the Intagrate Lite Wordp…TechnologyStill More FaceTime FunI realize that video-chatting teenagers …MediaOpinion: Don't link video games with mass shootingsContrary to Dr. Bushman’s suggestion, vi…AcademiaDCNF, TV Upfront Presenters Need to Understand That Content's Kingdom is ChangingToday’s viewers don’t…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Most Christians don’t actually care about Starbucks cups. Here’s what we do know.No Christians in my social media feed ca…CultureLLM error rates I worked on LLMs, and now I go…AcademiaWatched "Apollo 11" at local library with my son today50 years ago today, three humans were…