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:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night,…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:The Benefits of No-Tech Note TakingI quibble with The Chronicle headline wr…AcademiaIce Cream and Sharks Scene: writing classroom. Â …AcademiaWhen He Clicked the Link, You Won't Believe How Disappointed He WasAuthors of overhyped link text are like …CybercultureIn October 2001, I was blogging…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Credible case that a lost Shakespeare sonnet has been identified A dedication in the script of a 1603 B…AcademiaContext for Hayles, My Mother was a Computer (Ch 3 & 4)My undergraduates are working their way …AcademiaMary Rodgers, Composer of Once Upon a Mattress and Daughter…
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:Part of my daily routine is practicing German for about 15m per day. With no particular pr…EducationTeaching Composition with Interactive FictionI’m on a committee that is exploring a m…AcademiaPersonality Profiles: Prize-Winning Student Journalism SamplesThe personality profile is a staple of i…CultureThe girl's…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:Sad that NASA is taking a back seat to a private company, but still nerding over an Americ…BusinessThe boy approved of the WWII historical fiction Dunkirk. CultureStar Trek: Voyager Premiered 20 Years AgoI remember wanting to like Voyager a lot…CultureMake America Meme Again! Create your own Trump executive order.Now…
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:Keyboard Shortcuts…
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_EventsOverheard at Quora: "Why after all these years is Moodle still so ugly?"Moodle is…
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:We found a mushroom fairy ring in our yardIt won’t make the afternoon of mowing mo…AestheticsKids Actually Read the Books That Movies Are Based OnIf the seasonal fluctuation represents t…BooksMore…
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:In between 3 walks and a chess game with my son, today I managed to churn out a second 10s…AestheticsFacebook Instant Articles Are on Their WayTons of large new media operations produ…BusinessMy Latest…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Lower Decks (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 15) Junior officers star in a comin… Rewatching ST:TNG As Riker and Tr…EducationHow a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of GeniusesFirst of all, I’m always wary about any …CultureIn May, 2001 I…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Police, citizens and technology factor into Boston bombing probeIn addition to being almost universally …Current_EventsTwitter Cheat Sheet to Help Increase Engagement-Brands see 17 percent more engagement d…BusinessApple’s new diverse emoji are even more problematic than beforeThis author did a great job articulating…AestheticsLA Photographer Fired for…