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:RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the news…RT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think control…TweetsYes, I do feel rather awesome right now.Lost brand-new earbuds. Reached in pocke…PersonalLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:New data on the first three jobs held by graduates of six popular majors“There is an enormous part of the econom…Academiaxkcd: Headlines It: nailed. xkcd: Headlines.AmusingHave you been "workslopped" by a bot?If you have ever experienced this, you m…AcademiaYou're not going to read…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote. Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Sha…AcademiaTraces of ScribesBook historian Irene O’Daly notes that t…AcademiaTexture WriterI’ve only glanced at TextureWriter, but …CybercultureA Simple Plot for a Literature ReviewThere are two things you need any time y…AcademiaFormer student: "I…
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:Couples in successful relationships always use these 6 phrases: 'You'll grow stronger both…”If you and your partner regularly use t…CultureSeven Guitars ( #AugustWilson #CenturyCycle, 5 of 10)August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoi…BooksThe problem with blog comments, in 5 images.After I read Mark…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:‘This is no longer a debate’: Florida sheriff bans deputies, visitors from wearing masks On Tuesday, as Florida set…CultureScratch 3.0 beta is available. Try out the text-to-speech blocks!PersonalGround-nesting Yellowjacket WaspsWhile my 16yo son was mowing the lawn wi…CultureEvery day on my fantasy #neovictorian interplanetary cruiser features glowing green…
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:COVID denial:…
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:Habits for happiness: tips for looking on the bright side of lifeHabits for happiness: tips for looking o…PersonalIt's been nice knowing you, iPad3 It’s been nice knowing you, iPad3, but…TweetsFormer student: "I remember sometimes…
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:Shadowplay (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 16) Odo investigates disappearances … Rewatching ST:DS9 Just like last …EthicsToday's 10 sq cm of a #steampunk control panel (background greebles for a…
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:My brother is visiting to play a game of chess with his nephew and watch his niece perform…Gamesthe history of computer games: from 'pong' to 'pac-man'”in the beginning, there was nothing. we…CybercultureChristmas 1970.…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Special ed teacher quits: ‘I just cannot justify making students cry anymore’The disorder is in the system which requ…CultureInequity and BYODIf we are really wanting to help these k…CultureVersu's Epilogue: How an Interactive Fiction Pioneer's 15 Year Project Ended Up in Limbo a…However…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Desiderata (Nerdy Inspiration)This is a little story about an inspirat…CultureThe Problem with Quotes on the InternetAmusingWhy the Internet Isn’t Fun AnymoreI used to spend time in class teaching s…BusinessShatner's live, extemporaneous post-touchdown monologue on mortality was better than Kirk'… After returning to Earth in Jeff…