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…TweetsParallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel …HumanitiesI asked my geekling whether she was ready for…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:The 19th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition Welcome to IFComp 2013, the competit…Current_EventsFacebook Ad Refreshes Interrupt the Composition ProcessSo I’m trying to edit a Facebook status,…BusinessGoogle: "how can u" vs. "how can an individual" is not really about grammar Yes, I got a chuckle…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Loved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsSTEM Education Won't Solve the World's ProblemsI love STEM. My SAT score for math was e…AcademiaTuxedo Pooh Reads Oscar Wilde I spent an hour on this. Below is the …AestheticsJournalists Prefer "Said"Journalists prefer…
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:She’s wearing a shirt with a frog. We are in town to see the Frog and Toad musical. This s…She’s wearing a shirt with a frog. We ar…AmusingOkay, not my most thrilling #blender3D creation, but a fantasy steampunk ship-of-the-line …DesignHappy retirement celebration…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:And so it begins.BooksA quick Sunday visit to #fortligonier with my history-loving son.A quick Sunday visit to #fortligonier wi…CultureIn one small prairie town, two warring visions of AmericaGreat writing and great photography in t…CultureSubtle Stylesheet Tweaks for Mobile SiteOn the mobile version of my WordPress we…AestheticsI know that…
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:No, Running…
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:Parallel structure in writing: Use it!These comic panels cover the issue well….HumanitiesLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhillLoved seeing A Comedy of Errors @setonhi…TweetsI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is really…
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:Peter Sallis: Wallace and Gromit actor dies aged 96 The voice of Wallace has died. The si…CultureEnsign Ro (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 3) New Bumpy-nosed Officer Is Stubbor…Rewatching ST:TNG…
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:Quantum's King Lear at Carrie Blast FurnaceThe girl and I were thrilled to catch Qu…CultureHe couldn’t get over his fiancee’s death. So he brought her back as an A.I. chatbotThe death of the…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Text Games in a New Era of StoriesClever NYT writer cleverly notices a gen…CultureBlender GriffinTo celebrate yesterday’s on-time submiss…AestheticsImagine all the people. Just reading their damned syllabus.These are not the rhetorical choices I w…AcademiaStarship Mine (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 18) Picard…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled”I remember the first meeting where I ac…BusinessLet's conſider ſome ſurpriſing old type: "Did you ever hear ſuch a wind-ſucker, as this?"I ſhall always treaſure the pleaſant ſur…AmusingLiberal Arts Majors Are the Future of…