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:Desert Bus: The Worst Video Game Ever CreatedPenn and Teller are involved with this s…BooksRT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #context htt…RT @PhilKomarny: A floppy disc… In #co…TweetsRT @DDeClaudio: Who do you think controls the…
I just touched up a handout on Parallel Structure vs Faulty Parallelism. Similar:A new study says young Americans have a broad definition of newsI expect that many of my students will b…CultureToday's students aren't growing up reading "man" for "mankind" — and they notice when the… I’m about 1/4 through teachi…AcademiaSpring and Fall, by Gerard…
These comic panels cover the issue well. (Pennington Publishing) Similar:Panic, confusion aboard sinking cruise chip – CNN.com Nobody’s perfect, but this proofread…Current_EventsAt Computers and Writing #cwcon for the weekend.Am I wise now? At an event for encouragi…AcademiaHave you been "workslopped" by a bot?If you have ever experienced this, you m…AcademiaA shooting, the president snatched…
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:Superman Comic about Sympathy and HopeJust in case someone out there could use…AestheticsPagers, Pay Phones, and Dialup: How We Communicated on 9/11For much of the day, those aboard Air Fo…CultureDungeons & Dragons & PhilosophyIn one of the most compelling chapters, …ArtLife would…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:Juror's CreedWhile researching my obligations for #ju…CultureChecking out of @frontporchtheatricals Grand Hotel. What an experience!My brother had already planned to visit …AestheticsStudents whom I haven't met yet… Students whom I haven’t met yet, I’l…AcademiaFigured out how to configure my iPad as an external monitor for my laptop. Much…
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:Viral Video…
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:How hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump …AcademiaWhat kids do when Dad won't hand over the iPod So I’m not being selfish… this…
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:Long Live the LARPers — My daughter plays the antagonist in this award-winning 48 Hour Fi…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku7wzUtO…AestheticsComputer Interfaces in Star Trek's "Assignment Earth"I was watching classic Star Trek with my…CybercultureThe Neutral…
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:Student: “Just wanted to let you know that your class has benefited me outside of just lit…In my online class on literary dystopia,…AcademiaThree more performances of Jane Eyre. Closes Saturday night! @pictclassictheatrePersonalStick to…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Surprise: Humanities Degrees Provide Great Return On InvestmentCompleting a humanities degree is a good…Academia"Why are you throwing out all the books?!"The short answer is because we’re about …AestheticsInform 7 is now open sourceInform is a design system for interactiv…CultureMultiple Choice = GoogleNo big…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera's Free Online Courses”If we really are trying to teach the wo…AcademiaWhy I Rarely Blog about My Home Building ProjectsWe’re kind of in the eye of the storm, b…ModdingThe science of fake news: Addressing fake news requires a…