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:Today's workload included requesting a "less-depressing used chair" #lowexp…PersonalThe exposition officer needs instant access to a pencil case, logbook and mission-critical…AestheticsUniversities must stop presuming that all students are tech-savvyAlthough considerable resources have bee…Academia‘These are all fake news,’ said the honor student. He…
I’m a happy, responsible, and no-longer-obligated-for-jury-duty citizen. Similar:Younger friends, can you write or read cursive? I’m curious.CultureDeSantis-backed bill would make it easier to sue news mediaAmerican law protects the free speech an…CultureUS regulators demand clamp down on Apple e-book contractsI made a lot of impulse Kindle purchases…BooksDown with Fake Politics! Down with Fake Government! Long…
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:After some…
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:In Defense Of Metaphors In Science WritingWe live in an elegant universe. The c…CultureFormer student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaJudge:…
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:How do you know when your #steampunk fantasy cruiser has enough lamps? #blender3d #unity3dhttps://youtube.com/shorts/YF3z91jL7Pc …AestheticsAnother square of #steampunk control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #a…AestheticsBurgh to Burg, episode 2.AcademiaChoose…
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:Broken on Purpose: Why Getting It Wrong Pays More Than Getting It RightI have recently started managing the Fac…BooksDid you share Russian fake news? Facebook, apparently unable to insert items directly in o…Did…
RT @mykidcancode: Managing Your Preschooler’s Fascination with Apps – bit.ly/lv1ZyR #parenting #technology Similar:Standardized-test robo-graders flunk“According to professor of theory of kno…AcademiaI just realized I've been misspelling and mispronouncing "detritus" all my life. I’ve been a college English faculty …AcademiaInteractive Adventure SongIt seems YouTube will soon discontinue t…AmusingFacebook will Emphasize News Articles; De-emphasize Non-Facebook Meme PhotosFacebook…
Not kidding — 254,460 spam comments in my trash folder! Similar:I touched up an intro to hypertext essays from 2000.When I initially wrote this introduction…CybercultureMy students seem increasingly confused by the difference between journal title vs. article… Sometimes students will submit bibli…AcademiaGoogle Books ruled legal in massive win for fair use (updated)Update in a legal…
“Bach is not for the weak of mind.” — Miss Renee, my kids’ piano teacher. “I’m in trouble.” — Peter, my son. Similar:Comment: Why women taking their husband's name could be about biologyI’m somewhat interested in the topic, bu…CultureTrump’s Claims About Media Coverage of Terror Attacks Are BogusThe difference between PR and journalism…CultureCould We Just…
While I am uncomfortable with the whole “classroom as marketplace” metaphor, since it’s pretty much gamifying without the fun, I am nonetheless interested in this strategy for encouraging students to collaborate by having them attach a value to the artifacts they present to the class for sharing.. We shop for everything from apps to ideas.…
The researchers found that each singer’s heartbeat was linked to the song’s melody – i.e. the speed and structure of the music. They also found that when the choir sang together, their heart rates tended to increase and decrease at similar times. “As soon as the singing begins, (the hearts) start following each other,” Vickhoff…
We live in an elegant universe. The cosmos is like a string symphony. Genes are selfish. There is an endless battle between thermodynamics and gravity. Do you love these statements, or hate them? The reading world gets pretty divided over whether or not it’s okay to apply metaphors and similes to descriptive science writing. It…