“You don’t like to think about a holocaust, but it’s quite possible,” he said. He referred to the long-standing belief among many anthropologists that H. sapiens exterminated Neanderthals with superior weapons and intellect. For a long time, there seemed to be no other explanation for the rapid disappearance of Neanderthals after H. sapiens arrived in…
Half of hiring managers say wearing attire ill-suited for an interview was one of the biggest mistakes they saw. Others include lack of eye contact (33%), checking phone or texting (30%), fidgeting (26%) and bad posture (22%). Other interview horror stories? Nearly half of hiring managers (44%) said showing up late or on the wrong…
You might wonder why we flip out over stress the importance of accurate grammar and usage. Well, there are a couple of reasons … You look silly or unprofessional when you don’t get it right. Don’t think the proofreading police aren’t watching. They are. And they never sleep. Great writers not only struggle with their…
I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on the plays of Sam Shepard. I took my first-ever date (hi, Maria) to see Shepard in The Right Stuff. He’s dressed in country clothes – a checked shirt and a nondescript jacket – and, unlike most writers, he has an outdoors complexion; a lived-in face. But what’s most…
With a big Hollywood movie now in theaters, some recent printings of the book have abandoned the classic cover in favor of one that ties in more closely with the film. So high school students working their way through the summer reading list this year will be hard pressed to find a copy without Leondardo…
The possibilities of combining Civil War re-enactment and steampunk fantasy role-playing are mind-boggling. Just imagine Rhett Butler steam-flying Scarlet out of Atlanta. The American Civil War brought about great advances in the use of technology in warfare. Balloons, railroads, ironclad ships, and even a submarine were demonstrated throughout the conflict, and new ideas were constantly…
This nerd’s geek heart grew three sizes today. Ubernerds are restoring the Gallileo set piece from the original Star Trek. Dedicated fans are giving new life to the shuttlecraft used in the original “Star Trek” television series. Two “Star Trek” fans are a couple of weeks away from fully restoring the last surviving large set…
I just noticed that a few days ago, a Wikipedia user uploaded a photo to the bio for computing history legend Will Crowther. The caption reads “Will Crowther in fall of 2012 in the Shawangunk Mountains.” A bit of Google-fu leads to several photos showing Crowther is still climbing (the hobby he had long before…
I am not a big fan of traditional slide-show lectures. This is in part because I am not a visual learner, but also because, as a writing teacher, I can see how easily a slide show can fill time without actually informing, persuading, challenging or moving the audience. Students who create slides that summarize what…
Several of my journalism students have gotten interested in infographics. I’m not finished with the spring term yet, but I can’t help thinking about the fall. When we look at our reading habits and our daily interaction with all this digital data that surrounds us day and night, it becomes clear that Kress point does…
Nancy Grace and Ashleigh Banfield Hold Split-Screen Interview in Same Parking Lot – Dashiell Bennett and Philip Bump – The Atlantic Wire. Similar:NASA Calls It A Mission As Curiosity Rover Fills Up Whole 2-Gigabyte Memory CardMore great satire from The Onion. PASAD…AmusingThe Abandoned (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 6) A genetically engineered baby…
PHD Comics: It’s in the syllabus. Similar:Imagine all the people. Just reading their damned syllabus.These are not the rhetorical choices I w…AcademiaThe Best Word Book Ever, 1963 and 1991.As a child, I obsessed over many Richard…BooksNASA sends humans back to the moon for an orbital visit. I was *such* a space nerd as a…
Similar:If You Think You Hate Puns, You're WrongI wrote my college application essay on …AmusingForward is the officers' wardroom. To the right is an airlock. Left leads to the on-call o… AestheticsPeople with autism spectrum disorder avoid eye contact because it causes anxietyMy culture has taught me that eye contac…CultureTeaching Composition with Interactive FictionI’m on…
Be still, my nerdy heart. Steampunk — which has inspired books, art and fashion — hinges on the idea of a future in which we use steam, rather than oil or electricity, as our primary source of energy. Still confused? Think 19th-century fashion and technology, but applied to a futuristic world. Or check out bing…
In most situations, the person juggling e-mail, text messaging, Facebook and a meeting is [not multitasking, but] really doing something called “rapid toggling between tasks,” and is engaged in constant context switching. As economics students know, switching involves costs. But how much? When a consumer switches banks, or a company switches suppliers, it’s relatively easy…
The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own…
Similar:Scientists thought only male birds sang – until women joined the researchFor more than 150 years, scientists have…AcademiaAfter a successful piano recital.CultureHow to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools In a writing-intensive class, studen…AcademiaAudisee Presents: The War of the WorldsAs new age synthesizer music, a rich bar…BooksBlondes 'to die out in…
Open Culture. Similar:14% of Americans [say that they] have changed their mind about an issue because of somethi…Young men are more than twice as likely …CultureDon’t Text While Parenting — It Will Make You CrankyThe study summarized in Time Magazine lo…CultureMore #steampunk control panel goodness. This section features a nice retro pixelboard text…One of many…
I don’t expect students to be constantly after me—and I wouldn’t want them to be. I also know that what looms large for them are their friends, families, and personal lives. But I’m beginning to learn that if students at large universities are starved for personal attention and connection, students at small colleges have so…
I’m on a committee that is exploring a multimodal a revision to my school’s freshman writing program. So far I have never seriously tried introducing new media content into a freshman writing course, but this may do the trick. After two semesters of teaching students to read, play, and write IF games, I can say…