Huge Collection of Free CC-Licensed Textbooks (2012)

2012 Book Archive. Business, humanities, writing, science. Similar:Updating a handout I originally wrote in 1998. #tech #writingA mechanism description analyzes (that i…Academia'Island of the Blue Dolphins' woman's cave believed foundFor more than 20 years, Navy archaeologi…BooksWhy It’s So Hard For Foley Artists To Make Footstep SoundsAccording to Foley artist Stefan Fratice…Aesthetics13: The Musical Promohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40MbeApiX…Culturecopyranter: New Milwaukee Public…

Police, citizens and technology factor into Boston bombing probe

In addition to being almost universally wrong, the theories developed via social media complicated the official investigation, according to law enforcement officials. Those officials said Saturday that the decision on Thursday to release photos of the two men in baseball caps was meant in part to limit the damage being done to people who were…

Boston bombings: Social media spirals out of control

A thoughtful analysis. Problem-solvers in the Information Age must train themselves to ignore floods of true-but-trivial and unreliable-but-accessible information. I see this all the time with students who Facebook their way through my class presentations on the function of scholarly peer review, but then submit pages from content farms in their term paper drafts. According…

Higgs Boson Video

Great video about subatomic particles, from Piled Higher and Deeper. Similar:Open Access Journals in the Field of EducationUpdate, June 2015: New URL for the Direc…AcademiaLEGO turned itself around by analyzing overbearing parents[C]hildren play to get oxygen, to unders…CultureTesting out my new greenscreenFriendly advice… If you are practicing…AestheticsThe girl as the Spanish Soloist in @laurelballettheater & @westmorelandsymphony…

little drops — Why Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” Video Makes Me Uncomfortable… and Kind of Makes Me Angry

Very insightful…. A reminder that even the much-praised Dove “we are exposing their advertising techniques” campaigns are just that — campaigns, designed to sell a product. (The parent company of Dove also owns Axe, which is blatant in its use of demeaning sexual stereotypes.) Brave, strong, smart? Not enough. You have to be beautiful. And…

FBI: ‘Exercise Caution and Attempt to Verify Information Through Appropriate Official Channels Before Reporting’

The FBI reminds journalists about a few things they should have learned in News Reporting 101. After multiple media outlets (especially CNN) wrongly reported that an arrest had been made in Boston, the FBI is urging media to “exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.” “Contrary to widespread reporting,…

Boston marathon bombing: All the mistakes journalists make during a crisis like the Boston attacks.

First, do not pass on speculation. For much of the day, the New York Post was sharing unconfirmed reports, which were later proven erroneous, that 12 people had been killed in the attack. I actually retweeted BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, one of the smartest and most conscientious journalists on Twitter, and repeated this tidbit on the official Slate account. In hindsight,…

The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens: Scientific American

As digital texts and technologies become more prevalent, we gain new and more mobile ways of reading—but are we still reading as attentively and thoroughly? How do our brains respond differently to onscreen text than to words on paper? Should we be worried about dividing our attention between pixels and ink or is the validity…

Richard Scarry unfinished manuscript to be published

Some of my happiest memories of fatherhood include introducing my kids to the Richard Scarry books. Featuring a huge anthropomorphised cast, with recurring characters such as Sergeant Murphy, traffic hound and pursuer of miscreants, and solid, cheerful, lederhosen-wearing Huckle Cat, Scarry’s tales of mishap, derring-do, industry and shopping always feel deeply, richly safe. Some aspects…

What about Socialization?

Sometimes, I worry that by homeschooling my kids, I’m depriving them of the opportunities to gain confidence, face challenges, and develop social skills. Just kidding. Here’s what my kids did last weekend. Similar:Can't upload photos to Facebook from my MacBookI spent 30 minutes trying to upload abou…CybercultureThe Cosmic Brownie fairy has visited my office. Is…

A routine day in the life of a digital humanist

The Day of Digital Humanities always sneaks up on me. The blogstream has been pretty routine. Similar:Homeward (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 13) Worf's foster brother interferes w… Rewatching ST:TNG The Enterprise-…EthicsNASA Calls It A Mission As Curiosity Rover Fills Up Whole 2-Gigabyte Memory CardMore great satire from The Onion. PASAD…AmusingFatworld ReviewOn Jan 14,…

New Test for Computers – Grading Essays at College Level

Imagine writing an essay for a college, and, instead of sparking personal feedback from an expert who spends five or ten minutes per page writing personalized reactions and tips for improvement, your work was never actually read by a human being who could recognize, appreciate, and encourage your accomplishments. Imagine that your essay was instead…