Popcorn Maker

I’ll have to look into this. Popcorn Maker. https://popcorn.webmaker.org Similar:“The Cowherd Who Became a Poet,” by James Baldwin. (Read by Dennis Jerz)Inspiration can come to those with the h…Booksthe history of computer games: from 'pong' to 'pac-man'”in the beginning, there was nothing. we…CybercultureIn February 2000, I was blogging about "The Heist" (Sorrels); the "Instant Muse…

One Man, One Computer, 10 Million Students: How Khan Academy Is Reinventing Education

  It’s a prototypical Silicon Valley ethos, with one exception: The Khan Academy, which features 3,400 short instructional videos along with interactive quizzes and tools for teachers to chart student progress, is a nonprofit, boasting a mission of “a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.” There is no employee equity; there will be no IPO;…

ThinkGeek :: Star Trek Enterprise Plush

Set phasers to “Squeee!” ThinkGeek. Similar:Mother 3: My Mom, and MeThoughtful, powerful, personal analysis …AestheticsShare a Coke with "Pepsi"AestheticsThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – About the game30th anniversary refit of the cruel, cru…AmusingThis image of Mark Zuckerberg says so much about our futureA billionaire superman with a rictus gri…BusinessTrektacular Google DoodleAmusingBy Inferno's Light #StarTrek…

The 7 key components of a perfect elevator pitch

Whether you are trying to raise money for your business or just want to perfect your business strategy, a solid elevator pitch is an essential tool for achieving your goals. An elevator pitch can be delivered either verbally, ideally in 60 seconds or less, or as a one-page overview of your business. Think of the…

Hemingway: The First Draft of Anything…

Facebook. Similar:Renata, Carolyn and Alex in a scene from this weekend's Pippin.CultureCEO’s brutalist office, for a Zoom-based production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots)….AestheticsIn one small prairie town, two warring visions of AmericaGreat writing and great photography in t…CultureBig Calculator: How Texas Instruments Monopolized Math ClassMy math education predated the widesprea…BusinessA Conversation with Dennis Jerz, Actor…

Making the Important Beautiful — and Newsworthy

One of the charges of the journalist is to make the important interesting. Advertisers and celebrities are already so good at packaging what is fundamentally trivial that journalists have to work very hard to compete. Infographics are a useful tool for the news industry, but like all tools, they require skill. Similar:WordPress duplicate images driving…

Annie: A Study in Contrast and Complement

I enjoyed using clips of Renata with the little girls in her life, to contextualize her role as the child-hating Miss Hannigan. Showing the kids singing “Happy Birthday” not one but three times amplifies her comments about patience and growing up. This video was the most fun to edit. Similar:It was Mrs. White with the…

The Tempest, According to My 9yo Daughter

She’s 10 now, but here is her response to seeing The Tempest at Seton Hill University last year. Similar:"Gen Zers know the difference between rock-solid news and AI-generated memes. They just do…Over the past couple of years, researche…CultureCat-sitting. Hello, Blue.PersonalMcCain: Dictators 'get started by suppressing free press' “If you want to preserve democracy a…CultureThe facts…

Peter’s Evil Overlord List

Peter Anspach posted this list. Here are some of my favorites. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my…

Dennis G. Jerz | Associate Professor of English -- New Media Journalism, Seton Hill University | jerz.setonhill.edu

When the Reporter Becomes Part of the Story (Aggressive Reporter Covering Pittsburgh Zoo Death)

Students who are new to journalism often introduce a quote like this: When asked about a habit he’d most like his journalism students to break, Dennis Jerz said, “Usually when I see the phrase ‘when asked about,’ I look for things to throw.” We only encounter that phrase in reporting, so when students start writing…

Seton Hill Student Journalists Launch Local Election Coverage

Students in my journalism class are publishing short articles on the U.S. election, starting with advance stories today, then continuing with live updates on Election Day and afterwards. This year, students have already started publishing articles online as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting until after the print edition has been sent to…

Why ‘Gangnam Style’ Is Actually a Study in Mind Control

I’m not sure “thank you” is the right way to acknowledge this painful link from Paul Crossman. “Oh, come on,” you’re probably saying. “It’s not the music that’s addictive. It’s the dance, from the goofy video. That’s what went viral.” (There’s that word again.) Well, it turns out that this programming effect could be embedded…