Set phasers to “Squeee!” ThinkGeek. Similar:Virtual debates about homelessness in Sim City hold up a mirror to real lifeBack in 2009, the story of Alice and Kev…BooksFirst page of a student’s Texture project. (This made me laugh.) This clever freshman writing student…AcademiaThou shalt not commit logical fallacies Thou shalt not commit logical fallaci…AmusingBoy, this sort…
On the mobile version of my WordPress website, I made the subtlest stylesheet tweaks — adjusting the date text a few pixels to the right to align with the title text, resizing the comment box so that it fits on the screen, adjusting the whitespace ever so slightly. Most of the world will never notice…
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…
I don’t text message much. As my kids (age 10 and 14) have become more socially active, and as I find myself volunteering and mentoring for their activities and coordinating with the parents of their peers, I find myself texting more. But it’s not my preferred medium. In countries around the world, text-message traffic has…
Facebook. Similar:How to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools In a writing-intensive class, studen…AcademiaThe Myth of the MegalithI have found that archaeologists are sel…CultureBeautiful News Writing: "Rampaging rooster attacks girl."I don’t want to make light of a little g…AestheticsI love my students enough to teach them the difference between passive voice and…
She guarded her late husband’s literary legacy following his death in 1965. Valerie Eliot also allowed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats to be based on TS Eliot’s whimsical verses, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. The stage show became a global hit that brought in huge sums for the Eliot estate, and enabled her to…
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:A New Talent EmergesI…
I’m talking about you, Havingsaidthat. You have wriggled your way into the mouths of every Letterman, every shiny-tied anchorman, every political pundit who can now read one poll every way but sideways, every Fox News body language “expert,” and every reality talent show judge. Even the humble weathermen and subway station apocalypto (2013 end of…
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. http://youtu.be/WEQQoAta8Uo Similar:5 Fun Ways to Help…
Businesses — as well as groups like nonprofits and celebrities like Takei — join the social network by creating pages, and they speak to customers and fans by posting to those pages, which users may follow by clicking “like.” A typical page post is only shown to around 15 percent of the people who follow…
She’s 10 now, but here is her response to seeing The Tempest at Seton Hill University last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcxnHUQf5rk&sns=em Similar:Scientists should be goggled and in the lab, where they belong. Shut up and make me a vacc…Am I doing the tribal rage thing right? …CultureWant a tech job? Study this. Advice from Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr…
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…
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…
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…
A few weeks ago, I had to get a new credit card because someone tried to use it fraudulently. The new credit card didn’t arrive until after Verizon tried to charge my bill to the old card. I’ve updated the auto-pay feature with the new credit card, but I don’t know how to read this…
My good camera is out of commission… there was a class action lawsuit against Canon for the “lens error” flaw in the camera I bought, so perhaps I’ll be able to get it repaired for free. I volunteer doing PR for a local theatre company; while I was sitting in the waiting room during my…
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…
“Our store has been closed with them for two years now and if you google the name of my boutique Amazon links appear,” she said. “We have sold on Sears, eBay, and others, and if we ask them to close the merchant account, the links disappear from Google. So why not Amazon?” She has a…
William Shatner and technology go way back, but it’s taken him until today to get his own smartphone app. Then again, he is a man known to take long pauses. Dubbed Shatoetry, the new app (iPhone-only, for the moment) lets you string together a variety of pre-recorded words — each with three different versions —…
Attending this was one of the handful of cultural treats my wife and I splurged on during our grad student days. LA Times – Canada's Stratford Festival losing 'Shakespeare' from its name. Similar:Stunning writing in this WaPost reflection on the Trump campaign's journey from a gold esc…I’m stunned by the writing. Here’s just …CulturePinkalicious –…