I love the Onion. “I do not understand,” reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting the sun, the moon, water, and a Sumerian who appears to be scratching his head. “A booming voice is saying, ‘Let there be light,’ but there is already light. It is saying, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass,’ but I…
What, you haven’t honored your freedom by reading a banned book this week? Banned Books Week | Celebrating the Freedom to Read Similar:Using "Strive" as a NounObviously I know what my students mean w…CultureThe YouTubers who blew the whistle on an anti-vax plotWhile rational minds worry about the imp…Current_EventsI played hooky from work to see…
I think that should be “typefaces,” but I’m a pedantic bore. Showcase of 60 Free Horror Fonts For Graphic Designers. Similar:Colossal Cave: The Board Game by Arthur O'DwyerThe kids and I enjoy nerdy board games. …CultureLovely #greebles give attractive details to the the flat surfaces of this little bot (from…AestheticsAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk…
Similar:My "Writing About Literature" Students Are Sampling Text Adventure GamesI’m having my students play Adam Cadre’s…CultureAlex and Carolyn rehearse for “The King and I” Saturday nightPersonalIndustriousness. Self-improvement. Thrift. And orange slime. The girl amusing herself on our 70m …AestheticsFamily catch and eat octopus with six tentacles during Greek vacationI keep a silly personal blog devoted…
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Stick these on a copy of your future birdcage liner if you spot any of the many sins of journalism. Be on the lookout for bias, plagiarism, poor sourcing, and hype. Journalism Warning Labels « Tom Scott. Similar:Chipping away at Pygmalion and GalateaPygmalion is a legendary sculptor (whose…ArtStandardized testing: I opted my kids out. The…
Toddlers, multiple experiments have shown, can test hypotheses about how machines work—for example, they can figure out which blocks made a machine play when some but not all blocks trigger the toy. We have to be careful, though. This exploratory, quasi-scientific approach to the world doesn’t last if adults teach kids to do something else: Kids will let adult…
Palmer’s Kickstarter page shows her proffering a Dylanesque hand-lettered sign proclaiming, “THIS IS THE FUTURE OF MUSIC.” She may be an authority on this topic—having asked for two hundred thousand, she got $1.2 million. That is not a particularly folksy sum, but not yet the stuff of ignominy. Album in hand, Palmer prepared to tour.…
In an advanced new media class, I’m introducing technical writing to some excellent students. When I asked for a technical report, I got a lot of very well-written essays. It’s a media production studio, not a writing class, so I haven’t made the specifications of the technical report genre very central to the instruction, but…
I have a lot of memories associated with the campus mail room. As an undergrad, I wrote a lot of letters, and sent them in envelopes with stamps, and got a fair number back. But email and Facebook is so much more efficient — I’m not surprised that campuses are looking at ways to put…
When a failing high school tries to reinvent itself, it turns to writing — with amazing results. At my own high school, our science teacher was a retired nuclear submarine admiral who used to say, “Give me students who can read and write, and I can teach them to pilot a nuclear submarine.” So I’m…
Silly fun, just in time for the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. via KLINGON STYLE (Star Trek Parody of PSY – GANGNAM STYLE) – YouTube. Similar:That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent ItProfessional disinformation isn’t spread…CultureWhy No One Clicked on the Great Hypertext StoryIt’s not that hypertext went on…
The transformation of the nation’s news landscape has already taken a heavy toll on print news sources, particularly print newspapers. But there are now signs that television news – which so far has held onto its audience through the rise of the internet – also is increasingly vulnerable, as it may be losing its hold…
The Drudge Report today features an amusing array of images — Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Russian President Vladimir Putin — all of them winking. Clearly the nonverbal message is that all these people — who are unpopular with the conservative populist base to which Matt Drudge caters — are working together. The…
I recently introduced my kids to “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Here’s another dad, writing about introducing his kids to classic Star Trek. But they aren’t just younger versions of me; they pick up on stuff I didn’t at their age. After a few episodes, The Girl asked “why don’t the girls get…
Fugelseth said he was inspired to launch his son’s prized toy after seeing a similar video using a Lego figure. “I figured if two high school kids can send a Lego man to space, then I, as a grown man, can make Stanley [go] to space,” Fugelseth told the Oakland Tribune. Using a weather balloon and…
Bernstein recognizes the affect that difficulty first releases — anxiety, reluctance, the deep breath as one gathers resolve to do something difficult, such as read a poem known for its difficulty. His performance includes several masks, switching the impression to a generic Dr. Phil (“Difficult poems are not like this because of something you as…
The dwarf scenes were a real hoot. Below is a shot of me as Brandybuck, the crabby 2nd-eldest dwarf. It was a genius move to put some of the funniest lines into this iconic death scene. Similar:I love my students enough to teach them the difference between passive voice and past tens…If a goggles-for-brains…
The elderly Spanish woman who ruined a religious fresco with her botched restoration is now demanding royalties from her work after it became an unlikely tourist attraction. An internet petition to keep the repair job garnered widespread support and seizing an opportunity to swell its coffers, the church began levying a 4 euro (£3) entrance…
There’s a buzz of excitement this week in the Greensburg rehearsal studio at Stage Right, where a local cast is preparing for the premiere of a full-length musical a year in the making. Anthony Marino, Stage Right’s artistic director, has big plans for “Snow White the Musical” that don’t end at the Palace Theatre. He’s…