ABC is developing the steampunk adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Yes, really.

As gimmicky as “steampunk Huck and Tom” sounds, the characters actually may be quite well suited for steampunk. Twain’s novel Tom Sawyer Abroad was a play on Jules Verne-style adventure stories, and featured a mad professor and his absurd, futuristic airship. And Tom Sawyer had his own mystery story with Tom Sawyer, Detective. However, Twain…

Vote for Carolyn’s Headshot — Round 2

Vote for Carolyn’s Headshot — Round 2. Similar:Interior Detail of Steampunk Convertible Gazebo Spent much of Tuesday wrestling with co…AestheticsNutcracker dress rehearsal montage. Carolyn plays the Dew Drop Fairy Saturday at 7.PersonalJust a random side corridor in the #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser I've been building in …AestheticsIt's exam week, and at the moment I have exactly…

Mars Panorama — 10yo with iPad Pretends Her Bed Is NASA Rover

Mars Panorama — My 10yo Pretends Her Bed Is NASAs Curiosi – YouTube. Similar:The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’It is 50 years since I first collected t…CultureJaz Parkinson "Colour Signatures"Amusing visual representations of the co…AestheticsSTEM Education Won't Solve the World's ProblemsI love STEM. My SAT score for math was…

Choosing Carolyn’s Headshot

Which of these headshots do you like best? Let me know on Facebook. Carolyn Headshots. Similar:Owner of former Latrobe Athletic Club continues pursuit to transform it into a theater The lead roles in “A Midsummer Night’s…CultureEmpty InboxMy to-do do list and my “Follow Up” fold…CyberculturePut up the Hoop Sooner: 10 lessons of parenting from one…

Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera’s Free Online Courses

“If we really are trying to teach the world, including people from other cultures, we have to take a responsibility to educate people about plagiarism, not just vaporize people for it,” said Mr. Severance, who is also a clinical associate professor of information at Michigan, in an interview on Wednesday. —The Chronicle of Higher Education.…

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

If in question, have more GOOD than BAD? University of Georgia Student Journalists Walk Out

My students and colleagues sometimes wonder why I don’t approve the Seton Hill student paper before it’s published, or give students grades on their published work. Student journalists at the University of Georgia resigned en masse rather than relinquish editorial control to an “editorial director” and nonstudent staff. In a draft outlining the “expectations of editorial…

Stage Right Water Sprite

Last week my daughter and I were a little too early to see the Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s new exhibit, so we revisited some of our favorite items in the permanent collection. Similar:A Fistful of Datas (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 8) Worf Trapped in Western S…Rewatching ST:TNG Silly Gagh-Western …AmusingGender and Language…

SCUBA Diving at the Pool

Because a beautiful sunny day at the pool apparently by itself isn’t enough, we upped the ante with SCUBA gear. Similar:Silicon Avatar (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 4) Grieving scientist mom wrecks…Rewatching ST:TNG Riker does some ser…CultureJust submitted final grades for the compressed course that began the day after fall grades…PersonalThe daughter experiences her…

Official Rules to Nanofictionary

I was at a youth car wash today, watching my son and the other the kids spray each other (and sometimes the cars). One of the customers happened to be carrying an anthology of dystopian science fiction. We got to chatting, and he told me about this parlor game — which sadly seems to be…