‘I’m Not Paying for Your Opinion’

Students also need to learn that being offended is an emotional response, not a rational one. If you don’t like something I’ve said–or, as in this case, something somebody else said–don’t just get upset about it. See if you can formulate a cogent rebuttal. That, too, is a key element of critical thinking. Finally–and most…

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:Easter Blessings 2021 Current_EventsNow that I have polished so many details, I'm working on more selective lighting. #steampu… AestheticsI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is really noteworthy. Today the Pre…Current_EventsLittle Women (the…

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…

An unreal Mars skyline

That awesome image showing Earth, Venus and Jupiter from Mars? It’s cool, but according to Phil “Bad Astronomy” Plait, it’s from planetarium software. I was about to reblog it myself, but did a quick check first. An unreal Mars skyline | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine. Similar:Why your brain’s so bad at letting go of…

NASA Calls It A Mission As Curiosity Rover Fills Up Whole 2-Gigabyte Memory Card

More great satire from The Onion. PASADENA, CA—Barely 72 hours after the landing of its Mars rover, NASA officials announced Thursday that their mission had ended, as Curiosity’s two-gigabyte memory card was now filled to capacity. “Well, that’s that, folks,” said chief scientist John Grotzinger, explaining that after Curiosity’s Mars Descent Imager took an especially…

Ten Basic New Media Skills Journalists Need To Know

Word. This list was published in 2008, so it’s unthinkable that student could graduate from a journalism program today without these competencies. I’d have to add “the fundamentals of coding a multimedia project” and I want to add “the ability to mine a database for a story.” With all the new changes brought about by…

Flying Saucer Irony

  Similar:8yo who found 1500-year-old artifact in a lake: “I had to give the sword to the local muse… I was crawling along the bottom of the…AmusingTake a moment to appreciate these good COVID-19 statisticsMay 1, my state had the third-highest pe…Awesome10 Developer Tips To Build A Responsive Website [Infographic] – ReadWrite  The first thing…

Technical Writing Instruction

I haven’t taught a technical writing course in a while… I was thinking of offering it again sometime soon, so I was happy to see the recommendations on the rhet-comp making list, Rhonda McCafferty: There are also good excerpts in David R. Russell’s *Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A Curricular History*. The second edition was published…

The Rewards of Revenge

According to the data, when men (but not women) watched a defector get punished, they showed additional activation in reward related areas of the brain, such as the ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens. These are essential elements of the dopamine reward pathway, that same highway of nerves that also gets titillated by sex, drugs and…

Biggest accomplishment of the day

The real problem is timing — they had called me for the second week of classes. I wouldn’t mind sharing this civic responsibility so much when I’m not so busy, but the first couple weeks of term are crazy enough. Similar:Practice, practice, practice. Making many things in #Blender3D. Arranging them to make a t…  …

The Princess and the Paint

Friday night, my daughter will be playing the lead in the Stage Right! musical version of “The Princess and the Pea”  — her first starring role. After rehearsal today, she jumped at the chance to get messy by painting with Mark, our set designer. Similar:Letter of Recommendation: Fanny PacksWhat other accessory ensures the safety …CultureLego-Building…