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:Those emails can wait.PersonalIt's a Didactic Day in the Neighborhood: Mister Rogers and Educational IdeologyI recently lamented that my kids are gro…AestheticsWe're enjoying the intensity and also the (surprisingly appropriate) humor.PersonalAdded multiple swappable upper storeys. Next I will make slightly fewer variations of a sl…Added multiple swappable upper…

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

Mars Panorama — My 10yo Pretends Her Bed Is NASAs Curiosi – YouTube. Similar:Motivation Amid Crisis (Autotrophic Bat)As part of an independent study project,…BooksLiberal Arts Majors Are the Future of the Tech IndustryMy sister the computer programmer benefi…AcademiaNYPD's Lt. Cattani offers heartfelt apology for "wrong decision" that threw his reputation…Cops are trained to make snap…

Choosing Carolyn’s Headshot

Which of these headshots do you like best? Let me know on Facebook. Carolyn Headshots. Similar:A 20 sq cm section of #steampunk #blender3d goodness. #blender3dartAestheticsCaptain Gearheart inspects progress on his #neovictorian #steampunk æther cruiser. Now fea…AestheticsThose emails can wait.PersonalHappy ice cream turkey cake day. AestheticsMonument Valley: Minimal story, but an engaging world and a satisfying…

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:In August, 2001 I was blogging about… Broken Links and Poor Information Ar…AestheticsAnd yes, that's her picture in the program (from the…

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:A Message from Hester Prynne (Student Video)Have I mentioned lately that I have awes…AcademiaSeeing A Wrinkle in Time. @prime_stagePersonalCOVID-19 Cases (Useful Breakdown by Country, State, Population) A few interesting bits I found interes…Current_EventsRobert Morris University…

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:Congo nun overcomes blackouts with homemade hydroelectric plantSister Alphonsine…

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:Paradise (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 15) Anti-technology colony welcomes Si… Rewatching ST:DS9 In a runabout o…MediaWe Need to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle ClassMaybe it’s not the super-robots we need …Business The Expensive Education of Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley Because what he never managed to grok …BusinessWet Book Rescuehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9_fwmdC…BooksIf You Ever Find…