And yet I’m asked: why? why do writers even bother writing verse nowadays when it is a dead form and nobody reads much of anything anymore anyway? And the answer is that our job is to pay attention. and besides, poetry is there, too, there in the advertising jingle and the twitter feed and the…
WHY have we been told that salt is so deadly? Well, the advice has always sounded reasonable. It has what nutritionists like to call “biological plausibility.” Eat more salt and your body retains water to maintain a stable concentration of sodium in your blood. This is why eating salty food tends to make us thirsty:…
I’m generally ambivalent about the whole “LinkedIn experience,” but if it wants to inspire confidence, the company should devote the same amount of attention it currently places on badgering its members on tightening its security. —LinkedIn: now officially the most annoying of all social media | Loren Steffy | a Chron.com blog. Similar:Shutting the Door…
In an age when the concept of “separation of church and state“ was unthinkable, the Corpus Christi Play was an integral part of the religious, economic, political and artistic context of life in medieval York. —York Corpus Christi Play Similar:Apple threatens to remove Parler social networking service from App Store Apple Inc has threatened to remove…
Interesting collection of reflections on the status of cyberpunk, that branch of science fiction devoted to the exploration of dystopian networks and augmentations and hacking and information, rather than galactic empires, huge space objects, aliens among us, etc. It Evolved Into Birds: Ten Science-Fictional Thinkers On the Past and Future of Cyberpunk Similar:My meme about…
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, ‘This,’ said I, ‘requires an extra dram of milk, my favorite pour.’ To the icebox I aspired, motivated to admire How its avocado pigment complemented my decor. Then I grasped its woodgrain handle – here I opened wide the door; – Darkness there, and nothing more.…
And there was much rejoicing. The journals of the Modern Language Association, including PMLA, Profession, and the ADE and ADFL bulletins, have adopted new open-access-friendly author agreements, which will go into use with their next full issues. The revised agreements leave copyright with the authors and explicitly permit authors to deposit in open-access repositories and…
I certainly tell my literature and video game students that they’ll have to study texts that they might not choose to pick up on their own, and I remind my journalism students that part of their job is to find what is important and make it interesting to the reader. I deliberately teach my “new…
By 2015, all food and beverage products that are advertised, promoted or sponsored on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Radio Disney, Disney.com and Saturday morning programming for kids on ABC-owned stations (Disney owns ABC) will have to meet the company’s nutrition criteria for limiting calories and reducing saturated fat, sodium and sugar. Many…
I was at a “serious games” conference several years ago. During a crowded seminar, where I found myself seated on the floor because there were no open seats, one of the industry types was frowning because an educator kept speaking critically of testing. “If you don’t test,” asked the pragmatic businessperson, “how can you assess?”…
I’d argue that what’s happening is that we’re becoming like the mal-formed weight lifter who trains only their upper body and has tiny little legs. We’re radically over-developing the parts of quick thinking, distractable brain and letting the long-form-thinking, creative, contemplative, solitude-seeking, thought-consolidating pieces of our brain atrophy by not using them. And, to me,…
Similar:School ditches rules and loses bulliesSwanson School signed up to the study by…CultureSecond episode of “Electron Jones” paranormal detective audio series is up. waobaudiotheat…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTe47W3S…AmusingFamily Business (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 23) Quark feuds with his mother…Rewatching ST:DS9 The opening acts re…AmusingHere is an example of how I teach with Inform 7.Here is an…
This is how my parents finish their Argentine Tango routine. My mother says, “I’d like to get up now.” My father looks down at her. “Oh, you would, would you?” Similar:Sweet Lenten RegretsThis Lenten evening / Your orphaned feas…AestheticsWhat’s My Cue? Let’s Talk Shakesepare with Andy Kirtland Virtural #BritsburghCultureHow ‘twisted’ early childhood education has become…
I love this story! Mr. Ackerman — Please excuse Tyler… he was with me!” Obama wrote on 11-year-old Tyler Sullivan’s behalf. The Rochester boy skipped school Friday to attend Obama’s visit to a Honeywell factory in Golden Valley with his dad. President Obama writes sick note for 11-year-old Minnesota boy (VIDEO) – NY Daily News. Similar:A…
My daughter shared the role of Alice this weekend (she played “Small Alice”). On one night, she also doubled as the mouse, for a different Alice. Similar:Henry Bemis waited his whole life to finally read a book. Listen to Lynn Venable’s story,…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc3DHCiz…BooksCraiyon: The signing of the Declaration of Independence, starring Chewbacca.PersonalOnce On This Island (next…
I love the obscure Prufrock reference win this Washington Post story: So as the motorcades come and go, are they talking of Marco Rubio? via Is Bilderberg a conference on world affairs or a powerful global cabal? Similar:How hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald Trump…
Similar:Interview: Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer – Boing Boing GadgetsBoing Boing interviews Bjarne P. Tveskov…AestheticsFacebook, Now You Remind Me of a Half-Drunk Cocktail Party SchmoozerLast week, Facebook asked me what sports…BusinessA #steampunk control panel in context. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #blender3dartAestheticsThe Geekling Worked a Shatner/Nimoy Tribute into GodspellMy geekling daughter, who in Willy Wonka…AmusingMaybe I'll…
In the grand scheme of things, this means very little… but still, it’s kind of cool to be one in a billion. —email tips – Google Search. Similar:A stranger approached me today.A stranger approached me today. I was a…CultureBureaucrats Put the Squeeze on College NewspapersFew school newspapers are financially in…AcademiaI just installed the "Old Layout…
When I am insanely busy during the academic year, I relish the time before I fall asleep, as time I can think about anything at all. If it’s productive and interesting, I’ll stay awake. If not, well, then I won’t waste much time before I conk out. In an attempt to carve out enouth time…
In 1975 a Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built the world’s first portable digital camera by cobbling together parts scavenged from a Super-8 and a cassette player. Baffled colleagues asked, “Why would you want to look at photos on a TV?” —The Pocket Camera Moment | Raw File | Wired.com. Similar:Just look at the light…