My Parents (ages 72 and 78) Learn a Polka Step from my iPad

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My Parents (aged 72 and 78) Demonstrate a Ballroom Dance Pose

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:Paradise Blue (so glad to be seeing more live theater lately)PersonalEnjoying my "Dystopia in American Literature" class.After a kind of prelude in which we look…AcademiaFox…

President Obama writes sick note for 11-year-old Minnesota boy

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:Fake…

Stage Right’s Alice in Wonderland

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:Rossum's Universal Robots (Act 2)https://youtu.be/XfOONrGsf2I For my b…CultureThe Duolingo owl has been judging my German every day for the last year.EducationSorry, but I am done hearing about the "Cruise…

Is Bilderberg a conference on world affairs or a powerful global cabal? Depends on who you ask. – The Washington Post

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:Don't call it "social distancing" or you just might get a polite correction from the admin…AcademiaWriting a Cutline…

Redshirt (fan video for Jonathan Coulton song)

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One in a Billion: email tips – Google Search

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:First They Got Sick, Then They Moved Into a Virtual UtopiaWhen my son was about five, I sat him on…Culture30 Web Designs Featuring Vintage Style Typography30 Web Designs…

The Importance of Mind-Wandering

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…

The Pocket Camera Moment

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:I had a grand time…

a few thoughts on academic time management – more than 95 theses

Remember this, Dennis. Remember this, Dennis. Remember this, Dennis. That is all. I ask my students to give me, by email, a proposal two weeks before the essay is due. I tell them what I think is good about their idea and what they need to watch out for; more often than not I advise…

Critical Damage: Quit Pretending There Isnt A Videogame Rape Culture

A powerful essay, for the next time I teach Videogame Culture and Theory. (Some salty language ahead.) So the Hitman Absolution trailer. Do I have a problem with the existence of female assassins? No. Do I have a problem with female assassins dressing up as nuns? No. Do I have a problem with Agent 47 killing females…

The Pulse: Seton Hill’s iPad Experiment

This month’s edition of The Pulse podcast features a conversation with Mary Ann Gawelek, provost of Seton Hill University, discussing how her institution’s iPad experiment — begun in 2010 — has fared. RPP_102_iPads-in-Education.mp3 via The Pulse: Seton Hill’s iPad Experiment | Inside Higher Ed. Similar:Coding Sucks: Why a Job in Programming Is Absolute HellI enjoyed…

How Facebook Killed the Virtual World

Almost all the promise once held by virtual worlds has since been realized by Facebook. For every social interaction, brand engagement or persistent multiplayer social experience that Second Life or World of Warcraft or MTV’s Virtual Lower East Side was supposed to provide, there’s something the same or very similar available on Facebook — probably…

Youngest-ever National Spelling Bee competitor says fatigue, stress led to misspelling onstage

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National Headline Contest 2011

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OUP research reveals children’s imaginative language use

Contrary to concerns that increasing use and popularity of ‘txtspk’ will ruin children’s vocabularies, youngsters demonstrated that they know when it is not appropriate, only including it in their stories when transcribing an imagined text message. The research also found that many of the words contained in children’s stories are repeated from celebrated writers –…

Reading in the Morning

To qualify for a day at the local water park, my daughter woke up early, and is now happily reading. Similar:Fences ( #AugustWilson #CenturyCycle, 6 of 10)August Wilson’s Century Cycle > …BooksA Beginner's Guide to HTML & CSSFiling this wonderful resource for the n…CybercultureTesting out my new greenscreenFriendly advice… If you are practicing…AestheticsBack in the MLAAs…

Teaching the Holocaust or slavery: Is role playing effective or fraught with problems?

A middle school teacher in South Carolina has been accused of dragging a student under a table during class, telling the boy “this is what the Nazis do to Jews,” police said Monday. The 12-year-old student said he got up to sharpen a pencil at Bluffton Middle School on Wednesday when Patricia Mulholland grabbed him…

Updated Journalism Handouts

I updated the journalism portal of my online writing site, and touched up some existing handouts: News Story vs. English Essay Your English instructor carefully reads your essay to evaluate the depth of your knowledge, the breadth of your vocabulary, and the loftiness of your ideas. Joe Sixpack glances quickly at your news story to…

Six Reasons a Non-Computer Nerd Might Want to Learn to Code

Atwood, on his blog Coding Horror, miffed by the “everyone should learn to code” meme, likens coding to plumbing. It’s not for everyone. “Look, I love programming. I also believe programming is important … in the right context, for some people,” he writes. “But so are a lot of skills. I would no more urge…