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:Why…
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:“Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand. That I might touch that cheek!” #pptplaytime Rome…CultureAs White Evangelical Vaccine Refusal Reminds Us, Sometimes Religion is the ProblemWhen reality…
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:Is There a Santa Claus?Update, Dec 2020: https://www.youtube.c…CultureA Box With A Hidden Video Camera Documents Journey Through The…
Similar:Anti-Semitic Times Square Elmo admits to Girl Scout extortion attemptThe headline made me click the link, and…EthicsCaroll "Big Bird" Spinney was originally to be on NASA's doomed Challenger flight And he was even offered a seat as Bi…EducationMy "Writing About Literature" Students Are Sampling Text Adventure GamesI’m having my students play Adam Cadre’s…CultureThrough the Looking…
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:Today's Computer Displays Distort Pixel Art Designed for 1980s CRTsAs a kid, I remember studying my CRT dis…AestheticsHow important is the look 'n' feel of your website?”The look…
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:NAVY TO DROP ALL-CAPS COMMUNICATIONSCaps…
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…
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…
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:Video Game about Cancer and GriefOn my list for the next…
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…
“Overall, it was just boring. Really boring! Really boring!” —The Washington Post. Similar:15 Times "Filler Text" Became a Journalist's Worst EnemyIt doesn’t happen often but when filler …AmusingJournalism ethics and the elephant in the room.The point of “the Rosenthal Rule” is not…CultureFun With Charts: Scale MattersAt first glance, this chart makes it loo…CultureParadise Lost #StarTrek…
Great headlines from winner David Bowman. National Headline Contest 2011. Similar:Taking Harassment Seriously Requires Serious DistinctionsEditor and columnist Jonah Goldberg ques…Culture100 Word ChallengeIt is a weekly creative writing challeng…CultureAfter you finish your brass-polishing shift, join me at the Gear and Heart to swap stories…AestheticsThe Miller of the Dee; by James Baldwin; read by Dennis JerzI…
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 –…
To qualify for a day at the local water park, my daughter woke up early, and is now happily reading. Similar:Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh sentenced to 3 years for ‘Healthy Holly’ children’s …Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, w…BooksFast-paced, articulate cast shines in Viking-themed OthelloI saw my first Food for Groundlings show…CultureTimed Essays: Top 5…
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…
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…
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…
My daughter was recently in the Stage Right! Greensburg homeschool preteen production of Once Upon a Mixed-up Fairy Tale, playing Little Red Riding Hood. Here the girls are singing “Astonishing.” My son played Marshal Cord Elam in the teen production, Oklahoma. He’s wearing the vest and white hat. Similar:Don't Be a Sucker (antifascist film from…
In the early 1970s William Crowther worked for the high-tech R&D company BBN Technologies as part of a team developing the ARPAnet; a computer network predecessor to the Internet. Crowther has never shown any desire to court celebrity for his achievements. Aside from a couple of interviews from books, Where Wizards Stay Up Late and Genesis II: Creation and…