Students are starting to contact me asking about books. I will have the course websites up in a week or two, but for now, here are the textbooks. LA101 “Seminar in Thinking and Writing” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader, Second Edition (ISBN 978-0-312-60141-6) The SF Writer, Fifth Edition (ISBN 978-0-205-75197-6) EL200…
The 7th edition of the MLA Handbook includes this example: “Hourly News Summary.” National Public Radio. Natl. Public Radio, 20 July 2007. Web. 20 July 2007. In general, I agree with the 7th edition’s position that URLs are not all that useful in Works Cited lists, since people tend to search rather than type URLs.…
Sides: split. Gut: busted. Milk droplets: transferred to computer screen via nasal passages. The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor via The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor, Scott Gairdner, Ryan Perez, PerryAdamSmith, Nick Mundy, Funny Or Die, dannyjelinek, BoTown Sound, and James Codeglia. Similar:Genesis (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 19) The…
We want to impress, so we say “utilize” instead of “use” or “orientate” instead of “orient.” We mispronounce, so we say, “nuke-u-lar” instead of “nuclear.” We make up a word, such as “notary republic,” instead of “notary public.” These nuances can be charming, irritating or, if we are fortunate, unnoticeable. But they can be costly…
Today was the last day of a Benjamin Franklin exhibit at the Heinz History Center. My daughter stayed home sick, but I am glad I was able to visit with my son. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the exhibit on glass-making. I also enjoyed the detailed history of the Pittsburgh Courier, a…
Use this sequence of questions and stop any telemarketer in their tracks: “May I have your company’s name, address and telephone number? If you are calling on behalf of a client, may I have the name, address and telephone number of your company, as well as the name, address and telephone number of the company…
Winnie the Pooh is the very first book that Apple bundled with the iPad. It was a bold choice, and a reminder of what the iPad had that ebooks at the time did not–the ability to share those same charming illustrations that are now imprinted on our collective consciousness. The image of Winnie the Pooh…
Again with the mean scientists! Using a statistical method called Bayesian reasoning, they argue that the life here on Earth could be common, or it could be extremely rare — there’s no reason to prefer one conclusion over the other. With their new analysis, Spiegel and Turner say they have erased the one Drake factor…
Taking advantage of a summer day in the office to tweak one of the most popular pages on my website. Five of my pages account for more than half of the traffic on my whole site, so I’ve made it a summer project to give those pages some attention, to make them worth the visit.…
Those mean scientists. First they get rid of ether, then they demote Pluto, and now this. A group of physicists at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found out that a single photon cannot travel faster than the speed of light in vacuum. The study reaffirms Einstein’s theory that nothing travels faster than…
The inter tubes are clogged with pundits mocking the AP for a story claiming that “residents are bracing themselves for temperatures near and above boiling point.” In defense of the AP, I will point out that the article does not specify the planet on which these “residents” reside, so this could be a northeastern quadrant…
Academic journals generally get their articles for nothing and may pay little to editors and peer reviewers. They sell to the very universities that provide that cheap labour. As other media falter, academic publishers have soared. Elsevier, the biggest publisher of journals with almost 2,000 titles, cruised through the recession. Last year it made £724m…
“Being literate in 2011 means being digitally literate,” says Chris Lehmann, principal of Science Leadership Academy, a public high school in Philadelphia that has been using social media since it opened in 2006. Sheninger and others also say it is naïve to think that kids raised online will respond to school the same way as…
Uncanny footage of an outdoor sculpture. – YouTube. Blender Camera Mapping Tutorial Similar:Delightfully geeky news story about a legal kerfuffle over typefacesI’m very amused at this nerdy news story…Aesthetics35% of my site visitors right now are using mobile devicesThis year I have seen an uptick in the p…CybercultureURL Hacking (new graphic for an older page…
Fort Ligonier re-enactors. French and Indian War. Similar:Feeling Like an Impostor at 49I reminded my Shakespeare students that …Academia'Fontgate': Microsoft, Wikipedia and the scandal threatening the Pakistani PMI would call this “typefacegate,” but th…CulturePast Tense, Part 1 (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 11) Plot contrivance particl…Rewatching ST:DS9 The Defiant is ferr…CultureThe Case for Breaking…
The tldr version: The iPad has is very useful for brainstorming, and a resource to consult during class discussions, Yes, they are good ereaders, but they are also good for collaboration and sharing (one looks at the text while another takes notes; students start a project, then swap iPads, to comment on each other’s work,…
After observing children on playgrounds in Norway, England and Australia, Dr. Sandseter identified six categories of risky play: exploring heights, experiencing high speed, handling dangerous tools, being near dangerous elements (like water or fire), rough-and-tumble play (like wrestling), and wandering alone away from adult supervision. The most common is climbing heights. “Climbing equipment needs to…
NPR.org » Going, Going, And Gone?: No, The Oxford Comma Is Safe … For Now. Similar:Thinking about physical therapy and cheerful, chatty older gents…I feel like I’m living in a sitcom. A…CultureNASA's Perseverance lander brought some Easter eggs with it to MarsIt’s a bit of a stretch to call this Ted…AwesomeKatie Couric Gun Documentary Undermined…
Great example of how a reporter can take a press release and turn it into human story by adding an anecdotal example that demonstrates why the reader should care. David J. Loehr, a playwright who lives in southern Indiana, was taking his car to the dealership when a story on the radio gave him an…
In an occurrence which became somewhat of a tradition for shuttle crews and those of the International Space Station expeditions, the Expedition 28 crew and the STS-135 Atlantis astronauts formed a microgravity circle for a portrait aboard the orbiting complex’s Kibo laboratory of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. This image was taken on July 15,…