About – The Great Gatsby for NES

The Great Gatsby for NES. Similar:Huge Collection of Free CC-Licensed Textbooks (2012)2012 Book Archive. Business, humaniti…AcademiaStandardized testing: I opted my kids out. The schools freaked out. Now I know why.And so, on the first day of testing, I a…AmusingGood example of ‘do NOT remove things from photos.’Hat tip to my former student Kiley Fisch…BusinessTelevision is…

Bother (a minor Turnitin.com grademark bug)

That whole thing should be a link — the underlining shouldn’t stop at the tilde. Similar:When Perception Trumps Reality: Republicans aren't nearly as rich as Democrats estimate. D…Democrats wildly over-estimate the perce…AcademiaDon't Give Apple Too Much Credit for Bowing to Taylor SwiftApple is skilled at attracting praise. O…BusinessWe don’t need more STEM majors. We need more…

Civilization IV song wins Grammy Award

While there’s an instrumental theme from Civilization III that’s even catchier, I was happy to run into an old friend. For the first time ever, a music score from a video game has won a Grammy Award, as Christopher Tin’s “Baba Yetu” from Civilization IV won the Grammy for “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)”. While…

Shipwreck that inspired Melville’s Moby-Dick found

The shipwreck lies off French Frigate Shoals in the blue waters of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. Melville completed “Moby-Dick” in 1851, drawing on an Essex crew member’s account of the remarkable event. The twice-cursed Pollard retired from whaling, became a watchman and lived to be almost 80. Melville met him in Nantucket shortly…

Science Fair Victory

In this photo from the front page of today’s Latrobe Bulletin, my daughter explains her “Endangered Art” science project for the judges. She created numerous identical paintings, kept a control in a safe place, and exposed the others to various threats (sunlight, temperature change, the grubby fingers of children). Similar:First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere…

Discretion in First-Person Shooters

I recently learned that my kids have the habit of turning this hectopus (a toy they’ve each played with since babyhood) away from the screen when they play Half-Life 2. Similar:Enjoying a peaceful fall moment while it's possible. Taking these moments as they come. AestheticsThat's what's been bothering me since yesterday's #AirPod reveal. #manamanaNumber of…

On the Ten Twenty Thirty

The F. Scott Fitzgerald story “Head and Shoulders” features this unfamiliar phrase, spoken by a young actress who, through an unimportant plot contrivance, invades the study of a bookish progeny: “I knew a girl,” said Marcia reminiscently, “who went on the ten-twenty-thirty when she was sixteen. She was so stuck on herself that she could…

Poetry, the First Milk

Tomorrow I will be teaching some Harlem Renaissance poets in my American Literature class, so this reflection on the function of poetry is welcome and timely. Poems are first and foremost to be experienced—sensually, imaginatively. Of course, learning more about form and structure, the words and historical contexts of a poem may make that experience…

How To Get Students To Integrate Quotations

It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone. Like many writing teachers, I put a lot of effort into asking students to integrate their quotations, but being a logos kind of guy, I emphasize the efficiency of MLA style. From the ethos perspective, I point out that college asks for a different, more concise pattern,…

Liveblogging Injury

I threw a muscle in my shoulder while furiously blogging a record of a committee meeting. Similar:My 4Cs StoryI chaired a session on Friday, and gave …AcademiaJournalism academics: mocked by the media and stifled by universities  [T]he traditional consensus is t…AcademiaJohn Dewey: Portrait of a Progressive Thinker: His ideas altered the education of children…“You can…

Apple Cyclops

A happy apple cyclops, with a marshmallow eye and banana teeth. My daughter’s creation. Update, 12 Feb: Carolyn, noting the condition of her apple creation, asked for “a good-bye picture of Poli-yumyum.” Similar:They're coming in faster than I can mark them. This number will be higher tonight, so I'm …PersonalThe Most Toys (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch,…

Remediate a slideshow via whiteboard? When the techno-awesome video projector won’t start, I draw the line.

This term, I teach two sections of “Seminar in Thinking and Writing,” the second course in our two-course freshman writing sequence. My sections both meet MWF, nicely bookending my lunch break. Since Seton Hill usually schedules committee meetings for Tue/Th, that means on MWF I usually have nothing else to do but prepare for, and…

Glad to see so many thoughtful responses.

Looking forward to a good discussion of a complex story. via Fitzgerald, “The Ice Palace”. Similar:When Robert Pinsky Wrote a Video Game[F]or a brief time in the mid-nineteen-e…CultureLet's talk about books, old sport.BooksApology of Socrates, By PlatoAristotle classified Plato’s work, repre…AestheticsLast event of a busy day downtown. #AgathieChristie #murderontheorientexpressAestheticsMy copy of Plotkin's Hadean Lands arrived…

Learning Beyond Words

I work so closely with words that I sometimes have to force myself to remember that there are other ways to learn. I saw a DVD of Annie Get Your Gun for the first time, and was sort of struck by the lines sung by the backwoods sharpshooter, “Folks are dumb, where I come from,…