Stop Close Reading

Students almost universally hate close reading, and they rarely wind up understanding it anyway. Forced to pick out meaning in passages they don’t fully grasp to begin with, they begin to get the idea that English class is about simply making things up (Ah yes–the tree mentioned once on page 89 and then never again…

The Poets (Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry)

A great collection of bite-sized interpretations. On “Richard Cory”On “Miniver Cheevey” On “They shut me up in Prose”On “Because I could not stop for Death” Similar:The Most Lamentable and Excellent Text Adventure of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkUpdate, July 2015 — the link to the ori…AmusingPost-publication review as an efficient alternative to pre-publication peer reviewAndrew Gelman…

Mark Twain Celebrated in Hannibal, Missouri

I keep forgetting that I can’t use my iPad to blog with MovableType. The WYSIWYG editor does not work, and I can’t even seem to paste a URL when using the text editor. At any rate, this is a Flash video from USA Today. Similar:Cinderella Deadlines: Reconsidering Timelines for Student WorkI have been experimenting with…

Paedomorphic flightlessness and taxonomic affinities of an enormous Recent bird

  Similar:A pleasant find: somebody left a painted rock by the side of the road.AestheticsFYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpNContestants had to stand with their hand…AmusingPinkalicious — "Buzz Off"My daughter plays the Bumblebee in “Buzz…AestheticsThe New American Man Doesn't Look Like His FatherNPR has a story that should probably hav…CultureUChicago College…

Kings Quest fansite says Activision has un-canceled the fan-produced sequel

Graham of Daventry posted to my blog, with news that the fan-produced Kings Quest, non-commercial sequel has risen from the dead. http://tinyurl.com/2em59… The first release date is scheduled for mid-July. Similar:Surprised by Mama Cass Elliott's "Different" — powerful folk-pop ballad in trippy 60's "H…I miss the convention in movies and TV s…CultureLog Off, You Losers!…

First set of Seton Hill University students get their iPads

Tomorrow afternoon, about 110 full-time students in SHU’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program will be given their university-provided iPads.  In addition, the Seton Hill University Griffin Technology Advantage program includes MacBooks for all incoming undergraduates, as well.  I’ll be observing WPF student teaching demonstrations Thursday through Saturday, so I’ll get an early look at how…

Apple iBook Reader Lacks "Go Back" Button

Since Seton Hill is giving iPads to all full-time students, I have been looking at the comparative features of several eBook readers. Right now, the Kindle app for the iPad looks good, because it offers notes and highlighting, but it lacks an iintegrated pop-up dictionary, which severely hurts is usefulness to student readers. I like…

LCARS GuideLine

Insanely detailed analysis of the computer interface designed for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Bracercom.com The LCARS Frame Here are the common fame structures, notice I did not segment it but kept it continuous for the number of segments in a frame is up to the number of options you want your application to display…

ALT/1977: WE ARE NOT TIME TRAVELERS on the Behance Network

What if the cell phone had been invented in 1977? The product, and advertising, would look something like this, according to Behance. Similar:Every day on my fantasy #neovictorian interplanetary cruiser features glowing green ether … In the backstory for the interactive…AestheticsI’ve roughed out earthen embankments for the city walls. I know there was at some…

The End of Men

Lots of speculation and rumination in this article, which I’m blogging because of this paragraph: Earlier this year, for the first time in American history, the balance of the workforce tipped toward women, who now hold a majority of the nation’s jobs. The working class, which has long defined our notions of masculinity, is slowly…

Inform 7 Updated

Ordinarily, this would call for an all-nighter. I’m feeling rather worn down after 4 days of marking AP English exams, and there are 3 days to go, so I’m only going to have time to glance at the new version of Inform 7. Similar:MLA Citations: Citation generators make mistakes. Here’s how to spot 5 errors…