Howard's Butt, Why is Howard's butt blogging? (Start here)

Diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum, author and cyberthinker Howard Rheingold responds with humor, and a new blog. http://howardsbutt.tumblr.com Similar:The AI Mirror Test: Why Even the Smartest People Keep Falling ShortWhat is important to remember is that ch…CultureHow The Language Of Special Education Is EvolvingThe words we use and the ways we refer…

Amazon Invites Devs to Write Programs for Kindle

Amazon.com unexpectedly announced the Kindle Development Kit Thursday morning, which will allow developers to develop “active content” for the Kindle platform, to take advantage of the e-reader’s electronic ink display, Whispernet 3G technology, and days-long battery life.–PC Mag Somebody, please create a Z-code interpreter. I want my Kindle to guide me through a maze of…

Digital Humanities and the case for Critical Commons

A little context… a popular internet meme involves adding creative subtitles to a movie in which Hitler reacts to some very bad news. Here we see the evil dictator responding to some recent developments in academia.  Similar:'Atari Dump' Will Be Excavated, After Nearly 30 YearsThe New Mexico landfill or “Atari Dump” …AmusingBing’s A.I. Chat Reveals…

Cut This Story!

On the Internet, news articles get to the point. Newspaper writing, by contrast, is encrusted with conventions that don’t add to your understanding of the news. Newspaper writers are not to blame. These conventions are traditional, even mandatory. Take, for example, the lead story in The New York Times on Sunday, November 8, 2009, headlined…

Technology and Innovation

Great collection of essays that capture the wonder of now-ubiquitous technology that was once strange.  Oliver Wendell Holmes on photography in 1859, Mark Twain on telephones in 1880, Philip G. Hubert Jr. on the phonograph in 1889, up to James Fallows on the personal computer in 1982. These eight excerpts show the attempts of writers,…

Color Me A Dinosaur

The number of crayons in a Crayola box doubles every 28 years. What colors have been in said box over the years? See the full-size version at weathersealed.com Similar:In December 1999, I Was Blogging About Joseph Heller, E-Journalism, and Travel WritingIn December 1999, I was blogging about: …BusinessThe Great Works of SoftwareI realized that each…

Writing Good English

I’m getting ready to teach a one-credit journalism course on editorial writing, which will also be a test case for a potential “topics in advanced composition” course. This essay looks like a good way to start the class. The good nouns are the thousands of short, simple, infinitely old Anglo-Saxon nouns that express the fundamentals…

'Rude' texting students say they're only multitasking

Two Seton Hill sources are mentioned in this local story. Millennials appreciate professors who bring technology into the classroom, whether it’s YouTube, PowerPoint or posting grades online after assignments, said Theresa Conley, 27, a junior at Seton Hill University in Greensburg. “That way, you can see where you’re at and what you’re getting, so you’re…

Learn from this typesetter’s mistake

Wisdom to keep in mind as I plan for this semester’s “History and Future of the Book.”   FAIL Blog. Similar:#PPTPlaytime Tartuffe @thepublicpgh (Looking forward to Part 2 of this live videoconferenc…CultureWhat Jane [Austen] Saw: 1796 Shakespeare GalleryYou are invited to time travel to two ar…AestheticsDead metaphor alert, as far as the Associated Press is…

Constitutional Kombat: Psychological Evidence Used to Restrict Video-game Violence

Violent video games have triggered substantial controversy due to highly publicized incidents of youth violence that have been allegedly inspired by the content of such games. Several jurisdictions have passed legislation penalizing the distribution of violent video games to minors and used psychological research to support the justification for such laws. However, courts have consistently…

on lesson plans and pedagogic tactics

I am far less interested in turning my students into good bloggers, or good podcasters, or good YouTubers, and far more interested in helping them develop the big-picture synthesizing and evaluative skills that will enable them to learn whatever comes along next, and to keep learning whatever comes next.  Of course, I also ask students…

Raising a stink over printer ink

The price of printer cartridges has long irritated consumers and their advocates, and they say the lack of information from manufacturers only aggravates the situation. One recent study even estimated that consumers could save billions of dollars a year if they were armed with full information about how much it would cost to operate various…

First-Person Tetris

An interesting spin on Tetris. Similar:Windows 3.1 Turns 30: Here’s How It Made Windows EssentialAfter watching all the episodes of the 8…AestheticsJoyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s cata…Looks like the quality control process a…AcademiaTo all these tools I've loved before…While cleaning out my desk at home I…