Balloon Boy Dad: "Absolutely No Hoax"

When Heene appeared, he instead simply displayed a box into which he invited the media to submit questions, to be answered this evening. —CBS Well, he’s managed to extend his fame by another 15 minutes. Similar:Shakespeare on EclipsesPrepping for tomorrow’s first meeting of…AcademiaThe Rhetoric of Anthems and the Drama of KneelingI don’t follow sports, so…

Alright, already! Sheesh.

  Similar:Backstage opening night.PersonalStage Right's 'Seussical' offers songs, messagesThe Tribune-Review does a great job cove…Current_EventsI let her tend the rabbits.Great production of a very moving story….BooksWe found a mushroom fairy ring in our yardIt won’t make the afternoon of mowing mo…AestheticsMy 10yo Launches a Soda Bottle Rocket http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbNu8…AestheticsAnother sold-out Midsummer Thursday night. Personal

The End of the Email Era

When people can more easily fire off all sorts of messages–from updates about their breakfast to questions about the evening’s plans–being able to figure out which messages are truly important, or even which warrant a response, can be difficult. Information overload can lead some people to tune out messages altogether. Such noise makes us even…

The first action heroine

In the figure of the coltish, resolute Sigourney Weaver, Alien may just be the film that overhauled the old, unreconstructed horror genre and dared to put a woman centre-stage. Because make no mistake: a horror movie is what Alien is. “It’s basically a haunted house film,” explains the critic David Thomson. “The only difference is…

Tips on Writing a Literary Book Review

I’ve asked students in my “Writing about Literature” class to write a book review, in order to establish a connection to the literary world outside the classroom. The Purdue Online Writing Lab has a brief handout, Writing a Book Review, which begins by explaining the difference between a “book report” (written for the teacher who…

Alice and Kev

Robin Burkinshaw has finished Alice and Kev, an interesting exercise in computer-assisted storytelling, using screen shots from The Sims 3 to tell the story of a homeless father and daughter. Originally the story was told serially, with a few posts a week; then there were a few very long gaps, but the story is finished…

Insidious pedagogy: How course managment systems impact teaching

Course management systems (CMSs), used throughout colleges and universities for presenting online or technology-enhanced classes, are not pedagogically neutral shells for course content. They influence pedagogy by presenting default formats designed to guide the instructor toward creating a course in a certain way. This is particularly true of integrated systems (such as Blackboard/WebCT), but is…

The Simpsons on Classroom Technology

Full episode. “Text ‘uncle’! Text ‘uncle’!!” “But why talk… when I could text?” “That text was totally worth the 15 cents it cost to receive it!” “Then Zach Skyped us, liveblogged our spelling bee, and friended us on Facebook!”“Faculty lounge talk out in the halls?” Similar:Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation…

Walkthrough (Zork Funk)

Walkthrough pifieErrol Download this MP3 Directly Similar:First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere to GoI check into Musk’s X every few days, bu…BusinessGinger Christ Superstar!AestheticsThe t-shirt many professors would enjoy wearing Inside Higher EdAcademiaIn November 2001 I was blogging aboutIn November 2001, I was blogging about …AmusingAcademic study concludes that teaching kids to touch-type can make…

The Fiction Generator

All kinds of awesome metatronics going on here. Similar:It's such a privilege to introduce these young people to Shakespeare's body of work.After starting my 200-level “Shakespeare…AcademiaLiaisons (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 2) Picard is Marooned with a lovelorn …Rewatching ST:TNG Worf grumbles about…AmusingThe Internet Archive Is Digitizing & Preserving Over 100,000 Vinyl Records: Hear…