Study Ball

Shackle yourself to your work, and set the timer.Thanks for the link, Josh. Similar:CNN sues President Trump and top White House aides for barring Jim Acosta CNN has filed a lawsuit against Pres…CulturePeople we have a hole in the floorCurrent_EventsLego goes steampunkBe still, my nerdy heart. Steampunk —…AestheticsHow children lost the right to roam in…

Days with My Father

A touching tribute in images and words. Phillip Toledano Similar:Why Photojournalism Matters World Series: Chicago Tribune & th…AestheticsYellow Journalism Did Not Cause the Spanish-American War (Role of Sensationalized Headlin… When a correspondent sent to Cuba to c…AestheticsThat Much-Despised Apple Ad Could Be More Disturbing Than It LooksApple has apologized, but like writer Pe…AestheticsWhen Robert Pinsky…

Adventure Themed Play in The Brick Theater's Antidepressant Festival

Clever piece on a games-themed theater performance in Brooklyn next month. One of the more unusual plays in this year’s Antidepressant Festival is Adventure Quest, which mimics old-school computer adventure games, combining live action with vintage graphics and 8-bit music. For those too young to remember these strange, puzzle-intensive artifacts of the Reagan era, the…

Magic Tree House: The Musical

Okay, I’m officially lame. I teared up a few days ago during Star Trek, and tonight I teared up during this song from The Magic Treehouse: The Musical, based on a series of easy-reader books by Mary Pope Osbourne. The touring show was in my town tonight; we had front-row seats. The song is a…

Hypercritical

A budding artist learns his real skill is not artistry, but the ability to critique. I’m blogging this for the next time I introduce iteration as an important cognitive skill — something that requires dedication, time, and a willingness to take risks in order to learn from failures (something that doesn’t often fit will with…

I Mark, Therefore I Am

It’s the first time I’ve given a final exam in a while. I usually mark final projects or final papers, which I’ve seen in numerous draft forms for the past month, so all I really need to do is read the student’s final reflection, after all the hard work is over. But in a large-ish…

Why Mathematics is Boring

This paper riffs on one of the most popular handouts on my website — Short Stories: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers (originally written by one of my technical writing students in 2002, though I continue to tweak it), and applies it to mathematics. [B]efore anyone can understand a piece of mathematics, they must first…

Latest addition to the Star Trek canon

The cuteness of a tribble, the temper of a mugatu, and the ham of a Shatner. Similar:Edible Chess Chess pastry cutters handmade in bra…AestheticsMore split-screen actinghttp://youtu.be/EGgeZWskEs8DesignMy Polish grandmother used to bake these cookies, which my wife picked up at a Ukranian fe… My grandmother shaped …AestheticsPac-Man on Atari 800 @setonhilluniversity discussion of Summer reading book…

Who would not weep, if E. B. White were he?

A masterful spoof of one of my favorite literary works, skewering a reference book I spent a lot of time with in my formative years.. ‘Tis hard to say, which promises more Loot:Writing, or Telling others how to do’t. — Geoff Nunberg Similar:Professor Sees Parallels Between Things, Other Things”By drawing parallels between things and…AcademiaThe Outsiders…