Study Ball

Shackle yourself to your work, and set the timer.Thanks for the link, Josh. Similar:A support sloop on deck and in the landing bay. #steampunk #neovictorian #aesthetics #desi…AestheticsInternet Explorer cheated its way to the top, and I won't miss itI started teaching myself HTML in earnes…AcademiaAn Adjunct's Death Becomes a Rallying Cry for Many in AcademeBecause…

Days with My Father

A touching tribute in images and words. Phillip Toledano Similar:Nellie Bly: A Race Against Time | Heinz History CenterOn Nov. 14, 1889, Bly waved goodbye to f…BooksEveryone Nov 1AmusingIn MLA Style, use the ellipsis only to mark an omission from the middle of a quotation. If you are writing an academic paper…AcademiaSo this is Pi…

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…