Science News Cycle

  Similar:Scratch StatsScratch is a kid-friendly programming sa…CybercultureFacebook's Mike Hudack rants about the media: Why won't anybody do something about these s…When a Facebook executive whines about a…Amusing"Why are you throwing out all the books?!"The short answer is because we’re about …AestheticsIn July, 2002, I was blogging about military close reading, weblogs in journalism, UX…

Study Ball

Shackle yourself to your work, and set the timer.Thanks for the link, Josh. Similar:Cursor*10 (nekogames)I don’t remember where I was when I saw …AestheticsStudents say "math class is stupid and boring," and they are right. –Mathematician Paul L…I am working on some conference papers t…CultureShe was nervous about the dog misbehaving during "Tomorrow," so I…

Days with My Father

A touching tribute in images and words. Phillip Toledano Similar:Prime Stage Theatre to end 2018-2019 season with Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night, May 3–1…2019 Pittsburgh Public Theater Shakespea…CultureFilmmakers fighting “Happy Birthday” copyright find their “smoking gun”Who owns the copyright to the “Happy Bir…BusinessThe real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for…

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…