Queen guitarist to complete doctorate

Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen. —Queen guitarist to complete doctorate (AP | Yahoo! (will expire)) This brightened my day. Similar:Learn to code? No: Learn a real languageI don’t see learning to code as a substi…CultureSomething to Ponder —…

Breaking News: Something Happening in Haiti

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti —Breaking News: Something Happening in Haiti (The Onion (Satire)) Great commentary on the accelerated news cycle. Similar:Citations: Efficient In-text QuotationsWhen writing a paper in MLA style, prefe…AcademiaMy "Writing About Literature" Students Are Sampling Text Adventure GamesI’m having my students play Adam Cadre’s…CultureYounger Americans and Public LibrariesMillennials are quite similar to…

Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter

“At first I didn’t believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He’s very good at it.” —Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter (BBC) Very strange. My brother-in-law Robert sent it to me. Similar:Dog and TP WallAmusingNew Video Game's Second-Person Shooter Mode Features Someone Just Describing…

Statetris

—Statetris (mapmsg.com) Like Tetris, but with American states. Similar:In 2019, I have a college student who annotates readings like this!I asked students in my online “Dystopia …AcademiaLiberal Arts Majors Are the Future of the Tech IndustryMy sister the computer programmer benefi…AcademiaA 27-Story Vertical Forest Grows in MilanBosco Verticale was conceived in respons…AestheticsA Man Alone (#StarTrek #DS9…

Beginning Reporting

As I see it, a good reporter is like a pinball in play, always gathering, writing, revising, gathering, writing, revising–until time runs out. The job is as simple, and as hard, as that. The advice here is based on the teachings of reporters I admire. It is also based on conclusions I have drawn during…

Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks

There once was a horse-riding chap Who took a trip in a cold snap He stopped in the snow But he soon had to go: He was miles away from a nap. —Lore Sjöberg —Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks (Bad Gods) Similar:Journalism is now the second draft of historyThe unavoidable truth is that first draf…CultureThe grudging…

Echochrome – the Escher Game

—Echochrome – the Escher Game (YouTube, Via Game Girl Advance) What a hypnotically simple interface! This is a PSP game. Since I’m not a platform gamer, I’ll have to admire this one from afar. Similar:Lawyers who won Happy Birthday copyright case sue over “We Shall Overcome” “We Shall Overcome,” a song that was the…BusinessHow Facebook and Twitter control…

AFP

A string of publishers failed to spot blatant plagiarism of one of English literature’s most famous authors, in a cheeky test to see if she would have secured a book deal today, a report said Thursday. David Lassman, head of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, sent manuscripts to 18 editors seeking a publishing contract,…

Adventures in ostrich suits….

I never thought that I would spend my fifteen minutes of fame dressed as as ostrich. —Megan Ritter —Adventures in ostrich suits…. (Megan Ritter) A member of Seton Hill’s College Republicans posts a brief reflection on her appearance on a Time.com front-page feature, as one of the 10 weirdest YouTube questions posted for the upcoming Democratic…

What do ombudsmen do?

Interest in ombudsmen has increased in response to all the polls showing that readers do not hold newspapers in particularly high regard. This problem is hardly a novel one. Similar circumstances led Ralph Pulitzer to establish a Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play at his New York World in 1913. According to a 1916 issue…