Poems About Fathers

—Poems About Fathers (Poetry Foundation) Having a father and being a father, I found this page interesting. When my own daughter is a teenager, I might not like “Fifteen” as much as I do now. Similar:Author of 80s classic The Hobbit didn't know game was a hit The Hobbit stood out from the advent…CybercultureGrappling with Genocide: Fostering…

Tools for Teaching Basic Programming Concepts

Tools for Teaching Basic Programming Concepts Alice and Scratch. Filing for future reference. Similar:Anonymous comment cards from student journalists at the end of the second week. These folks are amazing! It’s such a…AcademiaThe Other 21st Century Skills User Generated Education.AcademiaThe Rise of Curiosity JournalismKatz and his kindred might just as well …CybercultureThese Fake Local News…

Will you, won't you… Blackwell's Quadrille

Will you, won’t you… Blackwell’s Quadrille (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) “Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?” — Lewis Carroll’s “Lobster Quadrille” I just tried to order an examination copy of a book from Blackwell Publishing, and when I got what looked like an error message on the final screen (or…

Shakespeare hates your emo poems

—Shakespeare hates your emo poems (Threadless) Interesting cultural phenomenon… sell a T-shirt, then create a website that lets customers upload photos of themselves wearing the T-shirt. The result turns the rebellious and snarky T-shirt designs into the uniforms of conformist consumer zombies. Similar:The stair railings on my #blender3d #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser need some realigning….AestheticsIn August 1999…

The civil war in four minutes

—The civil war in four minutes (YouTube) Similar:Harvard revokes admission of several students for posting "offensive" memesThe First Amendment of the constitution …AcademiaA tiny bit of rogue news leaked through the ads.Hey, Newsweek, alert your webmaster. I c…BusinessUpdating a villain's lair in #Blender3D. Still a work in progress.AestheticsI'm really enjoying seeing how my students are responding…

PLAY-PEN: Games Due for a Lit Course

Modern interactive fiction, much more than its technically limited earlier counterparts, displays an incredible range of literary influences, tributes and styles. For Sherwin’s part, science fiction is an inspiration, but the greater part of his text adventures’ efficacy comes from the unique and anarchic style of his characters’ dialogue. “I have been greatly influenced by…

Deleted Scenes

—Deleted Scenes (StarTrekHistory.com) An awesome collection of painstakingly-restored still shots and script excerpts, from scenes that were filmed but never aired. Similar:How We ReadI feel a little nerdier than usual when …AestheticsYesterday we took advantage of a rare free day.At the Carnegie Museum of Art. AestheticsMe Checking into My #4C19 Conference Hotel RoomI’ll just mark a…

A Fair(y) Use Tale

—A Fair(y) Use Tale (YouTube) Amazing demonstration of creative repurposing of Disney’s copyrighted material. Similar:The Adversary #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 3, Episode 22) A Changeling saboteur uses the…Rewatching ST:DS9 The cold opening ha…MediaPolice stage ‘chilling’ raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and ce… The Marion County Record reported …BusinessThese Fake Local News Sites Have…

Mastering podcasts with Audacity

Open source software makes podcasting easy — too easy. Listening to a playlist of first-timer podcasts can leave your ears ringing from sudden changes in playback volume. The problem is audio mastering. Recording sound is simple, but mastering that sound — compressing volume differences, maintaining a decibel ceiling, and similar operations — is anything but.…

Classic Sesame Street – Ernie (almost) repairs the TV

—Classic Sesame Street – Ernie (almost) repairs the TV (YouTube) My sister sent me this clip, which was one of our favorites when we were kids. (Still is today, now that you mention it… though the production values were notably simpler back then.) Thanks, Rosemary. Similar:The Random Pulp Science Fiction Title Generator from Cornelius Zappencackler's DERANGE-O-L…From…

Why We're Doing This

We know that pro-am journalism can work only if people are persuaded to give their time, lend their knowledge, pool their intelligence. Those are donations, but not of money. Often they are more critical than money. To succeed in this, we have to persuade several hundred people to donate good work to one big story…

Objections to Turnitin

We should be jumping for joy every time a student plagiarizes, because that means our existence as teachers of composition is validated, as we have something to teach them – citation, research, the need for critical thinking. We should get down on our knees and thank the Internet for making it easier to plagiarize, because…

Who Isn't Afraid of Google?

In this strange, strange tale the Davids are the size of companies like Microsoft and Yahoo, rumoured to be discussing an alliance to take on the search leader. The list of detractors is longer than other search providers, though; privacy experts, advertisers, startups, and Hollywood executives are all frustrated with the company for one reason…

Mixed Reception

This activity is set in a research group that is developing an antivenom for spider bites. In the opening scene, Nelson Pogline, a talented graduate student, dies unexpectedly at a university reception. As a detective, you must use chemistry concepts to determine if this was murder and if so, solve the case. You can interview…