It’s now common for companies to Google potential employees to uncover peccadilloes from the past. It took me all of 30 seconds, via Google, to discover one applicant’s very public infatuation with indecorous sexual escapades and another’s unhealthy fondness for abusing industrial strength pharmaceuticals. Needless to say, neither was hired. —Jim Louderback —On Media in…
DeSena presented solutions for teachers to prevent the plagiarism plague engulfing a Web-based culture. “All too often teachers emphasize the content (the information) students will cull and hopefully learn. But it is our obligation as teachers to encourage them to respond to the expert or scholar, to answer his or her underlying claim,” she wrote.…
He said, “Mr. Moio, I have something that I would like you to have.” Without hesitating, he handed me an old, leather-bound book with an embossed title reading, “English Poems.” I thanked the student and opened the front cover to discover that the book was published in 1902. Explaining to my student that the book…
—20 Sided Fuzzy Dice Danglers (Think Geek) Now those are my kind of fuzzy dice. Similar:Lego-Building Tween Refers to "The Hobbit" TextMy daughter, having just received a hand…AestheticsThe Complete Deaths: all of the Bard's 74 scripted deaths in one new play.Over the past four centuries, the brutal…AmusingSummer Project: Responsive Web DesignI spent more time than I’d…
—Atari Candleholder (Wonderland | Mixko) Wonderland credits a designer called Mixko, but I couldn’t find it on that site. (And even I did find it there, I couldn’t link to it, because the site uses Flash in a horribly user-hostile way.) Similar:Dear daughter, let Miley Cyrus be a lesson to youI am intrigued by the possibility…
The VSTF process converts display of text such as this first sentence from the U.S. Declaration of Independence into this: —Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting: A New Method to Enhance Online Reading (Reading Online) Fascinating. The indented version really does seem a lot easier to read, perhaps chiefly because the first word in each line is often a…
According to Marmor, Monet’s work began to show a yellowish cast as his cataracts developed. To reveal how Monet saw the world, Marmor darkened images using Photoshop and reduced the levels of blue to replicate a yellowing effect. He also used blurring filters. The results suggest that Monet’s vision corrupted his ability to see colors…
In Japan, emoticons tend to emphasize the eyes, such as the happy face (^_^) and the sad face (;_;). “After seeing the difference between American and Japanese emoticons, it dawned on me that the faces looked exactly like typical American and Japanese smiles,” he said. —Americans and Japanese Read Faces Differently (Live Science) Similar:Battle of Agincourt…
The Pentagon is setting up a civilian Language Corps, a cadre of some 1,000 foreign-language speakers who can help the government in times of war and national emergencies. In a three-year pilot program, the Defense Department will recruit volunteers and do testing to see if such a program would work. If successful, a permanent corps…
They came from all over the world, poles in hand, and feet ready to inch more than half a mile across a high wire strung over the Han River in a spine-tingling battle of balance, speed and high anxiety. —Bo-Mi Lim —Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo (Yahoo! | AP (will espire)) This is a news…
Some linguists are worried that the proliferation of text messaging among students may hurt the development of formal English. Johnson does not agree. “I don’t buy it,” Johnson said. “I think students can distinguish between different contexts. What they would say with their friends is different from what they would say to an instructor.” Text…
Police arrested a college student Tuesday suspected of opening fire in an off-campus apartment during a dispute over a video game console, killing one man and wounding two others. —Calif. Student Arrested in Shooting (AP | MyWay (will expire)) Similar:Schiller schools internet on correct Apple device plurals, but Cook says "iPad Pros"”Siri, is the world ready…
But I should have expected that. The IF Comp, an annual contest to see who can write the best text-based game, offers a vast treasury of interactive fiction, and many of the entries over the past 13 years are truly fantastic. Some, like Vespers, are lit-geek works of art, putting the bulk of commercial games…
Imagine Gilligan’s Island without the Howells and their paper dollars. Without money, commodities exchange directly: coconuts for fish, fish for bamboo, etc. But even with barter, some commodities are more “marketable” than others. Perhaps one of the castaways might eventually buy one of the Professor’s books, but they will more often purchase Mary Ann’s coconut…
Why can’t anything fun ever be slouched toward? I mean, what about Slouching Towards Deliciousness, or Slouching Towards Balloon Animals? —Slouching Toward Something (Why Not Sneeze?) Similar:Beard Typeface GuideChristian Goldeman felt compelled to mat…AestheticsWell-chosen wordsWhy is English spelling such a tangle? I…BooksShatoetry iPhone app lets you put… words… in… William Shatner's… mouthWilliam Shatner and technology go…
When we refuse to “budge an inch,” excoriate “rotten apples,” or admonish slackers to “sink or swim,” we speak in his voice. Although the arts sections of newspapers teem with products from self-anointed “artists” who will not survive their publicity budgets, Shakespeare after roughly four centuries still pleases general audiences, challenges intellectuals, and provokes academics.…
—atari-and-controllers (jackrabbit.etsy.com) Via join the dots. Similar:2001: Stanley Kubrick’s Exasperating MasterpiecePosting this mostly to prove that I can …AestheticsCause and Effect (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 18) time loop. Ka-boom. The En…Rewatching ST:TNG A smart, charac…AestheticsWhat Grammar and Style Checkers MissTeaching students to write does not mean…AcademiaWoodward dismisses CNN's lawsuit against the White House; Fox…
To Do (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) 5: The number of proposals I’ve sent off in the last 24 hours. (Well, one I had drafted weeks ago, and another consisted of me answering the phone and saying “Yes,” but still…. ) Feels like a pretty good day. To do: Share with colleagues draft of revised senior portfolio for…
This article from The Week has statistics that bolster and weaken arguments frequently used by people on both sides of the debate. —How other countries deal with gun control (BoingBoing) Blogging this for future reference. I’ll be teaching a news writing course in the fall, and one of the most challenging units involves getting students to…
Vetting Comments Strangers Post to Class Blogs (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I always enjoy telling my students when I start noticing comments that people who aren’t in our class start posting comments on the course weblog or individual student weblogs. Sometimes the poster is someone who took the course in the past and is recalling with fondness…