20 Sided Fuzzy Dice Danglers

—20 Sided Fuzzy Dice Danglers (Think Geek) Now those are my kind of fuzzy dice. Similar:While at Sadecky's Puppets to record the role of Heidi, Carolyn met a new friend.We spent Sunday afternoon at the Sadecky…AestheticsOh the Overthinks You Can Overthink: Horton the Elephant, the Wickersham Brothers, and Mas…Yesterday, I performed in a school matin…AcademiaElementary, Dear…

Atari Candleholder

—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:No, Kirk and Uhura didn't share the first interracial kiss on televisionSee Also: Star Trek:…

Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting: A New Method to Enhance Online Reading

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…

Americans and Japanese Read Faces Differently

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:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reducing…

Teaching through Text Message; Cell Phones Emerge as Learning Tool

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…

Calif. Student Arrested in Shooting

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:I assume the police report didn't specify what kind of underwear, because this headline is… As tempting…

The Monetary Economics of Thurston Howell III

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…

Slouching Toward Something

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:Why Do So Many People on YouTube Sound the Same?So it turns out the “YouTube voice” is j…CultureWhat Can You Do With An English Degree? | Seton Hill UniversityOne of…

The readiness to deconstruct is all

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

—atari-and-controllers (jackrabbit.etsy.com) Via join the dots. Similar:Carolyn performed as Ariel yesterday in the New Renaissance Theatre Company's production o… Carolyn performed as Ariel yesterday i…AmusingYouth Can Check Out Briefcases, Neckties via NYPL Grow Up Work AccessoriesThe New York Public Library has a progra…BusinessGrading writing: The art and science — and why computers can’t do itTech companies…

To Do

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…

LOL Trek

—Stephen Granade —LOL Trek (Live Granades) I was vaguely aware of the lolcats phenomenon, which involves remediating the famous “Hang in there, baby” cat poster as if the cats themselves were writing the captions. Never did I expect it to be unleashed on the beloved Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” (which has earned it…