About a boy

Born with a rare syndrome that left him profoundly autistic, seven-year-old Luke was trapped in his own body. But then his dad took him surfing. —Paul Solotaroff —About a boy (Guardian) I’m sick with a virus, and I can’t do much but read. Oh, and try to find out why my division chair can’t log into…

Getting It All Wrong: Bioculture critiques Cultural Critique

Until literature departments take into account that humans are not just cultural or textual phenomena but something more complex, English and related disciplines will continue to be the laughingstock of the academic world that they have been for years because of their obscurantist dogmatism and their coddled and preening pseudo-radicalism. Until they listen to searching…

Virtual Reality for Five Dollars a Day

Humans communicate with each other through voice inflection, timing, and gesture. “Those capabilities are hard-wired into humans,” Pausch explains. “You wouldn’t put up with a person who makes you learn how to type commands to him; why should you have to talk to computers that way? Ultimately, we’d like to be able to read facial…

Dear Soldier

I love you very much. You’re so cute. I like the way you talk. You’re very very nice to me sometimes. And sometimes you don’t talk to me at all. You’re my best guy in the whole world. You are loving all the time, and you are so sweet. I think you are in the…

One School Frog Writing on His Blog

It’s one school frog,   writing on his blog,Two school bees,   writing on their blog,Three purple snakes,   writing on their blog,Four bunnies that are green,   writing on their blog,Five pink monkeys,   writing on their blog. —Carolyn Jerz, age 4 One School Frog Writing on His Blog (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Similar:Thank you, anonymous donor of Mardi Gras candy.Okay, on closer inspection I see…

The horror, the horror of Iraq, in poetry

Here, Bullet If a body is what you want, then here is bone and gristle and flesh. Here is the clavicle-snapped wish, the aorta’s opened valves, the leap thought makes at the synaptic gap. […] —The horror, the horror of Iraq, in poetry (SF Gate.com) Fascinating reading. Similar:Ginger Christ Superstar!AestheticsThe Righteous MindI just finished “The Righteous…

Comments are Back Up

Comments are Back Up …. just in case anyone was wondering. Similar:Oh that sweet, sweet feeling of progress.PersonalWatching a National Guard helicopter lift off after an EMS displayJust spending an August evening with the…PersonalWaiting for the house to open. @prime_stagePersonalAnother visit to downtown Pittsburgh with my history-loving son.CultureHalloween Candy Poisonings, School Shootings and Human Psychology…

Vintage Mobile Phones

—Vintage Mobile Phones I’d love to see one with a rotary dial… how cool would that be? Similar:On Instructional Technology and Face-to-Face Interaction CybercultureHarvard Science Historian Publishes Results of Unprecedented 30-Year Census of Copernican …”Catholic church authorities were disple…HistoryDid you put enough donuts in the elevator shaft of your #steampunk #neovictorian cruiser t…https://youtu.be/lSgv5L0sXtc &nbs…AestheticsThe Rise…

Hammer Dream

Hammer Dream (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) This morning, I heard my daughter stirring in the next room, and I fell back asleep, knowing I only had a few minutes before I had to start getting her ready for preschool. In those few minutes, I had a dream. I was showing my daughter a hammer. It had a…

Living Room Physics

I’ve blogged before about my eight-year-old son’s interest in science. His knowledge at this point is mostly made up of isolated facts, which he strings together in a stream of consciousness that often does not require much input. A few weeks ago, when he told his four-year-old sister that a feather and a rock would…

Approaching Brand New Markets

In the established magazine category, it’s a buyer’s market. That is, the publishers control it. In the new magazine category, it’s still a buyer’s market, but it’s as close to a seller’s market as magazines will ever get. And you’re the seller. Whether you’re new or well-published, you’ve got more power when dealing with new…

The Child

—Antoine Bardou-Jacquet —The Child Now there’s an interesting idea for a text-based mod of Half-Life 2. Hmm…. Similar:My Minecraft-obsessed tween made this blocky foam pig at art camp. Next up: Stage Right summer musical th…AestheticsThis is what happened when a KDKA-TV journalist showed biasSocial media platforms are full of peopl…CultureMuseum of Endangered SoundsImagine a world…