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…
I never understood why the dead were painted and made to look alive, but now I see that‘snot really the purpose. Watching Joe at work, I see that he restores bodies to a restful state, rather than an unnatural one. They don’t look like they?re going to sit up in the casket and say howdy,…
The vast majority of teens who use social networking sites say they use the sites to maintain their current friendships, while half report using the sites to make new friends. Teens say they use social networking sites to stay in touch with friends they see a lot (91% of social networking teens report this), but…
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…
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…
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…
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:Why I Rarely Blog about My Home Building ProjectsWe’re kind of in the…
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:What My Journalism Class Looks Like on Election DayMy…
Slamdance finalist Super Columbine Massacre RPG has been officially kicked from the festival due to mounting pressure from protesters and the loss of sponsorship, the game’s creator told Kotaku Thursday night. This is the first time in the Slamdance Festival’s 13-year history that a game or film has been removed from the festival due to…
In Galway, I went out busking on the streets, singing the filthiest, most debauched lyrics I could think of to see if anyone would understand. No one did – old women smiled, tapping their feet merrily, as I serenaded them with filth. In Killarney, I stood outside a bank promising passers-by huge sums of money…
The reality is that readers have never enjoyed a bigger market for books. Shoppers can buy everything from hot-off-the-press titles in mint condition to out-of-print rarities from secondhand dealers. They can even download audiobooks to their MP3 players and listen to them while jogging or driving to work. Companies such as Google and Microsoft are…
Comments are Back Up …. just in case anyone was wondering. Similar:The Missing Will, by Agatha Christie (WAOB Audio Theatre)I had a great time playing Hastings in t…CultureThe Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow: Icelandic bromance, with weapons, secret panels, and…I try to read to my kids for an hour eve…BooksBrother Stuck in the…
—Vintage Mobile Phones I’d love to see one with a rotary dial… how cool would that be? Similar:14% of Americans [say that they] have changed their mind about an issue because of somethi…Young men are more than twice as likely …CultureFilmmakers Find Section of Destroyed Space Shuttle Challenger on Ocean FloorInstead of World War II-era…
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…
I designed these simple 3D cabinets in Blender3D, with the idea that I would use this model, which is mostly right angles and cubes with a woodgrain texture and a marble texture, as a simple test when I try bringing custom models into Hammer. Classes start in about three weeks, and I’ll start going back…
The Carnegie Museum of Art’s Volcanic Magma: Lava It or Leave It (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Recently the family attended the Tiffany exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art. My wife went on ahead with our preschooler, while I let Peter take in the exhibit at his own pace. I had him read all the display copy…
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…
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…
—Antoine Bardou-Jacquet —The Child Now there’s an interesting idea for a text-based mod of Half-Life 2. Hmm…. Similar:n+1: The Stupidity of ComputersComputers are pretty dumb, but they’re d…CybercultureR Grammar Gaffes Ruining The Language? Maybe Not : NPRMatthew Gordon, a linguist at the Univer…CultureIs it okay to say clanker?Clanker is a derogatory term used to ins…CybercultureSpring…
In reporting a story for the Web, the interview process does not end with publication. When writing a piece, always include an invitation for knowledgeable readers to add more to the story. Writers who fail to do this invite suspicion that they are more interested in promoting (and protecting) their own point of view, instead…