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:Twitter has blocked President Trump’s account, citing policy violations.PersonalImagine a world…PersonalTo my daughter…
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:Rip Van WinkleCertain it is, that he was a…
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:1776. Binge-watching Liberty's Kids. New this year: Carolyn singing songs from Hamilt…PersonalStarting my “Writing about Literature” class by having students react to a John Donne sonn…PersonalFull Bloom opens next weekend. Tickets 724-527-5777.PersonalIN-ZOOM (A world-premiere 10-minute play)A very current short play by Bill Irwin….CultureUnfinished pine…
—Vintage Mobile Phones I’d love to see one with a rotary dial… how cool would that be? Similar:I just installed the "Old Layout for Facebook" plugin for Chrome.I just installed the “Old Layout for Fac…CybercultureGoogle Trends: blog, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook (2004-2012)I rather expected this — popularity of …Current_EventsStar Wars: TIE Fighter 20th Anniversary RetrospectiveIn the…
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:West Side Story — 50 Years AgoWhen West Side Story opened on Broadway …CultureTexas School Censors All Of ‘Huck Finn’ Except The N-Words (Satire from The Onion)Is it only a matter of time until this p…BooksThe Blood and…
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…
For instance, on the day that I am writing this (Christmas Day, 2006), the big news story is that James Brown, one of the greats of rock ‘n roll music, has died. As an individual running a news web site — or as a student running a news web site — I probably would not…
Hammer, 3D Design, and the Virtues of Minimalism (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) For the past month, as preparation for teaching a brief Hammer unit in my “New Media Projects” course, I got pretty good at Hammer basics — in part because I recorded a series of Flash tutorials, and doing so really solidified some basic design skills.…