I called a disabled colleague a spaz after hearing he’d spilt coffee over yet another expensive bit of computer kit…. I use the term with irony as someone who was regularly called a “spaz” in the school playground, though I’m visually impaired and not what we once called “a spastic”. To confuse the issue, a…
A merchant adressing a debtor Remarked in the course of his lebtor That he chose to suppose A man knose what he ose; And the sooner he pays it the bebtor. —Poems showing the absurdities of English spelling (The Simplified Spelling Society) Similar:A trend story about millennials, by The New York Times“When it comes down to…
“Wouldn’t shooting cell-phone users in research libraries be counterproductive?” you might well ask. “Wouldn’t that actually make the library more noisy?” A fair point. Yes, it would. But not for long…. —Scott McLemee —The Silencer (Inside Higher Ed) Similar:RIP Metaverse, we hardly knew yeI am curious enough about cockatoos that…AcademiaThe focus on misinformation leads to a…
Like most of the faculty on my campus, I typically just use the ELMO as an overhead projector to show handouts, but without having to go through the trouble of making a transparency, since it will project anything you put on it. In my mind, it’s even easier to operate than a PowerPoint presentation, and…
Publisher sales reps inform Wal-Mart buyers of games in development; the games’ subjects, titles, artwork and packaging are vetted and sometimes vetoed by Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart tells a top-end publisher it won’t carry a certain game, the publisher kills that game. In short, every triple-A game sold at retail in North America is managed start…
The Times article adds, from the CIRP survey, that the proportion of students who applied to 12 or more colleges increased by 50 percent from 2001 to 2005. The article does not go on to note that the 50 percent increase brought the percentage from 1.4 to 2.1. Most of the students who are using…
On one level, blogs are little more than personal journals posted on the Internet for all to see. They provide a forum for teachers to share ideas with colleagues around the world or simply talk about themselves and others. But under a wider lens, the sometimes funny, sometimes searing blogs paint what may be the…
Michael Smith, professor in Temple University’s College of Education and coauthor of Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys, said the language of crisis was overblown but noted that the facts are plain: Boys read later than girls and lag them in both reading and writing across grades. They read fewer books, and value reading less. “If…
“We found that men do not regard books as a constant companion to their life’s journey, as consolers or guides, as women do,” said Prof Jardine. “They read novels a bit like they read photography manuals.” Women readers used much-loved books to support them through difficult times and emotional turbulence, and tended to employ them…
He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. —Robert Frost —Birches (Bartleby) When I was…
Yes, you did read that right. And also, yes, this eight-year period of temperature stasis did coincide with society’s continued power station and SUV-inspired pumping of yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In response to these facts, a global warming devotee will chuckle and say “how silly to judge climate change over such a…
Half-Life 2 Mod: Week 7 — Gleaming Translucent Chandeliers, Detail of Railing, Heavy Object Designing (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) This week I finally managed to make my chandeliers look decent. Previously I had placed an invisible light-emitting entity inside a solid translucent block, but that unfortunately left the outside edges of the block looking very dark. So…
Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests. —!!! BREAD IS DANGEROUS !!! Similar:‘Heil Trump’ and an anti-gay slur were scrawled on an Indiana church right after Trump’s e…A well-written news story, covering a se…CultureThe Chronicle of Higher Education Announces Plan to Limit, Curate CommentsBy 2016,…
My Students Impressed Me Today (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) In my “Intro to Literary Study” class, I assigned Arthur Miller’s recent play, Resurrection Blues. At the beginning of the class term, I told my students that it wouldn’t be in the bookstore yet because Amazon.com said the book wouldn’t be published until early February, just a few…
Also known as yupster (yuppie + hipster), yindie (yuppie + indie), and alterna-yuppie. Our preferred term, grup, is taken from an episode of Star Trek (keep reading) in which Captain Kirk et al. land on a planet of children who rule the world, with no adults in sight. The kids call Kirk and the crew…
According to the nonprofit Electronic Literature Organization, within the broad category of electronic literature are several forms and threads of practice, including hypertext fiction and poetry, on and off the Web; kinetic poetry presented in Flash and using other platforms; computer art installations, which ask viewers to read them or otherwise have literary aspects; conversational…
In 1969 the US Senate had a hearing on funding the newly developed Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The proposed endowment was $20 million, but President Nixon wanted it cut in half because of the spending going on in the Vietnam War. This is an video clip of the exchange between Mr. Rogers and Senator Pastore,…
The Bob Ross game will utilize the unique inputs that the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Revolution have that can truly immerse the players while they learn to paint like Bob Ross and can play the addictive and fun games that we have planned for the title. I believe that Bob Ross Inc’s and AGFRAG Entertainment…
—Evolution of the Latin Alphabet (Evolution of Alphabets Page) A very interesting animated GIF that shows how the Latin alphabet (which is basically the modern English alphabet) developed from the Phonecial alphabet. Similar:Writing Tips for Critical Thinking Critical Thinking Matters Pers…AcademiaNo, Kirk and Uhura didn't share the first interracial kiss on televisionSee Also: Star Trek: The…
—how to make 3D lemurs out of clay (Google) According to my server log, someone came to my site after searching for “how to make 3D lemurs out of clay.”I was curious… and I used my finely honed Google searching skills to find “miniature lemur sculpture.” I’m not sure that I’m a better person for having…