Leaving a comment on someone‘sweblog is like walking into their living room and joining in on a conversation. As in real life, online there are some people who are a pleasure to converse with, and some who are not. Good blog commenters add to the discussion and are known as knowledgeable, informative, friendly and engaged.…
Nowadays, the phrase, “Oh, golly!” may be considered almost comically wholesome, but it was not always so. “Golly” is a compaction of “God’s body” and, thus, was once a profanity. Yet neither biblical commandment nor the most zealous Victorian censor can elide from the human mind its hand-wringing over the unruly human body, its chronic,…
Political Cartoon Prompts Racist Accusations against Student Paper (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Exhibit A: Political cartoon, edited. Funny? Exhibit B: Political cartoon, original version. Funny? Exhibit C: Editorial. Exhibit D: The controversy, in context. Exhibit E: Debate, in situ. Exhibit F: Your thoughts? Similar:Former Setonian editor-in-chief Amanda Cochran visits my journalism class to discuss her c…AcademiaJames Goodwin…
Proof by clever variable choice “Let A be the number such that this proof works. . ” Proof by tessellation “This proof is the same as the last.” Proof by divine word “And the Lord said, ‘Let it be true,’ and it was true.” Proof by stubbornness “I don’t care what you say-it is true!”…
Beside the fact that math professors in the movie wear ties — “never,” said Kontorovich — and “there are no blackboards,” noted Stechmann – who laughed when Hal called a proof “hip,” – the aspect of the movie the students found strangest was that it centered on an argument over whether Catherine could have done…
Reflection on Wojtyla’s The Jeweller’s Shop (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Last night, I read Karol Wojtyla The Jeweller’s Shop for the first time. I knew it was mostly a collection of monologues with little action, in part because it was written to be performed in secret, in Nazi-Communist-occupied Poland. It is a poetic drama, in which the…
Finally, don’t even think about applying to a small college unless you love teaching. Students will eat you up. Their need for your time and your energy could overwhelm you, and if you don’t love the idea of the enthusiastic undergraduate student just sitting in your office, sipping coffee with you, while you talk about…
It perfectly pulls together four important tools that no geek should ever be without (USB flash drive, LED light, Swiss Army knife, ballpoint pen). These functions have been skillfully integrated into this single super tool. Along with all these great features you also get the legendary construction quality and materials that Swiss Army knives have…
—Wooden Case Mod… and more My jaw dropped and I literally gasped when I saw these images. Are they real? Not a phenomenal CGI project? It doesn’t matter — it’s beautiful! Thanks for the link, Will! By the way, my birthday’s coming up next month… hint, hint! Similar:In defense of the Selfie StickI’m sure there…
An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building. Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was…
Customers create any structure they can imagine using Lego’s freely downloadable Digital Designer software. If they then decide to actually build their creation, the software, which keeps track of which pieces are required, sends the order to this corner of the Enfield warehouse. There, employees put all the pieces (which are grouped in standardized bags)…
# Proof by Name Dropping A: What do you think about objection X? B: Well, BigNamei, BigNamej, and BigNamek agree with me. LittleNamei might agree with you, if only they were that silly. # Proof by Absentee Belittlement A: What do you think about objection X? B: Person C, who is not here to defend…
—BlogSearch (Google) Google’s new blog search engine. Looks like it pays too much attention to splogs (fake websites that look like blogs, but exist only to drive traffic to commercial sites). Nevertheless, I found a few references to SHU blogs that I didn’t see in other search engines. Similar:Jerz Nerdcation 2013On a visit to the Washington…
Discovering that the static that came through our phone could bring the dead, tv-looking thing on our table to life was one of the most fascinating moments of my youth and young manhood. Sadly, that tone is almost gone from our world now, as dial-up disappears in favor of broadband connections (and rightly so). But…
O professor deve deixar claro o que espera. Não traduzi por falta de tempo, mas é uma proposta muito estruturada e, em parte, inspirada pelo fato dos alunos terem uma preocupação maior com o como serão avaliados do que com o que vão aprender. —Refletindo sobre blogs (Projetos Colaborativos) With help from faculty colleagues and Babelfish,…
She listens to her 12-year-old son and his friends as they discuss the novels that their teachers have told them to read over the summer. The boys don’t like them. They seem, in fact, to hate them. The books that her son, Alex, and his friends are compelled to read are highly regarded by teachers…
Exhibit A: vegetable (adj.) c.1400, “living and growing as a plant,” from O.Fr. vegetable “living, fit to live,” from M.L. vegetabilis “growing, flourishing,” from L.L. vegetabilis “animating, enlivening,” from L. vegetare “to enliven,” from vegetus “vigorous, active,” from vegere “to be alive, active, to quicken,” from PIE *weg- “be strong, lively,” related to watch (v.),…
New media, he said, breaks down the economic model of the business he has worked in all these years. “This is really the first time since William Randolph Hearst that a young journalist can think like an entrepreneur,” Mr. Jarvis said. —Tania Ralli —A Journalist and Blogger Tries Teaching (New York Times) Our academic dean sent…
An infant born last month to a severely brain-damaged woman has died after emergency surgery to repair a perforated intestine, the family said Monday. —Matthew Barakat —Baby Born to Brain-Dead Va. Woman Dies (AP|MyWay) Very sad. Similar:Skeleton Crew at BarebonesSupport the arts in your community. BusinessThe “Other Side” Is Not Dumb.The song “No One Is Alone,”…
ALGERNON Do you really keep a diary? I’d give anything to look at it. May I? CECILY Oh no. [Puts her hand over it.] You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will…