—Y! MIndset An interesting Yahoo! search engine that places “Shopping” and “Research” on opposite ends of a sliding scale, which you can adjust in order to change the weightings of of search results. Similar:Today's annoying adventures of adulting: fixing the bathroom ceiling fan.Not fun, but done. ModdingFound: Brass Candle SnifterThis was by the teacher’s station…
Researchers and educators blame the gap between books and boys on everything from a built-in fidgetiness to low expectations to a lifelong association of reading with their mothers, teachers, librarians — all female role models. But now more are suggesting that the problem may not lie entirely within the boys themselves. Some educators believe that…
“People buy games for gameplay, not to hear voices,” counters Finlayson. “And technology creates gameplay, not actors. People who play these games understand that, and in fact, some gamers turn the volume down because (they) find those voices distracting. In film or television, the actor’s performance makes the experience. In video games, it does not.”…
Microsoft shouldn’t be hard to understand taking a cold, risky plunge for a taste of abalone many of the thousands of demonstrators in the city square cried – it was their first public forum in years behind failed Abu Ghraib plea internet attack is called broad and long-lasting a high-ranking Uzbek official said on condition…
Something important is happening in the world of journalism:. It’s an evolution from the lecture model, to which we in mass media have become accustomed in the past century, to something closer to a conversation. The shift stems from the collision of technology with media. This evolution is having an effect on all three major…
Rogers’ Predator is one of more than 1,200 UAVs in the US military arsenal; three years ago, there were fewer than 100 in the field. Today drones as small as a crow and as big as a Cessna are searching for roadside bombs, seeking out insurgents, and watching the backs of US troops. They’re cheap,…
Random things that I will not miss about high school: – listening to my classmates whine – my business law teacher parroting back everything I say in the form of a question – never getting any input on anything I turn in – disgusting bathrooms – listening to my male teachers flaunt their “big, tough…
Are you so alienated from nature that you can’t tell when a piece of fruit is ripe? Don’t worry, there‘sa new line of packaging that changes color when the fruit has reached palatability. Are you too tired to measure out coffee and then too impatient to wait eight minutes while your automatic drip machine brews…
Whether there is a subscription requirement or a Site Pass, there is still a wall around Salon’s content — and that means the blogosphere ignores it. Without this persistent cross-linking, relatively few read its words, and as history is being made — or Googled — every day, Salon’s footsteps in cyberspace become fainter and fainter.…
—Top 100 Speeches (American Rhetoric) Full-text of all, and audio versions of most. Part of a good collection of rhetoric links on Metafilter. Similar:Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than PythagorasTranslating the markings from base 60 – …CultureIT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE — Berkeley Rep audio productionSinclair Lewis’s 1935 anti-fascist novel…CultureBack in the MLAAs…
Murdered blogger’s last entry helps find killer (Suspect admits to the deed) Here’s his last entry. —Murdered Blogger’s Last Entry Helps Find Killer (Metafilter) The comments left on Metafilter add much more to the story than those left on the victim’s site. Similar:Thoughtful analysis of how the tension, shot choices, and music contribute to a memorable…
An English teacher’s heart will go pitter-pat whenever he or she sees close engagement with the language of the text. That means reading every word: it’s not enough to have a vague sense of the plot. Maybe that sounds obvious, but few people pay serious attention to the words that make up every work of…
Between 4 and 4:45 p.m., the father gives you a great interview. His descriptions of his son are colorful, specific, and heartfelt. His overarching theme is the pride he feels for his son, and his stories all express this theme. In particular the father relates: A) How his son was searching for a purpose in…
Working on ”Drama as Literature” Syllabus (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) I’m working on my goals statement for a 200-level “Major Writers and Genres” course. I’m still working it out — the final version will be less chatty and more infused with academicspeak. The primary research method I teach in a survey course is close reading – the…
There may be a coming generation who will know the literary classics only from television’s adaptation of them, but that knowledge is better than no knowledge at all. I’m a novelist, so I’m hardly going to argue against the irreplaceable conditions of prose, the pattern and rhythm and truth of good writing. But literature is…
Maybe when Joe and Mary Sixpack compare the real world they live in with the consistently troubled, violent, sensationalized world the news media present to them day after day, they notice the obvious discrepancies. A perfect example is crime coverage. If you relied only on newspaper front pages and TV news — as so many…
HUNDREDS of BBC journalists and production staff in Manchester are to go out on strike today in protest at planned job cuts. —Nicola Dowling —BBC staff go on strike (Manchester Online) Similar:No, Running Online Classes Isn't CheaperA good response to the myth that the lab…AcademiaCould We Just Lose the Adverb (Already)?I can’t really get myself that…
To assure its continued success, Gemini has further increased it’s [sic] exposure to retailers and consumers alike with innovative marketing and a successful brand[-]building strategy. The For Dummies brand was recently added to Gemini’s stable of product lines. With it’s [sic] recognizable brand name, For Dummies compliments [sic] the current Gemini brand profile that includes…
Dear Card Reader (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Dear Card Reader, Where are you? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You pick the most inopportune time to disappear, because I have a 1GB SD card to futz around with for the summer. You weren’t under the cushion of the comfy chair, though I did find 13 pens, one…
The Muslim riots should have been met by outrage and condemnation. From every part of the civilized world should have come denunciations of those who would react to the supposed destruction of a book with brutal threats and the slaughter of 17 innocent people. But the chorus of condemnation was directed not at the killers…