A Texas lawyer accidentally left a kitten filter on during a video conference call with a judge and was unable to change it, eventually responding to a judge’s query about why he was being addressed by a digital feline by saying: “I’m here live. I am not a cat.” Later, the judge wrote: “These fun…
I’ve taken over teaching the English department’s relatively new career focus sequence, so I’m more than usually invested in these ideas. It’s time for faculty and administrators to be blunt: postgraduation success, more than ever, requires a demanding curriculum that includes extensive writing, facility with data and statistics, and extensive opportunities for collaboration and critical…
The media constantly takes things I say and then repeats them on their news shows and in their magazines, and they always leave something out, like the thing I haven’t even said yet that lets you know I don’t believe the thing I already said. If the media wants to be completely accurate, they should…
Enjoyed watching the restored version of the hugely influential 1927 sci-fi movie #Metropolis I hadn’t seen any of the 20m or so of restored footage. Added main title music was good, but repetitive and not always emotionally aligned with the story. The print was very clear, with crisp details. Nothing like the version I saw…
August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoiler-free scene breakdown Premiered: 1999; Broadway 2001 Setting: 1985; backyard of row houses; Pittsburgh Hill District Prologue (starry night) Stool Pigeon, clicking ham bones, monologues to an offstage cat (which belongs to Aunt Ester). “The story’s been written. All that’s left now is the playing out.” I.i King (30s), ex-con…
Similar:Perspective | After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the Americ… I have always taken a neutral stan…CultureI accidentally did too much DuoLingo. I don't want to advance to the harder league. Come o…EducationEditorial: Video Games and The Great Train Robbery Through the development of crosscuttin…AestheticsWhy We Fall for Fake News…
Similar:Populating my simulation with a crowd. Tweaking and experimenting. #unity3d #medievalyork …PersonalWhy Doesn’t Ancient Fiction Talk About Feelings?Not a day goes by without The Girl remin…BooksThe girl is intrigued by the plot twists in _The Mayor of Casterbridge_.PersonalWhy I Rarely Blog about My Home Building ProjectsWe’re kind of in the eye of the storm, b…Modding"The…
One former student said I’m the only adult male in their life who ever supported their creative efforts. A second former student posted an essay on social media, describing bouncing back from alcohol and cocaine addiction, and after mentioning several life-savers, mentioned me in the final line of the essay — thanking me for teaching…
Although considerable resources have been invested in helping teachers retool, not much has been done to assist their pupils. Instead, it has been taken for granted that 21st-century youth naturally become fluent in any technology, even without explicit directions. While supposedly clueless instructors are given a plethora of tips and tricks – like the OK,…
I enjoyed reading this short John Henry Newman poem for WAOB Audio Theater. Similar:Daughter is in 2 theatrical productions opening this weekendThe daughter plays Laertes in Seton Hill…BooksThe Distracted Classroom: Transparency, Autonomy, and PedagogyI don’t ban technology in my classroom, …AcademiaHacking the Attention EconomyThe techniques that are unfolding are ha…CultureHomeownership in America Has Collapsed—Dont Blame…
I’ve been a college English faculty member for over 20 years and I just realized I’ve been spelling and pronouncing “detritus” wrong all my life. A short while ago I realized I had typed “detrius” — and that’s how I heard the word in my head — “DEE tree us.” But the word has an…
Similar:Synchronous Online Classes: 10 Tips for Engaging StudentsEvery time I have taught an online class…AcademiaJournalists play a vital role in a democracy. That sometimes includes serving the public b…PersonalThis the last hour I will have a teenager in my house. (Tomorrow my youngest turns 20.) I blogged in 2004: “The ti…AwesomeThe Sacramentality of Teaching and…
Ford built about a half dozen of these custom cars designed by Allegheny Steel. I’m not a car guy so I can’t place it beyond that. Similar:Destiny (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 15) An ancient prophecy tests Kira’s fa…Rewatching ST:DS9 The station prepares …CultureJournalism 101: I fixed this meme for you.I can sympathize with…
Playwright August Wilson Takes Center Stage on U.S. Postal Service Commemorative Forever Stamp 📬📃🖊 #AugustWilsonForever #BlackHeritageStamps https://t.co/Ezj04lKcPa — U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) January 28, 2021 Similar:Bad Writing Costs Businesses BillionsThis is thinkpiece rehtoric rather than …AcademiaGo Ask AliceFrom the tangled tale of mass literacy o…BooksNortheast braces for temps near boiling point – Yahoo! NewsThe inter…
Don’t reject a news source just because it slants against your own slant, and don’t accept a news source just because it slants the same way you do. Update: Media Bias Chart 10.0 If you find a news source where you agree with all the content all the time, that doesn’t mean the source is…
I have shared and liked this image, and incorporated it in lesson plans. The juxtaposition suggests that the little knot of photographers is hunkering down in order to make a small fire appear more threatening in front of L’ Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I have seen plenty of cases where unrelated images were juxtaposed…
After spending several days clicking buttons and ticking boxes and waiting for pages to refresh in my school’s content manager, I really, really miss the command line interface. This video shows the 1970s computer game “Colossal Cave Adventure” running on a printer terminal (that is, its only display is text that it prints out on…
Similar:Stupid Puns For the WinMy daughter just trounced me in a pun wa…AmusingThe girl's entrance as Marley's Ghost.PersonalVisiting my parents. Admiring their original Hallmark Enterprise Christmas ornament. I ask…AmusingStudent journalists assemble! The Setonian club fair table is looking spiffy.PersonalAm I a Bad Father Because I Let My Daughter Eat M&Ms in Her Mashed Potatoes?[poll id=”2″]…
August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoiler-free scene breakdown Premiered: 1982; Broadway 2017 Setting: 1977; Becker’s cab station, Pittsburgh Act I.i (morning?) Youngblood accuses “old man” Turbo of cheating in checkers; Turbo accuses Fielding of drinking his gas money; Youngblood turns down a grocery run, which Turbo takes; Youngblood gets defensive at Doub’s silent look; Shealy…
In January 2001, I was blogging about The Onion: Clinton Not Expecting to Collect White House Security Deposit Anachronisms in the movie Titanic A textual detective who helps the FBI solve crimes and says Clement Clark Moore did not write “A Visit from St. Nicholas” A student whose client backed out needed a project, so…