A Facebook meme with 52k reactions and 37k shares includes pictures of volunteers cleaning the streets in Minneapolis, the day after mass protests of the death of George Floyd. The pictures make a powerful point about the values of the community. However, the text includes an unnecessary slam against journalism, because it introduces the images…
Top — nonverbal addition with Jessica and her mother’s ring; bottom — good camera work (the actors choreographed when to turn on their cameras in order to arrange themselves in this order) @thepublicpgh Similar:Part II of the Mon Valley Medium was a powerful experience. Funny and painful. @thepublicp…CultureWhen the Reporter Becomes Part of the Story…
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Sobering report from the New York Times, providing evidence that COVID-19 deaths have been over-reported. Mortality data in the middle of a pandemic is not perfect. In most places, the disparities between the official death counts and the total rise in deaths reflect limited testing for the virus rather than intentional undercounting. Officially, about 355,000 people had…
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Updating the graphic for a writing handout on how to write instructions, which I created in 2000. Similar:The 3 Scariest Words A Boy Can Hear ("Be a Man")Former NFL player and current pastor Joe…CultureNational Science Foundation announces plan for comprehensive public access to research res…This is good news. It’s unfair that gove…AcademiaBlog RSS Feed Generator…
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On social media recently I saw people mocking Trump for “refusing” to unveil the traditional presidential portrait of Obama, and I saw people attacking “the fake news media” for pushing a narrative designed to make Trump look bad. The original NBC story that broke this item accurately states that neither Trump nor Obama is interested…
(Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break) The meddlesome entity Q, stripped of his powers, throws himself at the mercy of Captain Picard: “in all the universe you’re the closest thing I have to a friend, Jean-Luc.” Lots of well-done banter and self-absorbed patter from actor John De Lancie. While Worf and Crusher have memorable reactions to…
I just found a post on economics in early computer games, tucked away as a “Draft” in my WordPress database, dated Jan 2011. I’m not sure why I never published it. The web page I was responding to has disappeared from the Internet, so I’ve linked to the Wayback Archive instead. Similar:Googling Is for Old…
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Every time I have taught an online class, I have made it asynchronous. I’m blogging these synchronous teaching tips so I can find them again when I’m prepping my fall classes (which will likely be HyFlex). The tips offered here won’t miraculously eliminate the initial awkwardness of virtual class sessions, but they’ll help. And over…
About a dozen local TV news stations aired a video segment produced by Amazon. Some identified the source, but most just let TV viewers assume the video was a news story, rather than a PR piece hosted by an Amazon employee. Journalism matters. See Forbes for details on the story. Similar:Jimmy Maher's Appreciation of Infocom's…
Fascinating use of social media. To be clear, this story about “Carolyn Gombell” is a fabrication, intended to spark Twitter to take action against people (such as Donald Trump) who use Twitter to publicize unfounded accusations. Will that matter to people who share it? It’s parody accounts, not journalists, who are retweeting this story as…
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Powerful writing, by Matthew Schneier. Most of the essay is on the power of poetry as an oral art form. (See also Poetry is for the Ear and Poetry Writing Hacks: Top 10 Tips.) But I blogged it because of the paragraphs about the author’s father. Right now, a machine is breathing for my father,…
Yet in a circle pallid as it flow by this bright sun, that with his light display, roll’d from the sands, and half the buds of snow, and calmly on him shall infold away Deep-speare’s creation is nonsensical when you read it closely, but it certainly “scans well,” as an English teacher would say—its…
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Yes, this was the decisive moment. I ended up cleaning my son out when he landed here later in the game. Similar:D&D-Themed movie Zero Charisma pits Nerds vs. HipstersMy wife usually gives me nerd-themed DVD…CultureQuidditch Comes to Seton HillwartsVisitors often remark the campus reminds…AcademiaThoreau's Cellphone ExperimentWhen I teach “Intro to Literary Study,” …AcademiaHello, I’m Dr.…
Using invisible shapes to cut holes in the hull, and a shrinkwrap modifier to align the cockpit frame and the glass. Similar:Wide-angle view of a villain’s secret lair. #blender3dAestheticsBlade Runner | Typeset In The FutureThis is nerd heaven — a deep analysis o…AestheticsWhy ‘Cats’ the Movie Fails So FlamboyantlyI can’t seem to get into superhero…