Tomorrow I will meet my teaching assistants, and two days later I will meet the students in my class. I am looking forward to both. Actually, there are several errors in that short paragraph: My teaching assistants are actually called… Read More ›
Technology
I missed the milestone! Post #2000!
Five posts ago—that was my 2000th post in this blog! I had been intending to observe that as an important milestone, but it slipped past me. Oh well, let’s just turn the clock back to May 16, and we’ll be… Read More ›
“Can data solve our wicked problems?”
That’s a direct quote from an audience member in yesterday’s online program at the Leventhal Center: “Can data solve our wicked problems?” The program, titled “Matt Bui on how communities use & refuse data about themselves,” was part of the… Read More ›
FUE (Frequently Used Emojis)
Apparently I am the only person in the world who has trouble with emojis. I find, at least as they are usually used, that they are too small for me to pick out the details. Most of the facial expressions… Read More ›
Can you explain this puzzle, WGBH?
Can anybody explain this? Barbara and I have been members of WGBH for decades now. For the past 36 years GBH has sent their monthly magazine to the correct address: (As you see, I have redacted the street name to… Read More ›
That’s Life. “Uncertainty is the only certainty.”
This is life: In a world where truth seems to be at a premium and the future unsure, it’s comforting to know precisely when the sun is going to come up and that when it does, it will do so… Read More ›
Amazon’s user reviews: Can you trust them? Will ReviewMeta help?
I am awed by the author’s skills in writing this gripping first novel that takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of all the top museums in Europe. How seriously do you take a review that starts like that? Do… Read More ›
Why are you still here?
A positive — dare I say uplifting? — story about Zoom learning as we close out annus horribilis 2020! From Patrick Honner: It was the last day of school in 2020 and my students were in breakout rooms finishing up a… Read More ›
What I’ve learned in the past hour
I just learned (a bit) about the Zettelkasten Method! You probably already know about it, but I had never heard of it. Basically it’s hypertext without needing computers — just notecards and paperclips, though software is certainly allowed. In an… Read More ›
Not possible! What are emojis doing in 1807?
How much of this advertisement (from 1807!) can you figure out? Note that it says “hieroglyphical” where we would have said “rebus” when I was a kid or “emojis” today. You’ll probably do much better at reading it than I… Read More ›
