I have a theory of learning, based largely on my own experience, that goes somthing like this: Elementary school taught me how to read. High school taught me how to think critically about what I read. College taught me how use those skills to learn. It seems ironic, but after passing through sixteen years of…
Tomorrow, this site will be participating in the Stop SOPA protest. When you come to the site tomorrow between 8am and 8pm EST, you will see a splash screen in protest of SOPA with information on how to take action. You will be able to continue to the site, and if I have configured things correctly,…
I might not be a fan of football, but I am fond of the freedom of speech. I’d noted recently at least two references to the Super Bowl that didn’t actually say the words "Super Bowl". One reference was on a radio station. They are giving away tickets to watch the "Big Game" in Barbados…
I went to Cleveland Humanities Magnet High School along with strausmouse, the Norm half of vickyandnorm, and kruppenheimer. The school is in Reseda, California, and hearing Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” always reminds me of my alma mater. It was kind of our theme song. But a few days ago, strausmouse reminded me of our school,…
Yesterday, Ken Jennings had an blog post about how schools are starting to ban wikipedia use. He makes some good points. I agree with them and reiterate them here with some of my own thoughts added. Ken points out that this is really nothing new. Teachers have been telling students not to use the encyclopedia…
I’m a pretty mellow, easy-going guy. It takes a lot to get me really agitated and even more to get me down right pissed off. One thing that almost always does the trick are stories of censorship. Apparently, a school board in West Virginia is trying to ban Pat Conroy’s books so that high school…
Andy Rooney had a good piece on TV’s propensity for using “Viewer Discretion Advised” labels to attract attention to shows. Personally, I think TV should be able to show whatever it wants and people should have the option of tuning out what they don’t want to see. But, I am in the minority in that…