STUDENTS TO E-TEXTBOOKS: NO THANKS
What’s most revealing about this study is that, like earlier research, it suggests that students’ preference for printed textbooks is reflects the real pedagogical advantages they experience in using the format: fewer distractions, deeper engagement, better comprehension and retention, and greater flexibility to accommodating idiosyncratic study habits.Students to e-textbooks: no thanks
HOW TO ELECT A POPE: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED
Every time a mainstream reporter or pundit opens his or her yap about the church, the pope, conclave, the next pope, or pretty much anything having to do with religion, brain cells die.Save the brain cells and turn to ElectingthePope.net, thoughtfully compiled for your convenience by Catholic netizens.
How to Elect a Pope: A Guide for the Perplexed
WHAT POPES ARE FOR
The end of this pontificate, like the beginning, is a sign of contradiction to those who see every human action in the cynical categories of power and willfulness.(h/t Cardinal Dolan)
What Popes Are For
A QUICK COURSE IN CONCLAVE 101 - JOHN ALLEN
Ideally, this exercise in “Conclave 101”will help make sense of what we’ll be seeing and hearing between now and that magic moment when white smoke rises from a small chimney above the Sistine Chapel, proclaiming to the world that a new pope has been elected.The man to follow, until the smoke is rising.
A quick course in 'Conclave 101' - John Allen
LAW SCHOOLS’ APPLICATIONS FALL AS COSTS RISE AND JOBS ARE CUT - NYT
Law school applications are headed for a 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon graduation.One for my students as they contemplate the future.
Law Schools’ Applications Fall as Costs Rise and Jobs Are Cut - NYT
Big Ben’s Pub = happy Emily
TWO SPACES AFTER A PERIOD: WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER, EVER DO IT. - SLATEMAGAZINE
Can I let you in on a secret? Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.Truth from Sinai.
Two spaces after a period: Why you should never, ever do it. - Slate Magazine
TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM AND THE TEXTBOOK
Cautionary note from Nicholas Carr.
Everybody seems to be in love with digital textbooks. Except students.
Technological determinism and the textbook
PASSIVE VOICE, USED WELL
The passive voice is like any tool. You can use it well, you can use it badly, and you can abuse it right out.One for my students.
Passive Voice, Used Well
What is this Christmas of which you speak?
UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT
Me: Who’s stupid enough to try stealing a police cruiser?
Emily: When you need a ride, man, you need a ride.
THE GREAT EXPERIMENT - NY TIMES
Anybody can form a perfect Norway, a nation of five million people. But there is no country on earth with our size, our racial diversity, our mix of religions that is close to bringing most of its citizens the rights and comforts of the modern age.The overall view of the column is more positive than I tend to be, but this is a wonderful line and quite true.
The Great Experiment - NY Times
Emily’s birthday flowers
DAVID BROOKS - RULES FOR CRAFTSMEN
The governing craftsman has to be able to know how many votes each side possesses. He has to avoid the narcissistic question: What do I want? He has to ask instead: Given this correlation of forces, what is the landscape offering me?Read the whole thing; this is the essence of governance, nearly all of the time.
David Brooks - Rules for Craftsmen
HOW THE CIA USED A FAKE SCI-FI FLICK TO RESCUE AMERICANS
The CIA was in chaos when Tony Mendez arrived at his desk the next morning. People dashed through the halls, clutching files and papers. Desks were piling up with “flash” cables — the highest-priority messages, reserved for wartime situations.Not a caper movie, but a real movie caper.
How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans
BENEDICT ON VATICAN II: “I REMEMBER I WAS A YOUNG PROFESSOR OFTHEOLOGY…”
One sometimes forgets the power of simple phrases such as “I remember…” for opening and sharing an experience.
Benedict on Vatican II: “I remember I was a young professor of theology…”
RENO ON CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC THEOLOGY
One of the best rundowns I’ve seen; highly recommended for any of my students.
Reno on contemporary Catholic theology
PAPER OF RECORD OR CHURCH BULLETIN OF THE LEFT?
This is one of the wonderful things about a mainstream press. It can help promote civil discourse, rational thinking and an improved society (I thought this recent debate led by a New York Times religion writer was a good step in the right direction). When the paper of record becomes a particularly virulent propaganda arm for one side in the culture war, those things don’t happen — and I hope we can agree no matter which side we take on hot-button cultural issues.Paper of record or church bulletin of the left?
SUNDAY COMICS LINE OF THE DAY
Rob: It’s trendy.
Bucky (the cat): Really? It’s trendy to look like the guy who got fired as the village idiot at the Renaissance fair due to hygiene issues?
NINETEEN SIXTY-FOUR: SPOT THE DIFFERENCE...
Deconstructing the economic incompetence of The Economist when it comes to understanding the Catholic Church. TL;DR is “The Church is not Wal-Mart.”
Nineteen Sixty-four: Spot the difference…
THE CHURCH'S DEEP POCKETS, THE BUTLER DID IT, AND MYTHS ABOUT ATHEISM - JOHN ALLEN
John Allen’s column at NCR is a fairly significant proof for the theology of the saving remnant. Essential Friday reading, every week.
The church's deep pockets, the butler did it, and myths about atheism - John Allen
THE NEW YORK TIMES’ EMBARRASSING ERROR
I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I have a new Exhibit A for when I tell my students that mainstream media know nothing of religion or theology. Click the link.
The New York Times’ embarrassing error
MATT RIDLEY: WHEN BAD THEORIES HAPPEN TO GOOD SCIENTISTS
The origin of our tendency to confirmation bias is fairly obvious. Our brains were not built to find the truth but to make pragmatic judgments, check them cheaply and win arguments, whether we are in the right or in the wrong.Matt Ridley: When Bad Theories Happen to Good Scientists
FLYING UNDER THE INFLUENCE - BY @DRUNKENPREDATOR
Every morning, the hangar doors roll open and the sunlight flares my electro-optical sensors. I drag myself onto the flight line, load up my pylons with Hellfire and Griffin missiles, and try to get some coffee into my tank before takeoff. If all goes well, I lumber into the air, loiter over some godforsaken warzone du jour, and occasionally lob weaponry at those I’m told are the enemies of the free world. By broad consensus, I’m pretty good at my job — and when I’m not soaring above the mountains of Afghanistan or Yemen, I even find time for hobbies, like posting on Twitter. But after I return to base, I self-medicate with extreme prejudice. Because I’m a Predator drone, and you people make me drink.Flying Under the Influence - By @Drunkenpredator
Allow me to explain.
HOW BOOKS LEARN - ALAN JACOBS
In light of this long, long history, during which the poem has had to learn so much, adapt to so many circumstances, how could it be intimidated by the rise of electronic reading? “Why should I concern myself with bits and pixels? I remember the harried scribe with his papyrus sheets. I was once a song.”How Books Learn - Alan Jacobs