How Dirty Is Your Phone?

Mine must be pretty dang disgusting.


Created by Oatmeal

Eat Sweets, Be Nice

According to a few studies reviewed in this article, the sweeter you eat, the sweeter you are as a person. Ok, perhaps it's not that simple, but here's what it seems the researchers are saying: those with a preference for sweets are more likely to be agreeable and helpful.

All of you sweet-toothed sweeties, rejoice.

Censoring Poe

Some people find the work of Edgar Allan Poe objectionable. Decapitations, premature burials, wholesale slaughter of thousands, and drunken animal abusers populate Poe's world of madness. It's enough to make some parents complain about the public school curriculum in California, and some do. My own mother wanted to file a complaint against the school when my little sister came home scarred by her first reading of "The Telltale Heart."

It seems that the textbook publishers have taken notice, and they have responded by removing some of the more offensive material. In my very own copy of Prentice Hall Literature Silver Edition (the book cover is chocolate brown; go figure), the editors have made the following changes to "The Telltale Heart."

(spoiler alert)

In the story, a young narrator kills an old man whom he loves, for no other reason than he dislikes his eyeball. He delights in the old man's terror in the moments before he kills him, and then after the deed is done he cuts off his head and dismembers the rest of the corpse. Thankfully, there's not much blood in the story (he catches it all in a tub, the clever rascal).

The editors appear to have little problem with all of this gore. Instead, they remove the word "God," changing the phrase "Oh, God, what could I do!" to "Oh, what could I do."

I think we can all agree that removing the word "God" makes the story much less offensive.

Earlier in the story, the narrator speaks of directing a beam of light precisely upon "the damned spot." The word "damned" is clearly unacceptable, and it is removed so that the text reads "the spot."

To review:

• "Damn" and "God" are not appropriate for a middle school literature curriculum. 
• Premeditated murder, basking in the fear of others, and decapitating those you love: Approved for consumption.

Writing Skills Important Even for Life of Crime

Good handwriting can keep you in the game. Even if your game is robbing banks.

The alternative is ending up a loser like this guy.

Facebook and New College Students--A Cool Infographic

Two days ago I was in a room with about 150 English and History teachers from Southern California. The presenter asked how many of the teachers had a Facebook account, and nearly EVERY hand went up.

Now, you may not be surprised, since even nerdy teachers are the quintessence of cool in Southern California.We're just a bunch of trendsetters over here on the Westcoast.  But the fact is, just a few short years ago anyone over the age 30 would be embarrassed to admit publicly that they were on MySpace. Now we're crawling all over ourselves Liking and Friending, and we can't help tweeting about it like a flock of twitterpated fowl.

Facebook is in the air. And as lovesick as we might be with our Internet infatuations, we need to be careful. Students especially. Everybody knows anyone they want to these days, and it's because it's all there for the taking online.

Check out this clever infographic on how college admissions offices use Facebook to screen incoming college students. Like anything else, I think we'll find that Facebook is neither good or bad in itself. It can help you out in your goals, but it can also broadcast your boneheadedness to all (the wrong) people.

Take care before you share your whole world online.


Courtesy of: Schools.com

Mean People Who Can't Spell

The only thing worse than a mean person is a mean person who can't spell. And the only thing worse than a mean person who can't spell is a mean person who can't spell and announces that fact to everyone else.

Now see here.