- Oregon allowing spell-check on written school exams? I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this, and I didn’t have the kind of knee-jerk reaction I might be expected to as an English major, writer, and editor. I think spelling is important, but not always critically so, especially on exams where spelling is secondary to whatever is being tested. I think spelling is less important, for instance, than reading comprehension and overall communication skills. Many great writers have been notoriously bad spellers; and outside of a spelling bee, crossword puzzles, and certain game shows, success in life rarely hinges on knowing when it’s “i before e” or the opposite.
At the same time, spelling is important. An over-reliance on spell-check can lead to laziness, and not knowing how to spell can impede communication. Spell-check is far from perfect — their, there, or they’re, anyone? — and a poor substitute for really understanding why words are spelled a certain way. Further, many of the standardized tests these students will later encounter — like, for instance, the SAT — will not allow them use of a spell-check.
I think, if the Oregon Department of Education really wants to help its students, it won’t just allow them to ignore spelling altogether. It will allow its teachers to grade spelling more effectively, more fairly; it will design standardized tests that weigh other, perhaps more important, factors, and look at spelling in a broader context. [via]
- First they came for the ignorant news pundits and I stayed silent… Glenn Beck is quite fond of quoting Martin Niemöller’s famous poem about the rise of fascism in Germany. (As well as of crazy-as-all-bugfuck conspiracy theories.) It’s quite telling which parts of the poem he always leaves out. [via]
- Dubai’s archipelago of luxury islands, already something of a financial disaster, is sinking into the sea. [via]
- Robotic ghost knifefish is born. Somebody should totally start a band with that name. [via]
- And finally, Zack Handlen remembers Indecent Proposal:
Yeah, the movie where Robert Redford turned Woody Harrelson into a pimp and Demi Moore into a, ahem, lady of the evening. It was a ridiculous movie, all slick visuals with no real soul or character, but the concept was so intriguing that it didn’t need to be good to be successful. Everyone was just so fascinated by the moral question at the heart of the story that everything else was just gravy. Stupid, stupid gravy.
It’s all in the context of a Star Trek: The Next Generation review, naturally.
maps
Wednesday various
- I think this Arcade Fire video/Chrome plugin would seem neater to me if Google Street View had been to my neighborhood.
- Then again, if you want to see where Street View has been, you could do a lot worse than the random shuffle that is Globe Genie. [via]
- Google (and everybody else) better be careful when driving in Vancouver… [via]
- Meanwhile, over the summer, Google Maps “lost” a major Florida city. [via]
- And finally, xkcd’s revised online communities map. Are we sensing a theme to today’s links?
Tuesday various
- The United States of Star Wars. I apprently live in/on Coruscant, or at least in its suburbs.
- The strange and sad life of science fiction author F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre. [via]
- Corn syrup manufacturers want to change the name to corn sugar. This is actually a pretty canny (if cynical) move, trying to capitalize on the mistaken belief that lots of sugar is okay for you, in whatever quantity, as long as it’s not that nasty, unhealthy high fructose corn syrup. If nothing else, this would confuse the issue for consumers even more. [via]
- And yet where, might I ask, are the actual Dalek blueprints in question?
- And finally, it’s Zombie Week at Tor.com! Though it is possible to take this whole zombie thing too far…
Thursday various
- The Library of Congress has acquired the entire Twitter archive. This is an interesting announcement, though I do wonder about the privacy issues, particularly with protected tweets, and just how the LoC is going to make these available.
- Meanwhile, maps of the Batcave and Krypton. [via]
- Frankly, with all the potential health problems 3D televisions can apparently cause, I’m not sure I see their up-side.
- Still, if even Martin Scorcese is making a film in 3D, it’s safe to say the technology isn’t going anywhere just yet.
- And finally, last month, I shared a link to A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things. It’s only fair that this month I share Barack Obama Looking at Awesome Things. [via]
Monday various
- Rats. I missed my chance to put in a request for my very own space shuttle. I wonder if those free engines are still available, though… [via]
- Ever wonder what the U.S. would look like with 50 states of roughly equal population? I’m amused to discover that I’d be working out of state if I continued to live across the border in Long Island. [via]
- Meanwhile, I have read none of the bestselling books in New York City. (Though Under the Dome is sitting in my e-reader, waiting.) Maybe Long Island should secede. [via]
- How did I not know Meat Loaf used to be a Motown artist?
- And fianlly, John Scalzi discusses the pros and cons of being killed by various sci-fi creatures. Of the Alien movies he says:
It’s a perfect killing machine, like a shark or Simon Cowell, so at least you know you’re being killed by the best; nothing says “party” like a chest burster.