If you’ve never seen a Homestar Runner cartoon, you’re missing out on one of the greatest things to come out of the internet in its short lifespan. But if you’re one of the web series’ existing fans who’s poured over every cartoon and found every secret link, you’ll love this video that breaks down the history of the animated series as much you loved the news that the Brothers Chaps are bringing back the series. (Yay!)
In early 2013, Google announced Android Studio, a WYSIWYG environment that’d help you create Android applications with a lot less hassle. Now, the company is finally ready to put Version 1.0 into the hands of would-be creators across the world. The p…
Amazon is finally bringing Kindle’s X-ray feature to Android devices, three years after it launched and two after it became available on iPhones and iPads. X-ray, for Android users who haven’t had the chance to use it yet, provides some sort of an en…
Apple has begun to transfer intellectual property over from PrimeSense, the Israeli firm it acquired last year. The company was a key partner to Microsoft, which licensed its tech to create the Kinect 3D motion sensing camera, which allows users to interact with Xbox and PC via gesture control. This first patent being reassigned from PrimeSense to Apple (via 9to5Mac) covers some of the… Read More
Apple is set to open a new, large-scale research and development facility in Japan, according to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in a statement made to local media today. Reuters reports that Abe made the announcement ahead of Sunday’s general election, noting that a more formal declaration of the project would follow at a later date. The details of the arrangement are scarce so far –… Read More
For some time now, college graduation rates have played an important role in the ranking formulas used by U.S. News, Forbes and other ranking organizations. The college rating system under development by the Obama administration would also place a high value on higher graduation rates. While some have tried to calibrate these rates against the quality of students enrolled as measured by test scores and high school GPA’s, all of them treat a higher graduation rate as being an indicator of higher institutional quality, with the highest ranked colleges and universities in this category having graduation rates of over 95 percent.
One result of this practice has been the increasing interest shown by potential students and their parents in an institution’s graduation rate, with some asking for what amounts to almost a guarantee that they or their child will graduate if they enroll.
Now when I was an undergraduate at a selective private engineering school in the ’60s, the graduation rate of those who enrolled as freshmen was only a bit above 50 percent, and the average campus GPA was only slightly above a 2.0 (the required GPA for graduation). It would probably be overstating the case to say that this was a source of pride for the campus, but there was never any question about those who graduated being capable engineers. In fact, companies lined up to hire these graduates, including those with GPA’s only slightly above the 2.0 minimum. Some of the students that I knew who didn’t make the grade subsequently enrolled in other, less academically rigorous, institutions from which they later graduated, although their employment prospects were less promising.
And at RIT, where I serve as President, the graduation rate is about 70 percent, although time to graduation is almost a year longer than average because most of our students are required to spend a year in government or industry prior to graduation (RIT is one of the oldest Cooperative Education Colleges, or Co-op Schools, in the nation). A recent survey of our graduates taken 120 days after graduation indicated that 95 percent of them were either employed full-time in their field or going to graduate school full-time. This came as no surprise, since our last career fair drew more than 250 companies (with many more turned away for lack of space) eager to interview our students.
Now some readers will conclude that this high rate of post-graduation success is a result of RIT being an engineering school, but in fact we offer over 160 degree programs ranging from philosophy to art, from engineering to business, and from design to computer game development, and we have thousands of students enrolled in non-technical fields. We are also the host institution for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and 10 percent of our undergraduates are deaf or hard-of-hearing. For this group, the placement rate of our graduates is 94 percent, almost double the national average for these students.
For all colleges and universities, in fact, the relationship between graduation rates, academic rigor and the subsequent success of graduates is a complex one. And it should be obvious to the reader, therefore, that the inclusion of graduation rates in College ranking formulas has at least the potential to encourage grade inflation and lower academic standards. In fact, a reasonable strategy for a university trying to move up in the rankings would be to try to graduate 100 percent of those who enroll. And sadly, at many of our colleges and universities, the most common grade given today is an A.
I am deeply troubled by this misuse of graduation rates as an indicator of academic quality when in fact they could indicate, in some cases, exactly the opposite. The notion that a graduation rate near 100 percent is a sign of academic quality is simply nonsense. At RIT, 30 percent of our undergraduates receive Pell Grants and another 25 percent are the first from their family to attend college, and studies have shown that these students, while capable, are statistically more at-risk for college completion. Students drop out before graduation for many reasons. These include failure to meet our academic standards, personal health issues, financial problems, social problems, and family emergencies beyond their control.
I am not saying, however, that some colleges and universities shouldn’t strive for higher retention and graduation rates. The appallingly low graduation rates of many for-profit universities have been justifiably criticized, for example. But I would strongly recommend against the use of this measure as an indicator of academic quality. In many cases, graduation rates may indicate either the opposite or (in most cases, probably) nothing at all related to the quality of education a student receives.
The following is an excerpt from The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore, a collection of illustrations and richly detailed stories about the mythological creatures that have long existed in Japan.
How do we explain occurrences that don’t easily fit our everyday understandings of the way things work? When we ask who or what turned on the television, we are intimating that there is a living being or animated force interacting with us even though we cannot see it. We may visualize this force as a monster or a spirit or a ghost or a shape-shifting animal. In Japan such a force, and the form it takes, is often called a yokai.
And yokai, notoriously, take many different forms. They are commonly associated with folklore, and with small villages or old cities or deserted mountain passes, but they have also long populated literature and visual imagery. Today they are found throughout Japanese anime, manga, video games, movies, and role-playing games. Particularly in these latter formats, they have crossed oceans and continents to become part of popular culture in countries far from Japan. So what is a yokai? For now, let us just say that a yokai is a weird or mysterious creature, a monster or fantastic being, a spirit or a sprite. As this book will show, however, yokai are ultimately more complicated and more interesting than these simple characterizations suggest. Yokai may emerge from questions such as who turned on the television when nobody was around, but from there they take us on a kaleidoscopic journey through history and culture. Check out 8 weird and wonderful yokai below:
This month, words and trivia Twitter account @HaggardHawks turns one year old. Since December 2013, we’ve been tweeting obscure words, surprising etymologies and bizarre linguistic facts every day, covering everything from abature (that’s the trail of trampled grass an animal leaves behind it) and abligurition (spending to much money on food and drink — worth remembering that one in the run up to Christmas) to zenzizenzizenzic (a 16th century word for a number raised to its eighth power) and zwischenzug (a purely tactical move made to buy time). So, after almost 3,000 tweets, here to mark our first anniversary are 100 random facts about the English language, English words, and English etymology taken from our first year online.
1. Bumblebees were nicknamed foggy-toddlers in 18th century England.
2. Pupaphobia is the fear of dolls and puppets.
3. Cowards have been called chickens since the 14th century.
4. A monepic sentence is one that contains a single word.
5. The distance between your thumb and the opposite side of your hand when it’s extended is called the shaftment.
6. In 16th century English, twirk (spelled with an E, not an I) meant “to twist the hairs of a moustache.”
7. The word creosote literally means “flesh-preserver.”
8. The feeling of calmness or contentedness that follows a pleasant dream is called euneirophrenia.
9. The word comet comes from a Greek word meaning “long-haired star.”
10. To dismantle originally meant “to remove a cloak.”
11. In its earliest known written record, the English alphabet had 29 letters.
12. Cluck-and-grunt was 1930s slang for ham and eggs.
13. An anepronym is a trade name that has come to be used generally in the language, like Kleenex, Jacuzzi or hoover.
14. In Elizabethan English, a clap of thunder was nicknamed a rounce-robble-hobble.
15. The word trampoline derives from an Italian word for a pair of stilts.
16. If you wrote out every number in the standard English counting system (one, two, three, four) in alphabetical order, no matter how high you counted the first number would always be eight.
17. The second would always be eight billion.
18. The “wherefore” of Shakespeare’s “wherefore are thou, Romeo?” means “why” not “where.”
19. In 18th century slang, “to play booty” meant “to play a game with the intention of losing.”
20. Bystanders were originally called stander-bys.
21. The opposite of serendipity is zemblanity.
22. You can use the girl’s name Rebecca as a verb meaning “to destroy a gate.”
23. If something is xyresic then it’s razor sharp.
24. On average, for every letter Q used in written English there will be 56 E’s.
25. The old Irish-English expression “to speak drugget” meant “to speak well, but occasionally slip back into your local accent.”
26. A belter-werrits is a teasing or annoying child.
27. Dogfish are so-called because they were once thought to hunt in packs.
28. Mediocre literally means “halfway up a mountain.”
29. To unhappen something means to make it look like it never took place.
30. A compulsive desire to look at something that horrifies you — like a horror film or an injury — is called cacospectomania.
31. The paddy-whack mentioned in the nursery rhyme “This Old Man” is a Victorian word for a severe beating.
32. To jakes is to walk mud into a house.
33. Counting on your fingers is properly called dactylonymy.
34. Monkey-poop is an old naval slang word for a smaller-than-normal poop deck.
35. The “pep” of pep talk is an abbreviation of “pepper.”
36. An autohagiography is an autobiography that makes the subject appear better than they actually are.
37. Pentagons were once called quinquangles.
38. Hexagons were once called sexangles.
39. The earliest written record of a rollercoaster in English comes from an 1883 article in The Chicago Tribune. It was described as “a curious structure.”
40. In 18th century English, a wobble-shop was a place where beer was sold without a license.
41. A person’s headmark comprises all of the facial features and characteristics that make them recognisable as themselves.
42. To rammack something is to turn it upside down while searching for something else.
43. Toucans used to be called egg-suckers.
44. Use of the word selfie increased by 17000% between 2012-13.
45. A group of dragonflies is called a dazzle.
46. The “skate” of cheapskate is an old American dialect word for a worn-out horse.
47. Velociraptor literally means “swift thief.”
48. To metagrobolize someone is to utterly confuse them.
49. The words a, and, be, have, he, I, in, of, that, the and to make up 25% of all written English.
50. The proper name for taking your shoes off is discalceation.
51. The name rum is a shortened form of rumbullion.
52. Turning down or pretending not to be interested in something that you really want is called accismus.
53. In 18th century slang, a heathen philosopher was someone whose underwear could be seen through his trouser pockets.
54. An aquabib is someone who chooses to drink water rather than alcohol.
55. The creases in the skin on the inside of your wrists are called the rasceta.
56. The word sheepish is a palindrome in Morse Code.
57. As a verb, tiger means “to paint something in stripes of contrasting colors.”
58. The opposite of “postpone” is prepone, meaning “to bring something forward in time.”
59. In Tudor English, ducks were nicknamed arsefeet because their legs are so far back on their bodies.
60. Since 2001, English has been the official language of all international air travel, regardless of the nationality of the pilots.
61. To honeyfuggle someone is to trick or deceive them.
62. A callomaniac is someone who thinks they’re more beautiful than they actually are.
63. An adoxography is a fine work of writing on a pointless or trivial subject.
64. Samuel Johnson left the letter X out of his dictionary, claiming that X “begins no word in the English language.”
65. A crockan is a piece of food that has shrivelled up and burned in cooking.
66. The plant nasturtium took its name from a Latin word meaning “twisted nose.”
67. Champagne literally means “open country.”
68. In Victorian slang, a flapdoodler was an annoyingly boastful or self-righteous person.
69. Nucleus derives from the Latin word for the kernel of a nut.
70. Conversation is an anagram of “voices rant on.”
71. The proper name for speaking through clenched teeth is dentiloquy.
72. Saturday wit was Tudor slang for dirty jokes.
73. Because of the pattern of holes they make in the ground, gophers take their name from an old French word for honeycomb.
74. A toot-moot is a conversation carried out entirely in whispers.
75. In 18th century slang, a waffle-frolic was a sumptuous meal or feast.
76. The sentence “this sentence contains thirty-six letters” contains 36 letters.
77. Dutch pink is a shade of yellow.
78. In 1930s slang, artillery was any food that caused gas.
79. The “wuther” of Wuthering Heights is an old English dialect word for a sudden and strong gust of wind.
80. If something is obliviable then it’s able to be forgotten.
81. The old Scots word growk means “the determined look a child gives to something she or he really wants.”
82. In Old English, bad weather was called unweather.
83. A slawterpooch is a lazy or ungainly person.
84. Hypengophobia is the hatred of having responsibilities.
85. Chameleon literally means “dwarf lion.”
86. In Victorian slang, a polly-in-the-cottage was a man who enjoyed doing housework.
87. The head of an asparagus is called the squib.
88. To frowst is to keep yourself warm in cold weather.
89. Anything described as hippocrepiform is shaped like a horseshoe.
90. Shakespeare invented the word lackluster.
91. A myriad is literally 10,000 of something.
92. In 1920s slang, a wagger-pagger-bagger was a wastepaper basket.
93. In Old English, arselings meant “heading in a backward direction.”
94. Using too many words to explain an otherwise straightforward point is called macrology.
95. A wonder-horn is a collection of amazing things.
96. A doryphore is a pestering person who draws attention to other people’s errors.
97. GIF stands for “graphics interchange format.” According to its inventor, it should be pronounced “jiff” not “giff.”
98. To snirtle is to try to suppress a laugh.
99. In Elizabethan slang, tailors were nicknamed snip-snappers.
100. A lampus is an awkward and clumsy fall, part way through which you try to grab onto something to try and stop from falling.
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Also on The Huffington Post:
I used to be one of Delta Air Lines’ prized customers. When I would shop for travel, I would usually forego the popular airfare comparison shopping search engines like Kayak and Orbitz and Expedia and head straight for Delta.com.
It’s not that I assumed I would always get the lowest fare with Delta. I just didn’t care. I was loyal to Delta, even if I had to pay more for my tickets.
At the height of my Delta patronage, I probably spent at least $50,000 to $60,000 in one year alone (2012) on Delta tickets for myself and my company’s clients. I easily achieved their top tier loyalty level, Diamond Medallion, and was even a member of their exclusive Delta Private Jets club.
But I also flew other airlines on occasion, and I came to realize that even non-elite customers on some of those other airlines — especially certain non-American carriers — were usually treated better, given more respect, and served more consistently than us uber-elite flyers on Delta.
This is not a problem unique to Delta, as most all other American air carriers struggle with service and quality issues as well, even in business and first class. In the most widely cited and respected rankings of the world’s best airlines in service quality and product offerings, American carriers never even come close to making the top of the list anymore.
But Delta had it’s chance to impress me, to keep me flying it’s friendly skies, and to make sure those skies were consistently friendly. They weren’t, and as a result I took my and my clients’ frequent travel business elsewhere.
Two things about Delta’s operations and culture played a big part in my decision to finally leave its loyalty program — inconsistent service quality and mediocre product quality.
There are many great employees at Delta, but like any big public-facing bureaucracy there are also many not so good ones. But even if you run into the not so good ones only twenty or thirty percent of the time, that makes for a pretty frustrating overall experience for the frequent traveler. And if you are an infrequent traveler, getting stuck interacting with one of those bottom tier employees can leave a sour taste in your mouth for months or years.
This is a corporate cultural issue for Delta, and it’s even a broader societal and cultural issue for the United States. The U.S. is having a harder and harder time offering truly superb customer service in the 21st century because too large a part of its service employee pool simply does not understand a 100 percent customer-focused work ethic, or it’s simply too impatient and distracted to provide that level of service quality.
If you fly an air carrier like Lufthansa or Etihad or Singapore Airlines, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The person-to-person service is consistent and superb. With Delta, I found too often that it was hit or miss. And when you have choice in where you take your business, you choose to take it to where it’s consistently superb. Perhaps that’s also why most American carriers are fighting so hard to deny Americans the ability to have foreign carriers serve them domestically (just google cabotage laws), or even internationally (just google Norwegian Air battle).
The second issue, mediocre product quality, is more of a mystery to me. It probably has a lot to do with the over regulated domestic airline market and the lack of competition, which translates into a lack of need to substantially improve products and service. Minor incremental improvements and an over reliance on self-proclamations of “superior” service and about “values” are the status quo stateside, but those claims only work on those who don’t get to see what else is out there and what level of product and service Americans are being forced to miss out on in the air carrier space.
I still believe Delta is worth flying in a pinch, but it’s certainly no longer my first choice nor an airline that commands my blind allegiance despite cost. That used to be the case, and it certainly can be again.
In this traveler’s eyes, American air carriers generally, and Delta specifically, have slipped from atop the quality and service rankings. They have gone from diamonds to diamonds in the rough. And with a good bit of polishing, we may both one day be Diamonds again.
On November 6, 2004, on my first ski day of the season, I broke my neck cliff-jumping in Tahoe. I was extremely lucky — I walked out of the hospital!
In December 2010, after a diving trip in Australia, a scratch on my leg got infected by MRSA and I spent a week in the hospital. Only after I had recovered, did I find out that I was one day away from my bloodstream and organs being infected. Again, I was extremely lucky.
Each of these times I experienced a strong feeling of gratefulness, a re-boot of sorts. I thought about priorities, about what is important to me. I also thought a lot about why it takes events like this to make us step back and think about our true priorities.
After I broke my neck, I remember telling somebody about a challenging work situation, “after you break your neck, nothing seems quite as challenging or insurmountable.” Of course as the years went on, many big challenges made their way to my desk!
But the truth is, the events themselves did not impact my actions as much as they did my perspective, over time. We all go through our own perspective journey — in my case it received a few big shocks.
As we gain experience, our perspective matures, our insight into what is truly important, matures. But we can accelerate that; we should accelerate that. And it doesn’t take shocks to the system to do that.
It takes an understanding that we become better, that we become more productive and effective when we work at understanding our priorities, our purpose. It creates an inner confidence, a curiosity and a path to achieve that is contagious — because when we trust ourselves, we inspire trust.
I almost died twice. I don’t think about that a lot.
I think every day how I want to live.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
