@newsfromtengrrl for 2010-01-03

  • A 2009 Top Read Article: 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice – Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/4t79KB #
  • I Hate Myself When I'm Teaching – Advice – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/6PpdfF #
  • How to Train the Aging Brain – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/7IGDZv -Can an old brain learn & remember what it learns? Should it be in school? #
  • Poetic license | LancasterOnline.com http://bit.ly/5hHbuf -"Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me." #
  • Vanishing bookstores | The Louisville Courier-Journal http://bit.ly/4JZc9n #
  • Students admitted early to college network on Facebook – washingtonpost.com http://bit.ly/5TiAK3 -Within hours, Class of 2014 networking. #
  • ‘The Lexicographer’s Dilemma’ – Jack Lynch Explores English – Review – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/7nOLNS #
  • Stakeholders advise on national ed-tech plan – eClassroom News – http://bit.ly/6nn4CR #
  • Obsolete Learning Technologies – Technology and Learning – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/4Ec49t #
  • The Task of the Critic – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/7BIGUZ -review of The Task of the Critic: Terry Eagleton in Dialogue #
  • Economics and the MLA – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/8hSFdH #
  • News: Economic Literary Realities – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/8bcQnu -how literature about past economic crises might be renewed #
  • Don't Blame Facebook for Poor Grades | Quick Takes – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/6W9bOf #
  • MLAde Is Back — Now on Twitter – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/4ubGEg -on the annual parody of the Modern Language Association #
  • News: Hybrid Education 2.0 – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/5lTYdu -What if you cd teach w/o a classroom or a professor, & lose nothing? #
  • The Lost Tribe – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/5XbG3t -Does the English Department Have a Jewish Problem? #
  • Is this teh way of the future for spelling? | The Age Australia | http://bit.ly/4wNawI #
  • 2010: 'Twenty ten' vs. 'two thousand ten' | San Francisco Chronicle http://bit.ly/6Wg2WQ #

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2010-01-02

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-23

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-21

  • "Yule" be seeing fewer updates from @newsfromtengrrl starting today. Less edu in the news as schools close & time for a holiday break! #
  • ‘Nerd’ and ‘Geek’ Should Be Banned, Professor Says – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/90cGfd #
  • The Buzzwords of 2009 – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/7bfhSy –Do you "Dracula sneeze"? :-) #
  • Cutting through the din of the dotcom age — latimes.com http://bit.ly/8rWpq8 –writers faced the challenge of cutting through the noise #
  • Driven to Distraction, Some Teenagers Unfriend Facebook – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/6nUjrI #
  • Milorad Pavic, Unorthodox Novelist, Dies at 80 – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/5Zxsgj #

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-17

  • “Twitterdee, Twitterdumb”: Teaching in the Time of Technology, Tweets, and Trespassing – National Writing Project http://bit.ly/8zcG33 #
  • Taking Stock: Higher Education and Latinos | EdExcelencia.org http://bit.ly/8wKjHz #
  • Disappearing Jobs – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/6dj9pT –job picture in the humanities is going from bad to worse #
  • Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/7aWj9K #
  • Job Slump Worsens for Language and Literature Scholars – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/64AsPS (Requires Subscription) #
  • Is It Time for Class-Based Affirmative Action? – Chronicle of Higher Ed http://bit.ly/4QgfBB -Main reason stds drop out: they have to work #
  • Sledding, plus writing assignment, should create lifetime memories | The Grand Island Independent: http://bit.ly/8bbVp0 #
  • British Professors Protest Plan to Promote Socially Useful Research – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/8AqQnZ #
  • Writing program rewrites teachers' approach to the craft – washingtonpost.com http://bit.ly/7cNoWG #NWP #
  • At Many Colleges, Early Applications Rise – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/6bTxSn #

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-16

  • U. of C Biblical Manuscript a fake :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: http://bit.ly/4ToE6P –Once fetched millions, but it's a forgery #
  • Give a Humanist a Supercomputer … – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/6G73lr #
  • Student banned from U after Facebook posts | StarTribune.com http://bit.ly/4DfZ1E #
  • When Teaching the Right Answers Is the Wrong Direction | Edutopia http://bit.ly/6Z0mPB #
  • Scholastic Names the Decade's Ten Big Ideas in Education http://bit.ly/8F1onB #
  • 'Teacher U': A New Model in Employer-Led Higher Education – Commentary – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/772H6f #
  • How to Prepare Your College for an Uncertain Digital Future – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/4xKMx3 #
  • First Amendment in the Classroom – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/7q7uy8 #
  • Clean Slate – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/85RV7y –Blackboard, ends patent feud with Desire2Learn. #
  • A major reading program that gives more points to 'Breaking Dawn' than 'The Grapes of Wrath' http://bit.ly/8Vhu8P #
  • Pasadena library branch offering free after-school homework help – Pasadena Star-News http://bit.ly/8KQhjp #
  • Chinua Achebe’s Encounters With Many Hearts of Darkness – Review – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/8Jm6jA #
  • Tablet PCs Are Coming, and Magazines Aim to Be Ready – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/50k8eZ #
  • Wary Book Publishers Are Fighting the Future – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/5sDDd1 #
  • Team Bronte? 'Twilight' teaches classics | Columbus Local News: http://bit.ly/7mK53d #
  • Writing workshop helps veterans express feelings | Radio Iowa http://bit.ly/6tDwJ6 #
  • What Matters Now: Free ebook from Seth Godin – http://bit.ly/800fs5 –70+ big thinkers share an idea to think about as we head into 2010 #
  • Writing Carnival Video from SC's Celebration of National Day on Writing – National Writing Project http://bit.ly/5PEpCe #nwp #
  • Blackboard Settles Longstanding Patent Fight With Rival Desire2Learn – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/7CPVG0 #
  • UC research workers call for pay raises http://bit.ly/8TO5GX –researchers, technicians & postdoc scholars picketing for raises & benefits #
  • Sarkozy unveils €35bn 'big loan' boost for French universities and museums | World news | guardian.co.uk http://bit.ly/5121Vc #
  • The All-Digital Library? Not Quite Yet – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/5OuDO8 #

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-15

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@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-14

  • Why James Chartrand Wears Women's Underpants | Copyblogger http://bit.ly/8H7rHM –gender bias & adopting 'male' pen names #
  • Obama's Safe Schools Czar Tied to Lewd Readings for 7th Graders | FOXNews.com – http://bit.ly/8b0pe4 #
  • Free Web Site Helps Harvard Students Cut Class – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/6hnJKb #
  • E-Textbook Publisher Strives to Make Titles More Accessible to the Blind – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/724PSq #
  • Video Highlights from NWP's 2009 Annual Meeting – National Writing Project http://bit.ly/5qOGnM #
  • Open Access Encyclopedias – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/6X6QeH #
  • Are We All Precious? – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/7Vl8ur #
  • Gingerbread Has Its Strengths as a Sustainable Building Material – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/7iUXKA #
  • Because We Fight Over Poetry – New York Magazine http://bit.ly/59YDHm #
  • Oye, new Spanish grammar guidelines unveiled | The Associated Press: http://bit.ly/6qaIeE #
  • Media Cache – TV Still Has a Hold on Teenagers – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/6Ff6XO #
  • Preparing Students for College: The Academic Word List (AWL) | Classroom Solutions http://bit.ly/7T3AAy #
  • Sex bias probe in colleges' selections: Panel to study whether men favored in area admissions – washingtonpost.com http://bit.ly/5g8zxn #

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Does Comcast Care, Part 3

It’s 5 months and 6 days. I’ve been assured that the refund check has been cut and I should have it this week. Here’s what happened late last week.

12/10/09:
2:42 PM, I returned the call from Mary, an Executive Support Specialist in Oakbrook, Illinois. I got someone else, and was told that Mary wasn’t taking any calls because of computer problems. The person was going to walk my information over to Mary so she could return my call later.

3:10 PM, Mary tells me that they are “working to get the refund out” and that they are “hoping to have resolution today or tomorrow.” She can’t really tell me anymore, but mentioned that she knew I’d been told a lot of things by a lot of different people and she was working to figure out what was going on.

12/11/09:
11:22 AM, Mary, the Executive Support Specialist in Illinois, calls again. Mary tells me that they are getting the check out in the next few days and that I should have it this week. She says she has checked and the process for the check has been released (whatever that means).

She also had an explanation for what caused this nightmare. Apparently someone in the Urbana office has been out on extended sick leave for three and a half months. The customer-savvy Comcast people in Urbana have just been piling things on this person’s desk and no one is taking care of them.

In other words, anyone looking for a refund or whatnot from the Urbana Comcast is probably in the same situation I am. Every time I called and asked for my refund, they just added another request to this huge pile that no one is taking care of.

Of course, that only explains 3.5 of the 5+ months delay, but it’s better than no explanation.

The conclusion so far
Comcast’s corporate office may care, especially if you splash a lot of complaints all across the Internet.

Comcast’s Urbana, Illinois office doesn’t care in any way at all. No company that cared could allow customer service requests to sit for 3.5 months.

@newsfromtengrrl for 2009-12-13

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