Author Archives: Ralph Hanson

Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

How did people learn about bin Laden’s death? Survey says — Television.  Though many of my students said word-of-mouth from people who had been watching TV. What parent wouldn’t love a book called “Go The @$#& To Sleep”? This book … Continue reading →

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Ch. 1 Link – Web comics that defy classification

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

NOTE: While none of the comics discussed here go much beyond PG-13 in art, they do sometimes have offensive language in them. (12/15/11) Regular readers here know that I’m a huge fan of web comics. In your textbook, there’s a … Continue reading →

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Google’s goes conventional with ‘Sophie’ ad for Chrome

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

Google has a new television ad for its Chrome web browser that is quite charming: Long-time tech journalist Steven Levy (author of the 80s computer classic Hackers) has an interesting analysis of the ad.  He notes that while the ad … Continue reading →

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E-books continue to gain market share

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

E-books are continuing to rapidly gain market share, while sales of paperbacks are falling, according to a story at Paid Content. And while some “indie” writers are finding success through self-publishing using tools like Amazon’s Kindle support, just putting a … Continue reading →

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Link Ch. 1 – Covering bin Laden’s Death

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

Here are a number of stories on the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011 WVU’s Daily Athenaeum Covers Street Celebrations The staff of WVU’s student newspaper did a great job of covering the street celebrations when the … Continue reading →

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Right Here in Nebraska

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

I was reminded of a great little song about my adopted state of Nebraska this morning by my lovely wife.  For those of you who don’t know much about this state, here’s a refresher course:

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Video Blogs, Part 2

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

Here is the second round of video blog entries from my commentary students.  You can see the first round here. Alison Sievers – Homesick for Homaha Jay Sloan – Top 5 songs of all time Note from your editor: He … Continue reading →

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Video blogs from my students, then and now

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

My commentary students are currently posting their video blog entries, in some cases somewhat against their will. And that’s actually the point of this assignment. I want them all to get used to the idea of creating and posting video. … Continue reading →

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Link Ch. 4 – Nicholas Kristof on the Three Cups of Tea fuss

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written extensively on issues  surrounding world poverty, and he considers Greg Mortinson, the embattled author of Three Cups of Tea, to be a friend.  That makes his reaction to the recent charges to … Continue reading →

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Link Ch. 4 – Three Cups of the Boston Globe in the 90s

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

My commentary students and I spent class yesterday talking about the Greg Mortenson Three Cups of Tea case study, and talk there led to discussion of the Mike Barnicle / Patricia Smith case. Here’s a link to a great in-depth … Continue reading →

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