14.7 million tweets were sent during the 2014 Oscars, mostly related to Gravity, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ellen’s best selfie of all-time

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap — Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) March 3, 2014 That shot above — which is pretty cool — did become the most-retweeted photo of all-time eventually: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/440340258140323842 Overall, during the time… Continue Reading

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Did David Cicarella and John DeStefano mark the future of teachers’ union compromises in New Haven?

I was a teacher for a couple of years, and I’ve stayed close to the education movement ever since — as a volunteer, an observer, and in other capacities. Some of my friends from teaching are now principals or district… Continue Reading

The Oscar Bump: King’s Speech went from $57 million to $136 million (and this stuff happens a lot)

Ever wonder what an award like an Oscar might be worth? Wonder no more, courtesy of Fast Company and PolicyMic. Here’s a cool infographic: Some bumps are huge — The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire both basically doubled their pre-nomination haul — while some are less so.… Continue Reading

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Getting there from here: the first role for 2014 Best Actress nominees Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, and Meryl Streep

I did this yesterday for Best Actor and it was interesting, so I’m going to go ahead and do it again for Best Actress. First thought: sheesh, loaded field. Bullock has an Oscar, Adams/Blanchett are stunning, Streep defines female acting over… Continue Reading

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A career journey in acting: the first roles for Oscar nominees Matthew McConaughey, Leo DiCaprio, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Christian Bale

I find a person’s journey through life to be interesting — not trying to be melodramatic here, honestly — because often, some of the greatest stories of our culture come from beginnings that people would have looked at and said,… Continue Reading

Could the Seattle Mariners (and Robinson Cano) be this year’s MLB sleeper team?

My dad got on a plane this morning to hit up Florida for spring training; by now every team has reported and you’ve got games beginning in earnest. They mean nothing on surface, but they’re important for an emotional/functional reason. I live… Continue Reading

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This weekend, it’s been one year since Robin Pope disappeared in Maryland. There aren’t any suspects. Can we solve this? (And what of Wayne Pope?)

Sunday is March 2 (damn), and thusly, a year ago Sunday Robin L. Pope disappeared in Maryland. Here are the basic details but essentially, she was living with her husband (Wayne Pope) until December of 2012 in Stevensville, Maryland. They separated… Continue Reading

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The Atacama Desert, in Chile, is a mass graveyard for nine million year-old whales. What gives?

Here’s a new paper, summarized in layman’s terms here, that explains the “whale graveyard” paleontologists had found in Chile. Turns out, the whales were toppled by nothing more than simple algae. At the time of first discovery of all this, in 2010,… Continue Reading