University Canada West- University Canada West - UCW Professor Dr. Jafar Heydari Named Among the World's Top 2% Scientists - Education News Canada September 23, 2025
- The rise, fall and rise again of Peter Chung’s private-school empire - Vancouver Sun August 22, 2025
- Scenes From Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Los Alamos Daily Post August 7, 2025
- University Canada West - Understanding Indigenous History series takes to the skies with Air Canada - Education News Canada June 26, 2025
- University Canada West - University Canada West Announces New Interim Chairs for its Departments for 2025 - Education News Canada May 7, 2025
- The Best 8 Reasons to Study at University Canada West - vocal.media April 28, 2025
- University Canada West - Macleans.ca April 17, 2025
- How Donald Trump and Elon Musk are waging a deep and wide ‘uncivil war’ - The Conversation March 18, 2025
- Social Media Policy
- Social Media User Identities Rise 26% to 180 Million in Indonesia - Branding in Asia November 5, 2025
- Trump rails against election results before Democrats romp to victories - The Washington Post November 5, 2025
- Australia Expands Under-16 Social Media Ban to Reddit, Kick - MobileAppDaily November 5, 2025
- Australia moves to restrict social media access for children - Marketing Tech News November 5, 2025
- Australia adds Reddit, Kick to social media ban for children under 16 - Al Jazeera November 5, 2025
- ‘Deport him to India’: MAGA meltdown after Zohran Mamdani’s historic NYC win; social media erupts - The Times of India November 5, 2025
- Which social media apps will ban Australian users under-16? - Australian Broadcasting Corporation November 5, 2025
- Australia expands under-16 social media ban to include Reddit: Key details - Business Standard November 5, 2025
Author Archives: Robert Basil
Foreign loanwords in transition: What should they look like?
You might be surprised how often this comes up for professional writers and editors. Bryan Garner, the ace lawyer & editor & language authority, explains: The more arcane or technical a loanword, the more likely it is to retain a … Continue reading
On Poetry
My friend Jonathan Mayhew has been on a tear of late, publishing a series of manifestos on poetry in his wonderful blog, Stupid Motivational Tricks. Some snippets (but read the whole thing): Manifesto (1) Nobody knows what poetry is for. … Continue reading
Posted in Robert's posts
Tagged academic writing, criticism, for educators, language, poetry
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The angry period. When texting.
Writes Clair Landsbaum in complex.com: It’s much easier to be aggressive over text because you’re not face-to-face with the person you’re talking to, and people are finding new ways to express that aggression via the humble period. A new study … Continue reading
CMO.com’s 2015 Guide to the Social Media Landscape
CMO’s always valuable social media infographics and slideshows have been staples in my classrooms the last few years, in particular its “Social Media Landscape” series. The one for 2015, thumbnailed above, takes a bit of a new approach, focusing on “overall … Continue reading
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Tagged for educators, for students, resources, social media
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Photogrammar: An historical treasure trove
This photograph, shot in April 1943 by Marjorie Collins, is part of a delightful & important project in which more than 100,000 images – taken from 1935-1944 by photographers working the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information – … Continue reading
Free textbooks and other resources for students and educators
Students who suffer under the burden of high tuition and large student loans need all the financial help the world can provide them. For my upper-level communications classes the last couple of years I have been using an excellent online … Continue reading
Posted in Robert's posts
Tagged academic writing, copyright, for educators, for students, research, resources
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The “trick to ambiguity”
From the great Language Log: Most of the ambiguity contained in normal language use is passed over without any awareness on the audience’s part of the potential for double meanings. If one of the two intended meanings in an ad … Continue reading
Needing Readers
In my classes, as well as in my career as a “communications guy,” I stress the requirement that all written pieces be read by one or several people prior to submission or publication. My friend, the scholar Jonathan Mayhew, has … Continue reading
The Muse
I’m not a great creative individual by any stretch, but I do respect my muse and do *not* screw with it. My friend kat passed along this letter by musician Nick Cave, which he wrote to MTV in 1996, in … Continue reading
Doing the reading …
Although I am sure there *are* professors who have estimated how long it will take their students to complete their assigned tasks – written assignments, presentations, homework activities, project research, and textbook reading – I doubt I know any who … Continue reading