It’s the art of constructive feedback: If you’re a teacher with a mountain of papers to grade, you may find yourself puzzling over which kinds of notes in the margins work best. Martha and Grant discuss strategies for effective paper-grading. And...
Here’s a riddle: What’s green and smells like red paint? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Paint Riddle” Here’s a riddle I got from Eric Berlin, who is a puzzle maker. He posted this on Facebook. What’s green and smells like red...
Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature — like, say, Dante’s Inferno? A literary website is doing just that. And, you’ve heard about the First World and the Third World...
The legendary baseball announcer Red Barber is credited with popularizing the term the catbird seat, the enviable position in poker where you’re last to bet. James Thurber’s amusing story “The Catbird Seat” published in The New Yorker helped...
The sportscaster Red Barber popularized the term rhubarb, meaning a scuffle on the baseball mound. It has now expanded to various kinds of arguments. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Baseball Rhubarb” Hello, you have A Way with...
Why are skillets also called spiders? Some of the three-legged, long-handled pans used for frying actually resemble spiders. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Spider Skillet” Here’s a slang word from 1888 that I’m pretty sure some...