Michael Rosen

1 day ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | Michael Rosen

Lawrence Butler does a lot of things well, but he cannot hit a high fastball. Entering play on June 2, Butler had just one career barrel against an elevated fastball: A deep fly out off an 87.5 mph Trevor Williams “heater” in the dog days of 2023. In 2025, he’s whiffing on over half his swings at high heaters, per the Baseball Savant-defined shadow zones at the top edge of the strike zone.

1 day ago | washingtonexaminer.com | Michael Rosen

Harvard University suddenly finds itself in the worst crisis of its nearly 400-year history. Having created a campus environment in recent years that is distinctly uncongenial to free inquiry in general and Jewish students in particular, America’s oldest university finds itself under severe fire from the Trump administration. This assault, in turn, has sparked a furious backlash from the school’s faculty, alumni, and fellow travelers who have vowed to #Resist the White House’s attack.

6 days ago | michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com | Michael Rosen

As a follow-up to my last post about the GPS test, I'll emphasise several things. This is in order to avoid misunderstanding. 1. My sole focus in the blog was on primary education. It's not a commentary on whether grammar should ever be taught, or when it should be taught. The GPS was devised for Year 6 students. 2. My focus has also been on the justification for the test. It was never justified or argued for on intellectual or pedagogical grounds. I think that's shoddy educational practice. 3.

1 week ago | observer.co.uk | Michael Rosen

I asked for an appointment at the doctor’s the other day, and the receptionist asked me what the problem was. I said I was having trouble with my acronyms. So I got to see a doctor. I said to her: “I’m not feeling too good. Acronyms are giving me a bit of gip.”“Like what?” she said. I said: ‘Like uACR. When I heard that, it sounded like an accusation: “You ay see are”. “No,” she said, “it’s your ‘urine albumin-creatinine ratio’.” ‘“Thanks very much,’” I said.

1 week ago | michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com | Michael Rosen

The time’s come round again for my annual response to what used to be called the ‘SPaG’ test and is now the GPS. Below are examples of my thoughts about some of the questions on this year’s paper. For those who are unfamiliar with it, I should point out that this is one of the SAT papers in English ‘maintained’ schools (known as ‘public’ schools in the US) ie schools that are free and ‘maintained’ by the state. The children who do this test are either 10 or 11 years old.