HOW JAY Z’S LYRICS RELATE TO LITERATURE; GARDENUITY BLOSSOMS; DEMENTIA AND HEARING LOSS

Every day, we scan websites and check news releases to find posts about innovation, creativity, education and other topics we think you may find interesting. Here are three we found you might like.

By parsing the lyrics of Jay Z and applying Big Data analytics to his songs, students in a unique English class at the University of Texas at Arlington are studying to the beat of a different, well, rapper. Jay Z, the husband of superstar singer Beyonce, is the subject of Prof. Kenton Rambsy ’s class in which words become data, and the data becomes graphs, pie charts and other data tools, according to GuideLive. Rambsy says there’s a connection between Jay Z’s music and the tradition of African-American writers.

Gardenuity, a recently launched Dallas company, is hoping to cultivate success in what CultureMap called a “Mary-Kay-meets gardening business model.” The company’s most important product line is the Grow Bag Growing System that is an all-in-one gardening system for your patio. It’s the brainchild of business partners Donna Letier and Julie Eggers, two entrepreneurs who want to “empower people to grow their own garden of abundance.” You can read CultureMap’s story here.

There appears to be a correlation to hearing loss and the likelihood that someone will develop dementia. A new study at the University of North Texas in Denton shows that there may be a positive connection between the use of hearing aids and auditory training to help improve cognitive skills in dementia patients. Researchers believe auditory training is more important than the use of hearing aids. You can read more about the study here and how this new approach to help treat dementia may be important.

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