The Wounded (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 12) O’Brien’s Former Captain Goes Rogue

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. This episode introduces the Cardassians, who years ago attacked Picard on the Stargazer when he approached on a diplomatic mission. Worf grumbles that the Cardassians have no honor. Indeed, during the teaser they attack the Enterprise. Still, Picard listens to Gul Macet’s complaint: a Federation starship has attacked an unarmed science station. Starfleet orders Picard to keep the peace at all costs, and Picard…

1 day ago in Drama, Empathy, Ethics, PopCult, SciFi.

The Myth of North America, in One Painting

Fascinating art history — a thoughtful close reading of a painting. Great example of multimodal journalism. How Benjamin West remade a bloody battle as a founding romance. NYTimes

1 day ago in Aesthetics, Art, Culture, Design, Education, Empathy, History, Journalism, Media, Technology, Usability.

Why Did Dial-Up Modems Make So Much Noise?

Screeeech . . . hisss . . . squaawk. These are familiar sounds to anyone who’s ever used dial-up internet or called BBSes. It seemed especially noisy late at night. Have you ever wondered why all that noise was necessary? And did you know you could have muted your noisy modem? Source: Why Did Dial-Up Modems Make So Much Noise?

4 days ago in Cyberculture, Drama, History, Media, Technology.

Cursor*10

Great free Flash game, emulated at the Internet Archive.

5 days ago in Aesthetics, Cyberculture, Design, Games, Media, Usability.

The disinformation system that Trump unleashed will outlast him. Here’s what reality-based journalists must do about it.

Highlights from a column by Margaret Sullivan (The Washington Post): President Trump didn’t create the media cesspool that he’ll bequeath to a troubled nation. He just made it exponentially worse — not only with his own constant lies but with his ability to spread the ugliness. Just days ago, he tweeted out a debunked conspiracy theory that a company that makes voting machines had deleted millions of Trump votes. And though he…

5 days ago in Uncategorized.

You’re Doing It for the Exposure!!

The Oatmeal on working for “exposure.”

In November 2000, I was blogging about the US Presidential election, mirrors, Arts & Letters Daily, and more

In November 2000, I was blogging about Ursula K. Le Guin Why we perceive mirrors reversing things left/right but not up/down Pioneering blog Arts & Letters Daily (just a year older than my own blog) Nick Montfort’s constrained poem “Upper Typewriter Row“ The 2000 US Presidential Election controversy (ballot design, hanging chads, recounts, political cartoons) The Web Economy Bullshit Generator The Onion’s fake “Fontly Speaking” typeface design column. James Lileks’s…

Data’s Day (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 11)

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data investigates Romulan intrigue, mediates a spat between O’Brien and his bride-to-be Keiko, and gets a lesson from “the dancing doctor.” A clever storytelling device has Data narrate a letter to Commander Maddox, the cybernetics expert who initially wanted to dissect him in s2e9 “The Measure of a Man.” As Data ruminates on friendship, we see him ending an overnight shift as bridge officer,…

Dr Jerz I think your microphone glitched

Zooming into the abyss: Black squares don’t contribute much to the learning environment.

The Loss (#ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 10) Troi’s Empathic Sense Flatlines

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After losing her Betazed empathic sense, Counsellor Troi dramatically ignores her own advice about grieving. As the scriptwriters hustle her through shock, denial, anger, bargaining and depression, a Space Thing of the Week threatens the Enterprise. Scenes where Troi counsels a recently widowed ensign offer an intimate view of life (and death) in Starfleet. Oddly, the grieving officer appears to have a standing daily…