After decades lost, Star Trek’s original Enterprise model may have been found
Long before sci-fi shows created their visuals with computer-generated images, sfx crews filmed detailed models against a plain. Wide-angle close-up lenses, softly glowing internal lights, and slow camera motion give the impression of great size. The large 11-foot model of the original Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise is on display in the gift shop at the …
How to fix the internet: If we want online discourse to improve, we need to move beyond the big platforms.
A teenager in Indonesia may not see the same images on Instagram that I do, but the experience is roughly the same: we scroll through some photos from friends or family, maybe see some memes or celebrity posts; the feed turns into Reels; we watch a few videos, maybe reply to a friend’s Story or…
Can you melt eggs? Quora’s AI says “yes,” and Google is sharing the result
Google Search is already well-known for having gone dramatically downhill in terms of the quality of the results it provides over the past decade. In fact, Google’s deteriorating quality has resulted in techniques like adding “Reddit” to a query to reduce SEO-seeking spam sites and has also increased the popularity of AI chatbots, which apparently provide answers without…
Snazzy officer uniforms from the #steampunk bedtime stories I used to tell my now-adult children. Women’s versions are coming! #blender3d #design #aesthetic
Can you really say you’ve designed #neovictorian uniforms for a fantasy #steampunk cruiser unless the LtCmdr’s sash fits perfectly between the jacket and waistcoat? I think not! #blender3d
It’s such a privilege to introduce these young people to Shakespeare’s body of work.
After starting my 200-level “Shakespeare in Context” students on a few sonnets, I assigned Twelfth Night (most had never read a Shakespeare comedy before) and Othello (they loved Iago), and then asked them to sample four different plays — The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, and Jonson’s…
The chief engineer does not know where the floating lamps are coming from, but he looks great in his leather elbow-patch jacket and pantaloons tucked into high boots with spats. #steampunk #blender3d #neovictorian #unity3d #aesthetics #design
ChoiceScript tutorial for making casual, phone-friendly, stats-driven storygames. Choice of the Rhetor.
In September, 2003, I was blogging about the emerging fad of internet plagiarism, ethnically diverse anthropomorphic recyclables, EverQuest, and VeggieTales
In September, 2003, I was blogging about What the NY Times called the “campus fad” of Internet plagiarism. “What Does a Professor Do All Day?” (Clearly we are wasting our time whenever we are not standing in front of a classroom.) “Graphic Artist Carefully Assigns Ethnicities To Anthropomorphic Recyclables“ Leni Riefenstahl Dies (although she distanced…
Amazing McDonald’s “Maestro Burger” Commercial
Jaw-dropping. So creative and joyful.
Did you put enough donuts in the elevator shaft of your #steampunk #neovictorian cruiser today? #blender3d #unity3d
How do you know when your #steampunk fantasy cruiser has enough lamps? #blender3d #unity3d
UNC student newspaper goes viral for coverage of campus shooting
As Emmy Martin was locked down Monday afternoon on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, with police searching nearby for an “armed and dangerous person,” she was simultaneously terrified and clear-headed. Her “pulse through the roof,” she already had identified her escape route. But as the editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel, she also was reporting and…
What if I design a #steampunk fantasy cruiser and there aren’t enough chairs? How do I know when I have enough chairs?? #blender3d #unity3d
No I didn’t exactly *plan* to spend my Sunday evening tweaking the pedestrian access to the basketball arena and lecture hall of my #steampunk cruiser, but in my defense I did start a load of laundry just now. #blender3d #unity3d #neovictorian
How to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools
In a writing-intensive class, students need to write extensively to the point that the teacher cannot possibly grade all of it. — Edutopia via NCTE Good advice from an article by Kara Douma, reprinted by NCTE. I need to hear that. The referees don’t score every practice. The coaches don’t give you feedback after…
Goodby big Android… hello little budget iPhone SE 3rd.
I just removed from my syllabus template a digitally altered PR image of our school’s namesake St. Elizabeth Ann Seton holding an iPad, because iPads have not been part of the tuition package for a couple years now. I’ve been an Apple user for about 10 years, since Seton Hill instituted its MacBook plan, and…
The ballroom of my #steampunk fantasy space cruiser is now a less lonely place.
Thanks to watching many, many YouTube tutorials on #Blender3D and #Unity3D, this summer I’ve created about 100 engineers, clerks and technicians to wander about the ship’s many levels. This was my full-time summer project for about six weeks, and I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned. I’ll still work on this when I get the…
Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store.
Sugar rush at Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store.