No focus, no fights, and a bad back – 16 ways technology has ruined my life
Insightful, funny list. (This guy is a good writer.) Let’s be fair: technology has improved my life in ways that still surprise and delight me on a daily basis. My phone is also a torch! My TV remembers how far I got in last night’s episode, even if I don’t! The bus stop knows when…
Nor the Battle to the Strong #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 4) Jake Sisko, cub reporter, tests his belief in courage under fire
Rewatching ST:DS9 On an assignment to write a profile on Bashir, budding writer Jake tags along to a medical conference, and nothing really surprising happens. Their casual, character-based banter is not interrupted by a distress call from a colony in desperate need of medical assistance, and no side-quest, custom-tailored to appeal to the people who…
Persuasion: Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Kairos
Persuasion: Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Kairos
Interesting. How to manage the gap between what we need to say, and what the other person needs to hear.
Interesting. I don’t particularly care for the title of this YouTube clip, which seems very self-centered and not at all in tune with the message the speaker (Connor Neill) gives. He focuses on that moment when we realize there’s a difference between what we feel we need to say, and what we know the other…
How the printing press changed “you”: when reading changed, so did writing
This was before the printing press, so books were copied by hand on parchment, which made them expensive and rare. Most people didn’t read much, especially for pleasure. Instead, they listened to books at group readings for entertainment. Pero López de Ayala wrote at the end of the 14th century, “It also pleased me to…
I was ‘raped’ in VR – the effects can ‘mirror’ real sex assaults
This is offensive, deeply troubling, and, sadly, totally predictable. Julian Dibbell documented similar behavior 30 years ago in his article about sexual assault in the text-only virtual world LambaMOO. (Content warning… sexual assault in a multi-user virtual environment.) A woman has revealed she was ‘virtually gang raped’ by four male avatars in Meta‘s Horizon Worlds –…
The Ship #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 2) Sisko defends his claim to salvage a Jem’Haddar warship
Rewatching ST:DS9 The Ship On a mineral survey of a planet that just happens to look like Southern California, O’Brien trades playful barbs with crewman Muniz. Unlike most episodes where the leads have all the fun, this mission is fairly crawling with random crew we’ve never seen before. An unidentified ship appears randomly and crashes…
We celebrate the good life of my father, George Joseph Jerz
“Be straight like a board!” My father is pressing me flat against the ceiling from my nose to my toes, and I’m squirming with laughter. His hands are so strong. I remember him helping my little fingers spread Limburger cheese — we called it our “buddy cheese.” My father worked as a…
George Joseph Jerz (1933-2023)
George Joseph Jerz, born on September 3rd, 1933, the son of Joseph and Clara (nee Kuta) Jerz, died peacefully in hospice care at Sunrise at Fair Oaks in Fairfax, Virginia on December 5th, 2023. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois, was interested in gymnastics and weightlifting in college, and then after serving in the military,…
Broken Link #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 26) Odo gets drippy, must visit Changeling homeworld
Rewatching ST:DS9 In Garak’s shop, the enigmatic proprietor tries to play matchmaker between Odo and an attractive Bajoran woman. Odo is characteristically formal and polite to her, but as a shape-shifter who is liquid in his resting state, he just isn’t interested in “these convoluted mating rituals.” He reluctantly admits she’s lovely, but has a…
Body Parts #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 25) Quark announces he’s dying; Kira becomes “Aunt Nerys”
Rewatching ST:DS9 In Ops, O’Brien frets to Dax about his very pregnant, very active wife’s latest outing to the Gamma Quadrant. Quark, having just returned from a visit to Ferenginar, seems unusually happy to be back, but blurts out just before the opening credits that he’s dying. While on Ferenginar, Quark was diagnosed with the…
The Quickening #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 24) Bashir visits a planet where plague victims “worship death”
Rewatching ST:DS9 After a comic opening on the station (featuring Quark working an advertising jingle into the cups served up by the food replicators), we join Kira, Dax and a starry-eyed Bashir (“Is it my imagination or are the stars a little brighter in the Gamma Quadrant?”) on a runabout, following a distress beacon to…
To the Death #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 23) The Defiant’s pursuit of disloyal Jem’Hadar raiders leads to an unlikely alliance
Rewatching ST:DS9 In the Defiant mess hall, Dax and Bashir give O’Brien friendly advice about parenting, and Dax and O’Brien warn Bashir not to sit in Worf’s favorite seat. A Jem-Haddar sneak attack on DS9 has fragmented a docking pylon, and during the hectic scene that follows, the camera leaves Kira’s in-progress tactical report so…
Why is Elon Musk attacking Wikipedia? Because its very existence offends him
So, the sight of Elon Musk charging towards Wikipedia with his trademark guile and delicacy was so predictable that it was almost relaxing. He saw a collective resource that people prized and he wanted to hurt it. Why does Wales even need any money to run Wikipedia in the first place, he wondered on Sunday. You could…
For the Cause #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 22) Eddington and Odo suspect Sisko’s smuggle-buddy Kassidy; Ziyal offers friendship to Garak
Rewatching ST:DS9 Sisko and Kassidy playfully tease each other about balancing duty and their relationship. After she leaves, Sisko blissfully smells her pillow. Eddington briefs the staff about protecting a shipment of industrial replicators from the Maquis (former Federation citizens whose colonies were ceded to the Cardassians against their will). Sisko sends Worf to patrol…
More Adventures in Suburban Adulting
About four years ago I bought an electric mower that was quiet enough that I could listen to audiobooks while doing my suburban adulting duties. The battery held enough charge that I could get about 1/2 of my lawn done at a time so that summer I bought another battery. A couple years later I…
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…
Henry Bemis waited his whole life to finally read a book. Listen to Lynn Venable’s story, “Time Enough at Last” to learn what happens. Read by Dennis Jerz.
Amazing McDonald’s “Maestro Burger” Commercial
Jaw-dropping. So creative and joyful.