Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation A new-to-me “Data Hears a Who” character story, featuring a multi-layered philosophical jam session in Picard’s quarters, a substantial B-plot for Wesley, and some tacked-on science-fictiony frippery for the groundlings. I started watching the show late at night, and lost interest when Wesley was steeling himself in the hallway…
Similar:A performance, two auditions and a cast party. #busyweekendPersonalI Felt a Great Disturbance in the Font. And the Margins.You don’t want to use Courier New and 1….AcademiaYesterday we took advantage of a rare free day.At the Carnegie Museum of Art. AestheticsEmpty InboxMy to-do do list and my “Follow Up” fold…CybercultureThe Onion's Supreme Court Briefing on…
Here’s an editorial by someone who feels a heck of a lot more optimistic than I do right now. The free press fostered and protected by the genius of the First Amendment has let Americans know the truth, if they wish to. They can see the facts and the process, and they will be shaped…
Going back to Plato—perhaps the first hater of literature on record—philosophers and religious authorities have attacked art for the same reasons our professors taught us to deconstruct and distrust it: because it is unpredictable, unreasonable and often inconsistent with their preferred politics or morality. It was also a lesson that was destined, in the years…
Space Shuttle Challenger Destroyed (my reflection on the 28th anniversary in 2014) I was in my final semester of high school. I remember Principal Burch came over the loudspeaker to announce that the Challenger “blew up on the pad,” which I knew wasn’t true because I was watching a TV… probably in the library. Years…
In January 2000, I was blogging about Dancing paperclips and telemarketers A “100 best novels” list published in 1899 Updike’s prequel to Hamlet The “bafflegab” jargon generator “Bookseller Barnes & Noble is teaming with Microsoft to build a new online e-book store.” (but the link is dead) Similar:Another visit to downtown Pittsburgh with my history-loving…
Peter and I spoke to a reporter from EpochTimes.com after the Shen Yun show yesterday. I said I was interested to hear the group’s message in favor of religious freedom, and was surprised to encounter the anti-Communist stance. After I found this picture on the EpochTimes.com website, I scanned through its news feed and noted…
Similar:Adam Bard shaves off half his hair and beard on opposite sides for unique driving licence …Something I might want to do one day, be…AestheticsA pie slice from the ring surrounding the ballroom, from the #steampunk bedtime stories I …AestheticsI am not up on My Little Pony lore. Can anyone suggest why this AI features…
One of seven touring groups devoted to sharing China’s traditional culture. The name means “beauty of divine dance.” Much emphasis on acrobatics and fluid motions. A recurring theme was interaction with the divine, and one number set in the present day focused on two brothers, one a police officer and one who falls in love…
In 2007, Google changed the long-standing shaded background indicating the ads section of the page from blue to yellow. In 2008, it then briefly tried a green background before reverting back to yellow. Google continued to test variations of background colors including bright blue and a light violet. In 2010, violet officially replaced the…
I spent an hour on this. Below is the original version, as generated by imageflip.com, before my edits. Similar:I Love Books: A Campus Library EvolvesI love books. I love smelling them, t…AcademiaWashington Post Cartoonist Who Quit Over Bezos Cartoon Wins Pulitzer PrizeFormer Washington Post cartoonist Ann Te…Culture12yo Actress Carolyn Jerz on Pict Classic Theatre's Great…
In a section of my dissertation, I dove into office gender politics of the late 1940s, in order to explore just what Arthur Miller’s original audiences would have thought about the wire recorder that appears in Death of a Salesman. In the play, Willy Loman’s boss Howard thinks of the cutting-edge device as a domestic…
Stay tuned for more live footage of StormSurge FearCast Weather Crusaders, standing in the cold, snow blowing in their faces! Media personalities, warning everyone to stay inside, except of course for the media personalities paying back student loans by churning out anxiety-producing live reports like this one! Our own Slick Goodhair, telling you just how…
I adored this truck, and spelling words with the letters. When I got older, it was the shuttlecraft for my Star Trek figures. Similar:A Thursday throwback to end 2015.PersonalBetween static hand-coded HTML pages and modern content-management systems, there used to …When I started my blog in 1999 (by addin…CybercultureI am slightly ahead of the…
Tapdance / jazz music outing with the girl. Here’s a sample of what a Sarah Riech show is like. (Each one is different — lots of improv.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEiQQmMi2nQ Similar:The Emma Watson nude pictures hoax shames our ‘news’ cultureDid you hear that a shady group of antis…CultureOuttakes from “Once on This Island” promohttps://youtu.be/QlMJuogD9to AmusingNew infographic to…
Physics simulation demo: crate made up of mostly loose boards. #Blender3d #design #practice Similar:It's probably safe to throw these out.PersonalFaculty/staff orientation begins @setonhilluniversity PersonalNASA Calls It A Mission As Curiosity Rover Fills Up Whole 2-Gigabyte Memory CardMore great satire from The Onion. PASAD…AmusingThe Xplor Store: The Forgotten Carnegie Science Center Exhibit? (Guest Post by Leigh Jerz…The…
A brief respite from grading. Similar:I have more to do than mark 99 assignments, but this is a nice stopping point.PersonalMy colleague Dr. Cusick bakes Irish soda bread every year to honor Saint Patrick's Day.AcademiaMy 10yo Launches a Soda Bottle Rocket http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbNu8…AestheticsMy student journalists sport their fashionable “What Would Jerz Do?” wristbands.AcademiaTake a moment to…
I have certainly made more complex scenes, but this time, I modeled each board, getting the grain of the wood at least plausibly right on each face, and placing each nail realistically. Following the workflow for creating game assets, I converted the completely realistic 3D simulation with 3D boards and nails into flat images. The…
I have certainly made more complex scenes, but this time, I modeled each board, getting the grain of the wood at least plausibly right on each face, and placing each nail realistically. Following the workflow for creating game assets, I converted the completely realistic 3D simulation with 3D boards and nails into flat images. The…
My social media feed was full of people mocking the White House yesterday for publishing a photo titled “First snow of the year!” on a day when Washington had clear skies and freakishly warm weather. What was the Trump administration trying to pull? Why would they publish such a blatant lie? It wasn’t a lie.…