People who caught the sites plagiarizing began speculating about the motivations of whoever was running them. One person noticed that their Google Alerts for Julian Assange were flooded with results from the sites, leading them to warn that “cyber marketing tools are being used in the propaganda war against #WikiLeaks.” One researcher labeled the network of sites…
Sometimes students will submit bibliography entries that repeat a title — either the journal or the article. I assume they are using an online citation generator and I assume they’re not bothering to check its output. What I had previously thought of as a random careless error now seems evidence of a paradigm shift. I’ve…
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:The Nightingale (WAOB Audio Theatre)I haven’t done any audio theatre recordi…AestheticsMy kids are in a tree. How's your Friday?PersonalTrump, Obama seem equally disinterested in portrait unveiling — but journalism takes hits…On social media recently I saw people mo…AestheticsAll those fights over late-arriving mail ballots were much ado about very littleJust in case you haven’t been…
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:Advice to First Year College Students on Freshman…
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…
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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:Vienna State Opera, funny ballet.Vienna State Opera, funny ballet. Слава …AestheticsSix rainbow-colored objects, arranged like THIS?These are shoe-holding racks at a local …AestheticsMesmerizing Video of a Printer Terminal Running "Adventure" on a PDP-11/45After spending several days clicking…
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:Iconic 'West Side Story' still resonates todayCarolyn Jerz of Greensburg will be playi…ArtThe belief that if people only were better educated, they'd engage A few hours after the horrifyi…AcademiaTricking the eye…
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:Close Reading of Sonnet 130: Form, Theme, and Cultural Context (and a Rage Comic)I’m preparing to teach Shakespeare again…AcademiaKeyboard Shortcuts for Novelists Use the command-alt functions to add…
Physics simulation demo: crate made up of mostly loose boards. #Blender3d #design #practice Similar:"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania."PersonalThey called it a "flashlight" because early handheld lights weren't designed to shine stea…A student’s short story featuring a trea…CultureCelebration of Writing Fall 2019PersonalLiking Everything He Saw on Facebook for 24 Hours Turned Him Into a Marketing MachineI…
A brief respite from grading. Similar:Added a splash of color to this section of a #neovictorian #steampunk control panel (for m…AestheticsWe were a Neilsen ratings family during the pandemicIn March 2020, just as the lockdown clos…BusinessPrime Stage Theatre Makes A Statement With Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” For Carolyn Jerz, who plays Viol…CultureSharing a root beer float…
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…