I’ve been using the beta for months, but the Blender 2.8 release has finally dropped. Blender is a super-powerful, completely free 3D design tool. I’ve been playing with it for years, and this summer I ramped up my skills considerably. Here’s an animation of “MoonBot,” a character from the steampunk bedtimes stories I used to…
How could an ordeal-administering priest make boiling water innocuous to an innocent defendant’s flesh? By making sure that it wasn’t actually boiling.
It is a game absent strategy, requiring little thought. Consequently, many parents hate Candy Land as much as their young kids enjoy it. Yet, for all its simplicity and limitations, children still love Candy Land, and adults still buy it. What makes it so appealing? The answer may have something to do with the game’s history:…
I’m planning to begin my online Shakespeare class with commentary on how it’s a good thing that language changes, so that students will (I hope) see the effort they will need to put into understanding English from 400 years ago as part of the process of engaging with a living language, the same process that…
How do you tell a story that people know, or maybe just think they know? Each of the newsrooms featured here this week took on that question in different ways. In Los Angeles, the LA Times made a game to go with project on sea level rise. The Chico (California) Enterprise-Record made a podcast to…
Friendly advice… If you are practicing with your new green screen backdrop, don’t wear a plaid shirt with blue-green in it. I’m not happy with the lighting… the foreground lighting is pretty good (some spare photography lamps — much better than the fluorescent ceiling lights) but I don’t like the shadows on the backdrop. I…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. Unfrozen humans from the 21st Century annoy the crew while the Enterprise investigates the destruction of several Federation outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone. The episode begins and ends with the cryonics story, so technically it’s the A plot, but there’s little at stake. Nobody…
I try to watch this every July to commemorate the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Based on a true story, The Dish focuses on the staff of the Australian radio antenna charged with relaying the TV signals from the Apollo 11 moonwalk. The story was exaggerated here and there for dramatic effect, but does…
Similar:WFAA legend on pioneering live coverage of JFK assassination The vast majority of Americans r…CultureStar Wars: TIE Fighter 20th Anniversary RetrospectiveIn the Star Wars films, the empire is ev…CybercultureThe Neutral Zone (ST:TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 25)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…CultureWe Tried to Do Vanlife Right. It Broke Us Down.Shortly before I got married,…
50 years ago today, three humans were on their way to the moon for the first time. Todd Douglas Miller’s documentary “Apollo 11” uses lots of found footage (including longer cuts of iconic sequences I know well, and plenty I’ve never seen before) arranged on split-screen multi-angle shots, woven together with low-key graphics and the…
In July, 1999, I was blogging about: (July 19) Florence, Italy — Librarians stumble across a bag of Dante’s ashes, lying on a shelf. [more | Digital Dante (U.Va)] (July 20) “That’s one small step for [a] man“…one grammatical goof for mankind? [RealAudio] [transcript] Did Neil Armstrong flub the first sentence spoken on the soil of the moon?…
While contemplating what sort of body language I could give to a robot character I’m designing in Blender 3D, I started wondering about the shrug. I remember reading that kissing seems to have developed from the behavior of giving young offspring pre-chewed food, and sticking your tongue out at someone echoes what babies do when they don’t like what’s in their mouth. Raising your hand in greeting shows you aren’t carrying a weapon. But what’s a shrug?
Viral app FaceApp has been giving people the power to change their facial expressions, looks, and now age for several years. But at the same time, people have been giving FaceApp the power to use their pictures — and names — for any purpose it wishes, for as long as it desires. To make FaceApp…
The Society of Professional Journalists has compiled the following resources in light of the increasing sexual misconduct allegations against high-profile male journalists. These are for journalists everywhere, but especially for those being harassed, those whose employers don’t provide employee training or those colleagues who know harassment is taking place but aren’t sure what to do…
Just spending an August evening with the boy. Similar:AnniePersonalMe as a highshool photo-bomber, I presume at the cast party for The Music Man.DramaMerchant of Venice Part 2 live, now! #PPTPlaytimeDramaMS-Word's helpful "View -> Focus" mode delays stress-related breakdowns.You won’t usually catch me saying anythi…CybercultureNew utility chair and appliances from the service areas of my fantasy…
It’s a logical fallacy to suggest that where two sides disagree, the truth must lie in the center. It doesn’t matter how many people believe in Bigfoot or essential oils or the city of Boston — popular opinion won’t make something factually true. (Though of course, well-meaning people can disagree over values, such as whether…
Happy Independence Day, fellow Americans. “Saltpeter, John!!!” Similar:Ménage à Troi (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 24) Lwaxana, Ferengi, Chess, …Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….LiteratureDr Jerz I think your microphone glitchedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPqnXF7A…AcademiaMore Evidence that Choosing a Typeface Is ImportantAestheticsMedea at Seton Hill University.Culturedungeon.jpg (JPEG Image, 2535×1616 pixels)Great Zork map.AestheticsRehearsing 'Fiddler on the Roof' is like trying…
I rather enjoyed recording this oral interpretation of the Declaration of Independence for WAOB Audio Theatre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzVQeAUIdHM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR22qfKVNroqFkRrs3fgvWwpHMpEFZvdaNB_-tskGCm-IltxB3ByKKnpu8s Similar:Why did I only blog 3 times in June 2001?What was I doing during the summer of Ju…CybercultureLego TimelineThe Lego brick system was patented 50 ye…AestheticsLessons from the Covington Catholic FlashpointMy social media network includes people …CultureQuebec teen…
The president of the US bonds with Vladimir Putin over journalists: “Get rid of them.” This is not normal. This is not right. Donald Trump joked with Vladimir Putin about getting rid of journalists and Russian meddling in US elections when the two leaders met at the G20 summit in Japan. As they sat for…
Spent a relaxing evening in playing solitaire chess puzzles with the boy. Similar:Hearing "Godzilla on My Mind" author Wiliam TsutsuiPersonalWhat Each Side of the COVID-19 Debate Should Understand About the OtherI’m very conscious that my lockdown expe…CultureRichard Scarry unfinished manuscript to be publishedSome of my happiest memories of fatherho…AestheticsAnniePersonalPushing and pulling vertices. Components that fit…