Watching a National Guard helicopter lift off after an EMS display

Just spending an August evening with the boy. Similar:Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling DadAre you unexpectedly home-schooling your…CultureAdding details to a clip-art silhouette, for a project that will be released in a day or t… An important but small detail in a B…AestheticsCarolyn portrays Maria in West Side Story, Aug 9-12. #ifeelpretty #tonight #somewhereAt the…

Marching in a parade and watching a patriotic musical

Happy Independence Day, fellow Americans. “Saltpeter, John!!!” Similar:Medea at Seton Hill University.CultureSolitaire ChessSpent a relaxing evening in playing soli…AmusingBlog ten-beat lines of verse, like Shakespeare wrote. Blog ten-beat lines of verse, like Sha…AcademiaI came of age playing too many CD-ROM point-and-click adventure games to ignore these stee…I came of age playing too many CD-ROM po…AestheticsWhy Our…

The Declaration of Independence (Dramatic Reading)

I rather enjoyed recording this oral interpretation of the Declaration of Independence for WAOB Audio Theatre. Similar:A.I. 'Completes' Keith Haring's Intentionally Unfinished Painting After learning of his AIDS diagnosis…AestheticsWTAE-TV's Wendy Bell fired over racially inflammatory Facebook posts I have no particular opinion on her perf…Current_EventsOne of the benefits of teaching at a small college, with small…

Solitaire Chess

Spent a relaxing evening in playing solitaire chess puzzles with the boy. Similar:My 14yo Helps Teach a Vacation Bible School Class In character as “Pontius Pilate,” wa…PersonalWhat Modern Humans Can Learn From The Neanderthals' Extinction“You don’t like to think about a holocau…CultureThe Best Word Book Ever, 1963 and 1991.As a child, I obsessed over many…

Unity3D Maze Game Tutorial

Workspace for an in-progress Unity3D tutorial. Installing the Unity Hub. (Unity.com documentation) Tutorial Assets <- Download, unzip Place in [YourUnityProject]/Assets Video Tutorials: Unity3D Game Spaces for Beginners (#CWCON 2019 #e11)   Similar:“for every cliché of a barista or bartender with a liberal arts degree, there were ten wit…This story offers evidence to challenge …AcademiaCivil Defense…

Back in the MLA

As the humanities decline in the United States, the country is losing the craft of understanding, losing its capacity for citizenship. Even educated people are increasingly unable and unwilling to distinguish between fake and real information, becoming a community that cannot understand itself as anything more than a circulation of figures. Self-righteousness takes the place…

The Righteous Mind

I just finished “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion,” a very accessible mainstream (non-academic) book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Takeaways: Our rational minds are to our emotional/instinctual selves like riders on an elephant. When the elephant leans even slightly to one side, the riders look in that direction…

Skin of Evil (TNG Rewatch, Season 1 Episode 23)

My rewatch reflection on the Star Trek:TNG episode “Skin of Evil,” in which the crew encounters a malignant oil slick. Some good character moments with Worf and Yar, and some good solo acting from Marina Sirtis as Troi psychoanalyzes a disembodied voice. While I appreciate the Roddenberrian argument against playing along with a power-mad enemy’s sick games, dramatizing a that philosophical concept is not enough to carry a full episode. If you’re a fan the final holodeck send-off scene is worth watching but overall it’s a weak episode.

The Crucible, Geyer PAC (Scottdale, May 16-19)

My wife is directing Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Opening night is tonight. Geyer Performing Arts Center.   Similar:Two Cheers for the Middle Ages! by Eric ChristiansenI love good writing. “Even those who dou…CultureDHS official whose office compiled ‘intelligence reports’ on journalists and protesters ha…Was it a lizard person who was collectin…Current_EventsFake Kitsch! Not Really the…

Laughter and Light Abound in Prime Stage’s “Twelfth Night”

Kudos to Prime Stage for a Twelfth Night that truly sings. Stage director Andy Kirtland has created a lovely adaptation of Shakespeare’s 1601 comedy. A vibrant intimacy connects the players and audience, supporting a wonderful production that’s superbly enjoyable for both those who know this play and for anyone experiencing Shakespeare for the first time. Kirtland transports an ensemble…