Watching a National Guard helicopter lift off after an EMS display

Just spending an August evening with the boy. Similar:Ready to teach another set of students what research is (and what it isn’t).AcademiaI'm having scads of fun designing #steampunk control panels. #blender3d #blender3dart…AestheticsSnow White: The Musical Opens Fridayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiIRCoHoN…AestheticsThis happened the last time an eclipse was visible in the area. My students left the room,…Pinhole projection. PersonalAnd…

Screenshot of Google's home page, with the text "is google biased against conservaties" typed in the search box.

Google Favors Good Reporting, Not Liberal Views: Study

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…

Marching in a parade and watching a patriotic musical

Happy Independence Day, fellow Americans. “Saltpeter, John!!!” Similar:What Grammar and Style Checkers MissTeaching students to write does not mean…AcademiaPhotos inspired by Wuthering HeightsA photographer blogged about taking phot…AestheticsThe eagles in Lord of the Rings are a plot hole, but also an us problemPart of my enjoyment of genre franchises…BooksVisiting the KLBE Air MuseumPersonalFacebook founder Mark…

The Declaration of Independence (Dramatic Reading)

I rather enjoyed recording this oral interpretation of the Declaration of Independence for WAOB Audio Theatre. Similar:Whispers of the Past-Herb Morrison and the HindenburgIn this short documentary, I voice Herb …CultureOne Teacher’s Brilliant Strategy to Stop Future School ShootingsEvery Friday since Columbine, one school…CultureRadio News Delivery: How to Sound Like a Radio BroadcasterListen to a…

The president of the US bonds with Vladimir Putin over journalists: “Get rid of them.”

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…

Solitaire Chess

Spent a relaxing evening in playing solitaire chess puzzles with the boy. Similar:Yes, we will see almost anything branded Sherlock Holmes.PersonalOverheard: "This is the best show I've ever seen at the Geyer" and "Who IS that girl playi…Gasps from the audience, shouts of “No!”…CultureNerd Break! Listening To: Wilhelm Scream / Castle Thunder / Amen Break…

Beauty and the Beast (St. Vincent Summer Theatre)

The girl (blue skirt and pigtails), who just finished her junior year of homeschooling last week, is in the dance ensemble for this professional production of “Beauty and the Beast,” which opens tonight (in a sold-out show) at the St. Vincent Summer Theatre. I spent a few summers doing PR for the Heritage Repertory Theater…

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:He dedicated years of his life to QAnon. One day made him question it all.Thoughtful analysis structured around on…CultureWill ChatGPT Kill the Student Essay?…

Practicing my Unity3D design skills. Forgot to turn on gravity.

I’m brushing up on my Unity3D skills, and created this simple hedge maze game. When I decided to let the player shoot books instead of bullets, I turned on the physics (so the books bounce and roll), but I forgot to tick the “use gravity” checkbox, so they float. (Music: “Dreaming of Flying” by Celestial…

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…

We’ll Always Have Paris (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 24)

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. Another episode that I had never seen before (so this is technically not a “rewatch”). The Enterprise traces time blips to the laboratory of a brilliant scientist on a remote research station, where a woman Picard stood up in Paris 22 years ago re-enters his…

Myths about “Learning Styles Persist in Society

I first heard the formalized theories about “learning styles” as a junior faculty member, at a faculty workshop. I didn’t build my whole pedagogy around it, but it was one of the things I thought about, especially in the context of encouraging students to take intellectual risks with multimodal student projects (rather than just fun…

Quantum’s King Lear at Carrie Blast Furnace

The girl and I were thrilled to catch Quantum Theatre’s outdoor production of King Lear. The smell of a storm in the air, gusting wind, piped-in industrial sounds (metallic groans and rumbles) and the knowledge that the only reason we were able to get tickets was this was a special add-on performance to make up…

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.

Symbiosis (TNG Rewatch, Season 1 Episode 22)

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. Picard mediates a dispute over a shipment of medicine. This disjointed episode has an actiony/sciencey opening, a worthwhile medical/cultural mystery in the middle, and a morality play with a moderately Trekworthy finale. I have no memory of seeing any part of this episode. While I…

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:Academic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaIn June, 2001 it seems I only blogged three times…I’m not sure what else I was doing durin…AmusingIf you like to play with words, good newsI wish…

Two More Chances to See Prime Stage’s Twelfth Night

The show runs tonight at 8 and Sunday at 2:30. One could argue that this production’s perpetually upbeat, fast-paced tone robs the play of its melancholic undertones; many of the more contemplative moments are brushed past or played for comedy, and Feste’s sorrowful songs, set by Monica Stephenson and Gil Teixeira to music for solo…

BWW Review: TWELFTH NIGHT Is Farcical Fun at Prime Stage

In his review, Greg Kerestan, who must have have gotten a pretty good education somewhere, manages to work in references to the Wind in the Willows, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Caddyshack. The cast is uniformly excellent, but the greatest burdens fall upon the leading players of the two sections of the show. Bouncing back and…

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…