So Why Do People Shrug? Researchers Say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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 Now Owns Access To More Than 150 Million People’s Faces And Names

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…

Resources for combating sexual harassment in the newsroom — Society of Professional Journalists

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…

Watching a National Guard helicopter lift off after an EMS display

Just spending an August evening with the boy. Similar:Out & About: Stage Right holds its annual Heart of the Arts Gala Source: Out & About: Stage Right…CultureIn Which I Bow Before the Mistress of Teen SnarkThe Girl: I’m sorry I’m being so… Me:…CultureBusy with Midterm GradesPosted midterm grades for the most labor…AcademiaTalk with us about…

Marching in a parade and watching a patriotic musical

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The Declaration of Independence (Dramatic Reading)

I rather enjoyed recording this oral interpretation of the Declaration of Independence for WAOB Audio Theatre. Similar:Fatal Encounters: One man is tracking every officer-involved killing in the U.S.Most cops don’t kill the people they’re …CultureApple faces threat of legal action over ‘in app’ paymentsI haven’t taken the plunge and installed…BusinessGreat Twitter thread on Aaron Burr,…

Solitaire Chess

Spent a relaxing evening in playing solitaire chess puzzles with the boy. Similar:Another delightful section of #steampunk control panel, for a personal #blender3d project….AestheticsI studied philosophy and engineering at university: Here's my verdict on 'job relevant' ed…She double-majored in engineering and ph…AcademiaI'm in the timeline where the Borg are everywhere and Riker doesn't want to…

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:Why Even Try if You Have A.I.? Now that machines can think for us, we have to choose wheth… We’re drawn to activities that…

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)

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