Tired brain can’t quite process this Wired summary of a scholarly paper, but I enjoyed how the good writing helped me peek into a field I know so little about. Time moves as it does because humans are biologically, neurologically, philosophically hardwired to experience it that way. It’s like a macro-scale version of Schrödinger’s cat.…
The unavoidable truth is that first draft of history is no longer written in tomorrow’s newspaper. Instead, it’s tapped out on new and social media, which is thick with rumor and conspiracy. There’s little journalists can do about crap on the internet; taking aim at disinformation is like firing a machine-gun at an unruly flock…
Another of the many, many reflections on the big story of the weekend. In 1984, George Orwell famously described a totalitarian political order in which people were kept as docile subjects in part by a daily ritual called “Two Minutes Hate” in which the population directs all of its pent up fury at “Goldstein,” a possibly…
My social media network includes people who fully supported the narrative voiced by Phillips and magnified by social media outrage, who now feel the shifting narrative proves how hard “the media” work to excuse the misbehavior of smirking, entitled, racist bullies. (But they might agree the Hebrew Israelites went too far.) My social feed also…
With the Enterprise in drydock for a computer refit, Riker ends up in the holodeck, fascinated by the sultry hologram he asks the computer to create so someone will admire his trombone talents.
Similar:Font vs Typeface: bold and italics are fonts, but Arial and Times New Roman are typefacesAestheticsPassage: a Gamma256 video game by Jason RohrerGrand Text Auto introduced me to the exc…AestheticsMythbusting UX design: 7 misconceptions about user experiencePerhaps the most common mistake of any b…BusinessJournalists prefer plain language.AestheticsProfessional or college Shakespeare productions in the Pittsburgh area…
I was in college and grad school during the original run of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), and followed the series very closely. During the last couple of seasons of Deep Space Nine (1998–99), my wife and I had our first child, I started a tenure-track job, and I fell out of the TV-watching…
I gather the purpose of these consoles — maybe a dozen, scattered on pillars throughout the school’s Lowe Dining Hall — was to call for service? I seem to remember seeing some text on at least some of the consoles. I’m curious! Similar:Student: “Just wanted to let you know that your class has benefited me…
Similar:Daughter doing a thing. Interviewing the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s Randall Miller for Bur… AcademiaMy mentor interrupted me. “Ignore your students from the neck down,” she said.Early in my teaching career, I noticed s…UncategorizedMy new inspiration as I work on my syllabuses I applaud you, person who, halfway …AcademiaAnnoyed and Bored by Lazy Anachronisms in…
Once upon a time, local newspapers could depend upon a steady stream of local classified ads — people advertising looking to hire a handyman, or to sell their old sofa or used car. The income from local ads in locally-owned newspapers would go back to the communities, in the form of the paychecks for the…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The Enterprise visits a sexist planet run by women, where… well, that’s about it. There’s nothing particularly science-fictional about the plot, except that the Enterprise is tracking a space-freighter and looking for space-survivors who disappeared years ago near this space-planet. There’s nothing strategic about the…
From Buzzfeed: Sitting before the Stars and Stripes, another flag pinned to his lapel, former president Barack Obama appears to be delivering an important message about fake news — but something seems slightly…off. Similar:The Strangest, Most Spectacular Bridge Collapse (And How We Got It Wrong)At a glance of the edited footage, it’s …Design''The Balloon…
The girl tried to weird me out with a video of the Latvian “blblblblbl ah ah” guy. I retaliated with Devo’s “Whip It” and Max Headroom, then finished her off with “Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance.” Similar:Descent, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 26) Data experiences disturbing…Rewatching ST:TNG Data…
In “Datalore,” an encounter with Data’s more human-like “brother” showcases Brent Spiner’s acting talents and the optical FX crew’s mad split-screen skillz. While I enjoyed the plot twists and character bits as they happened, as a work of science fiction this episode offers little beyond popcorn “evil twin” fare.
The opening captain’s log lampshades an unprompted, random visit to Data’s home planet. The “Data practice sneezing” scene is silly, but the character development subtly allies Data’s desire to be human with Wesley’s desire to be respected by adults. The scene also accustoms us to the idea that Picard uses Wesley to deliver in-person messages, which kinda sorta helps explain why in this episode Wesley ends up where he needs to be to witness just enough to suspect Lore, but not enough to prove anything to the dumb-as-a-fencepost adults.
Similar:A day may come when the strength of the girl fails and she must make more than one trip to…PersonalA Successful Failure: The TI-99/4A Turns 40My family had one of these when I was 12…AwesomeOh the Overthinks You Can Overthink: Horton the Elephant, the Wickersham Brothers, and Mas…Yesterday, I performed in a school matin…AcademiaLook at…
My 20yo son, who plays a lot of Star Wars battle simulations, was very taken with the music and story. I had read about this game when it came out, so some plot points were spoiled for me, but I still teared up at the end. You can find it for a very reasonable price…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The first of (far too) many “trapped on the holodeck” episodes. Exhausted while preparing for a high-stakes diplomatic ritual, Picard takes a break in a virtual-reality simulation of a 1940s detective novel. I remembered enjoying Brent Spiner’s portrayal of Data adapting to the noir setting,…
Sometimes people get the name of my school wrong. On a whim, I searched Google for “dennis jerz seton hall” and found a recent letter to the editor that referenced one of my handouts: Verify or Duck: Good Journalists Confirm Details They Didn’t Witness Dennis Jerz of Seton Hall University writes “Good journalists confirm details they…
Similar:Set design for a virtual production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Post-apocalypti… AestheticsI had already created the little utility craft on the lower left, but this weekend I expan…PersonalAnother 10 sq cm section of a #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dart #designAestheticsThe Icarus Factor (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 14)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…PersonalAm I…
Similar:I have more to do than mark 99 assignments, but this is a nice stopping point.PersonalEnjoying the “Science of Pixar” 3d computer modeling and storytelling exhibit with my son….Enjoying the “Science of Pixar” 3d compu…PersonalJerz Family Tin Can Robot Warshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIBQkobPW…PersonalThe coronavirus is today just as contagious and just as serious as it was when we…