One of the benefits of working at Seton Hill is they provide me with a MacBook Air and an iPad. I turn them in every few years for an upgrade. The computer the kids use for gaming is a Mac Mini that I bought in 2011, with a virtual machine that runs Windows. It has served…
After 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired on Thursday. I blame Donald Trump. Well, sort of. I should’ve seen it coming. When I had lunch with my new boss a few months ago, he informed me that the paper’s publisher believed that the editorial cartoonist was akin to…
John Stubbs reviews Stephen Grenblatt’s Tyrant: Shakespeare on Power The psychology and spectacle of villainy and the intoxicating nature of power clearly preoccupied Shakespeare. The grandeur, amoral freedom of action and sheer theatrical potential of tyrants must have moved and excited him. The case of a confirmed murderous dictator, after all, especially one with the…
“Parents normally set these rules to promote their children’s scholastic development and to make sure that they invest enough time in schoolwork. But that evidently can also backfire,” commented Hargittai. But why exactly? The study can’t say definitively, but I emailed Hargattai to see what hypotheses she might have. “One possibility would be that such…
A few years ago, I told myself I would start making a bigger deal about such things. It’s too easy to obsess over the students who don’t care, don’t like how I teach X, stopped submitting the assignments, didn’t apply my feedback, etc. I do wish I could get more students to feel grateful before…
My son and I saw “Won’t You Be Ny Neighbor” at a special showing in Greensburg (not far from Fred Rodgers’ hometown of Latrobe). My daughter performed PICT’s Jane Eyre in the Fred Rogers Studio at WQED (where part of the floor is still painted like the path in the Neighborhood of Make Believe. …
I tell this old newsroom tale to my students: An angry editor sees a cub reporter coming into work. “I sent you to cover a concert,” says the editor. “Why didn’t you file the story?” The cub reporter says, “The concert hall burned down.” Sometimes the story you set out to cover is not the…
Similar:More split-screen actinghttp://youtu.be/EGgeZWskEs8DesignAnother sold-out Midsummer Thursday night. PersonalCrabby 9yo Constructs a Head-mounted Frump-amplification Isolation CubeMy 9yo was ordered not to leave the kitc…DesignDear daughter, let Miley Cyrus be a lesson to youI am intrigued by the possibility that M…CultureAI generated images from the prompt "guy being bricked in a prison like a poe story b…PersonalWe found…
Similar:Elsa at noon. College “Intro to Chemistry” in the afternoon. Amy March at night.PersonalPlaying with depth of field (blurring details that are closer than and farther from the fo…AestheticsMany familiar faces in this cast but this one is my favorite. Sold out opening of Grand Ho…PersonalCat-sitting. Hello, Blue.PersonalStage Right's Alice in WonderlandMy daughter shared the…
Similar:I actually don't mind Canvas — it just happens to be the course management system I have …AcademiaProgress (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 15) Kira befriends a stubborn squatterRewatching ST:DS9 Dax and Kira are ch…CultureGetting ready to run a ChoiceScript workshop for Computers and Writing 2023. #cwcon #cwcon…PersonalIs this Wonka's factory, or the presidential…
Similar:Another lovely variation of a #steampunk control panel. #blender3dart #neovictorian #desig…AestheticsSoldiers and Sailors Memorial and Museum Another visit to Pittsburgh with my his…CultureDress rehearsal for Mamma Mia.PersonalLooking in on the officers' wardroom (conference and dining) one deck above the main … I thought of the interior as “Missisip…AestheticsI had a grand time recording this little…
Similar:I spent Thanksgiving break building a #trimsheet for steampunk control panels, because why…AestheticsAngry 10yo Edits the Paper Heart She Gave Her MotherAestheticsProfessoring. With an(other) apple pie cupcake.I touched up and board-ified a presentat…AcademiaA familiar performer choreographed and dances the "Canaan Days" tango in Stage Right's Jos…AestheticsShe’s wearing a shirt with a frog. We are in…
Similar:In November 1999, I was blogging about books, camomile tea and Skylon 4, the death of Star…In November 1999, I was blogging about …Cyberculture"The Nightmare of Prince Prezelsky"Leigh, Peter, Carolyn and I had fun reco…AmusingThe Trouble With Online EducationI’ve taught an online “Video Game Cultur…AcademiaWhat Jane [Austen] Saw: 1796 Shakespeare GalleryYou are invited to time…
Context matters. Good journalists should go out of their way to avoid creating a mistaken impression. Fox News apologized Tuesday after receiving a torrent of criticism over the network’s use of photos of various players for the Philadelphia Eagles kneeling in prayer, creating the misleading impression that they were demonstrating during the national anthem. The…
He could have built, you know, a junkyard mechanic droid, or a general manual labor droid, or a Bitcoin-mining droid, or a freedom-fighter droid? No, he builds a fussy butler. The silliness of this just hit me. Similar:The Assignment #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 5) Keiko is not herself after a t…Rewatching ST:DS9 On…
Similar:It's exam week, and at the moment I have exactly one unmarked assignment (for a paper due …It’s exam week, and at the moment I have…AcademiaOn Death and iPods: A RequiemI never owned a classic iPod, though I d…CultureMy son showed me Seven Samurai. I had never seen it before. Amazing!I’m going to have to…
Similar:Fall colors are past their peak but it's still a beautiful late October day.PersonalI'm having scads of fun designing #steampunk control panels. #blender3d #blender3dart…AestheticsI had a grand time recording this little story about a misunderstood genius who just wants… The Cask of Amotillado (read by Denn…CultureWhen she isn't playing Hodel, she'll be dancing with a…
This story offers evidence to challenge the stereotype that under employed humanities majors are stuck working in service jobs years after graduation. STEM jobs are indeed the most marketable, but a recent study found that after five years, business, health professions, education and psychology make up far more of the underemployed graduates than English or…
Facebook is discontinuing the “trending” list. After the employees hired by Facebook to curate the trending news items were found to bury news they didn’t like, Facebook fired them all and tried to automate the process. If it matters to you whether their bias was liberal or conservative you can look it up, but my…
As an American studying in Toronto during the Clinton administration, I encountered some non-negligible anti-American bias. I learned to pronounce the last letter of the alphabet “zed” when I was spelling my name. When I sang “ahh-men” in a church choir, the music director stopped the rehearsal to express his surprise that I hadn’t sung…