“If you find yourself agreeing with everything your news outlet says, you’re doing it wrong. If your news doesn’t challenge you, challenge your news.” CBS News veteran Dan Rather, who knows a thing or two about fake news, offers sound advice for news consumers.
Posting this mostly to prove that I can remain rational even when I encounter criticism of classic Star Trek, which certainly had its silly moments, but which offered many, many serious adult treatments of social issues. If you like your science fiction overlong and overserious, may I recommend Star Trek: The Motion Picture? 2001 is…
Similar:Fall 2017 Grades Submitted. No professional tasks until Tuesday. Bliss!PersonalLooking forward to another visit to Illyria. Support humans who create art in your communi…PersonalAcademic Writing BluesTwo days ago my problem was that I had n…AcademiaI think I’ve mentioned I have a daughter who sometimes does things.I think I’ve mentioned I have a daughter…PersonalRespect the Text:…
I knew the command line well, and very occasionally delved to snoop around at the level of machine code. My brother showed me how to hack a game by changing the last machine code the game executed before rejecting an incorrect password, creating a version of the program that only let you proceed if you…
Don’t trust the scary bad interweb. Do trust us, your local TV talking heads, who will do all the scary thinking for you! Â Seeing local TV devote air time to discuss fairness and accuracy in journalism is a good thing. But when scores of newscasters read word-for-word the exact same statement, which blames social…
Similar:It's a lie that having zero assignments to mark means I have nothing "to do," but this par… A relief.AcademiaPeople with autism spectrum disorder avoid eye contact because it causes anxietyMy culture has taught me that eye contac…CultureMy schedule every Friday this term. (Payback for teaching a course over Christmas break.) PersonalVote for Carolyn's Headshot –…
I don’t know the provenance of this quote attributed to Gus Speth, which affirms the role of the humanities in a STEM-obsessed world, but I did find this interview, conducted by Steve Curwood. “You know, what’s an environmental issue?” And if the answer is air pollution, water pollution, climate change…then we’re really right where we’ve…
Historian Niall Ferguson notes that Silicon Valley is not that interested in history, which is one reason why technological gurus keep making the same mistakes. Technology that decentralizes power brings its own problems. According to Ferguson: “The idea that witches live amongst us and should be burned went as viral as anything that Martin Luther…
In 2012, Apple tried to position iPads as replacing textbooks. Last year, Microsoft tried to position laptops as replacing Chromebooks. Now, Apple needs to hook educators on the power of future-looking tech such as coding and augmented reality.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is drawing attention to malicious data thieves and brokers. But every Facebook app—even the dumb, innocent ones—collected users’ personal data without even trying.
Instagram dialed in early to the power of building community through visual communication. From the start, Instagram was a mobile app that revolved around snapshots, not snippets of text. This visualization of social media was propelled by young people who, bombarded by text messages, status updates and blog posts, gravitated to a simpler, faster and more expressive medium…
Misspelled tweets and typos in press releases are becoming the norm under President Trump, but critics say it points to a pervasive carelessness in the White House.
I still miss Notepad++, a Windows tool on which I coded many an Inform 6 puzzle. When Seton Hill started handing out iPads and MacBooks, I switched to MacOS. I really don’t miss Windows at all, but I did miss my Notepad++ text editor. TextWrangler was a decent substitute, though over the years I have…
Wired, obviously having worked on a thinkpiece about Zuckerberg’s silence, manages to repurpose it in light of this afternoon’s statement. The Irreversible Damage of Mark Zuckerberg’s SilenceWhat has happened in the last five days has been the biggest crisis of Facebook’s existence. But Zuckerberg’s five-day silent treatment may prove more damning for Facebook than any…
Facebook does not care what Hobbit you are, whether your name is on the list of people who deserve a nap, which side of the controversy your temporary profile supports, or whether the news you shared is fake. Or, to be more precise, Facebook cares only to the extent that it can control our behavior,…
This is a welcome step, but we cannot trust big corporations to solve the fake news problem for us. (Slow down and think before you share that infuriating or inspiring detail you see in your feed.) In a move to combat the epidemic of false and unreliable information on the internet, Google is pledging to…
This NYT story on the effects of race on the economic future of American citizens offers chilling findings. Come for the data visualization; stay for the thoughtful analysis. Another example of why journalism matters. Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn…
Similar:Shrek: The Musical (Nov 22-24; Stage Right! Greensburg)Come see me as the Captain of the Guard,…Current_EventsSorry, not sorry. I don't want such friends. Back in 2003, shortly after I moved …Culture#4C18 snack still life.PersonalThere was a hand, too. Did you bring the hand?AmusingNerd Break! Listening To: Wilhelm Scream / Castle Thunder / Amen Break (While…
Similar:Bird flight simulator. The boy goes for altitude and distance, the girl does stunts.In the bird-flight simulator at the Pitt…CybercultureFacebook paid Teen Vogue to run a fake article praising Facebook for "helping ensure the i… After FB crowed about this sup…BusinessThe Sacramentality of Teaching and LearningFor the one-credit journalism class that…AcademiaOn set. #indiefilm #historicaldrama #creativity…
Similar:Someone seems to have slipped this over my transom. Thank you, #foodsubstitutefairy whoeve…PersonalYesterday my wife took this last known picture of our two teenagers. The boy is 20 today. PersonalYes I do own a copy of the 1975 Star Trek Enterprise blueprints, but this guy annotated hi…PersonalGetting in the Christmas spirit.PersonalLast day filming for “The First…