Similar:Little ThingsI recently came across an abandoned stas…AestheticsComfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. –Mr Dooley on the function of journali…“Comfort the afflicted and afflict the c…CultureConfessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling DadAre you unexpectedly home-schooling your…Culture#blender3d is teaching me more than I ever thought I’d need to know about roof geometry. E…#blender3d is teaching me…
MTV recently ditched the “Best Actor/Actress” awards in favor of “Best Actor,” which suggests the gender-specific term “actress” is less popular among MTV’s target audience. I added that detail, fixed some broken links, and updated the graphic. See Writing Tips: Gender Neutral Language. Similar:Explaining Twerking to Your ParentsI still haven’t seen the video, but this…AmusingInvasive…
With the money I saved by working on the car (watching a lot of YouTube tutorials) I bought a new midrange zoom, in the hopes I won’t miss shots by swapping lenses. And now my camera bag won’t quite zip shut. #ConspicuousConsumption Similar:Yesterday it was 298 so this is actually a good number.PersonalWhat are you…
Similar:If I don’t hang my own artwork on the walls of my #steampunk fantasy ship-of-the-line, who…AestheticsAmazon may well be the most evil company in techLast week, I had a hardware emergency. A…BusinessAI crawlers destroying websites in hunger for contentTraffic on my website has plunged over t…BusinessThe Girl Has Started Rehearsals for PICT Classic Theatre’s…
Similar:He couldn’t get over his fiancee’s death. So he brought her back as an A.I. chatbotThe death of the woman he loved was too …CybercultureStudy confirms that ending your texts with a period is terrible.Language evolves, so oldsters like me sh…CybercultureAnalysis | The fake news is coming from inside the White HouseTo believe Donald Trump,…
While doing some spring cleaning around my computer desk at home, I noticed that there are scores of old PC games that are still stacked up within arm’s reach, even though I no longer even use a computer with an optical drive at that workstation. But these are games that have sentimental value for my…
Oppressors deny their own agency and dehumanize their victims by using the passive voice. I want my students to recognize this deliberate strategy, and to look for hidden actors and dehumanized recpients of injustice. (I try to teach about active and passive verbs in a more lighthearted way, but I only bothered to photograph and…
The voice of Wallace has died. The silly, plummy, character-driven steampunk/sitcom hybrid Wallace & Gromit films were a big influence on the tone of the “Captain Gearhart and the Magnificent Blimpship” steampunk bedtime stories I used to tell the kids. Peter Sallis has died at the age of 96, his agents have announced.The actor…
The First Amendment of the constitution protects the incoming students’ right to say whatever they like, even if Harvard doesn’t like it. And, as a private institution that is not regulated by the First Amendment, Harvard has the right to kick out incoming students unwise enough to exercise their rights in this manner. (The government…
Just as comedians generally don’t laugh at their own jokes, Shakespeare doesn’t call too much attention to his own linguistic cleverness, which is one reason his work rewards close scrutiny. It’s not that he was being deliberately obscure or flowery — though some of his obsequious characters definitely exhibit such speech patterns. One line of…
Similar:I Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump After 25 years as the editorial cartoo…CultureFirst time visiting the Point. Listening to Quantum's 10 for 21 (audio adaptation of the D…My first time visiting the Point. Listen…CultureFirst Stanford code poetry slam reveals the literary side of computer codeLeslie Wu, a doctoral student in compute…AestheticsThe Emma Watson…
Similar:No I didn’t exactly *plan* to spend my Sunday evening tweaking the pedestrian access to th…AestheticsIn November 1999, I was blogging about books, camomile tea and Skylon 4, the death of Star…In November 1999, I was blogging about …CybercultureNational Dance DayIn the restaurant parking lot after dinn…CultureAirlock for a #steampunk #blender3d project featuring #neovictorian…
Could the absurd examples of bizarre public discourse please stop happening so I can investifart some of them? Similar:FDR in AnnieI’ve accepted the role of FDR in the upc…CultureBattlestar Galactica 'Launch When Ready' Bridge Girl Fan Page (updated with links to archi… –Battlestar Galactica ‘Launch When …CybercultureReporters say White House sometimes demands changes to press-pool…
Most research subjects, when offered the chance to win $10 and read essays that opposed their views, or $7 and read essays that confirmed their views, chose comfort over the higher potential prize. Liberals and conservatives reacted basically the same–with liberals slightly less willing to read conservative views. (I changed the click-baity headline, which sensationalized the issue…
I remember being fascinated with and challenged by The Waste Land in high school, though it wasn’t until I read some of Eliot’s essays in college that it all sunk in. The same man who could write such clear, sensible prose when he wanted to explain could also construct densely packed, layered, gnostic verse. What…
Fake news is frustrating. Nothing new there. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Students in my freshman writing class often want to write their first college research paper on the topic of unrealistic images of women in advertising. Their first thesis is often something like “Advertisers should not damage women’s self-esteem by promoting…
I didn’t use Newsweek’s clickbaity headline: “Trump and JFK Are More Alike Than We Like To Think.” They are different in many ways, but JFK was remembered for mastering the new medium of television (people who listened to the Nixon/Kennedy debates on radio were more likely to believe Nixon won, but those who watched the…
To believe Donald Trump, you must believe two largely contradictory things. | You must believe that there are a slew of leakers in the executive branch who are providing damning details to the press illegally, and who must be rooted out and punished. punished….You must also believe that the press makes up imaginary leakers simply…
The girl was singing lyrics she learned from a friend. They were so bad I had to Google them. But the animation and tune were better than I expected. Wocka-chicka makes everything better, including this cheesy-but-catchy orc song from the 1980s animated Return of the King. Saving this for the next time I need motivation. Similar:Robots…
While Pittsburgh has become more metropolitan in the last generation, the culture here one county to the east still bears witness to its rust belt past. This may sound dull as ditch water to those who believe that the “flyover” states are inhabited largely by clodhoppers, fundamentalist zealots and loudmouthed Babbitts. In fact, Lauck’s aim…