If movies about space have taught us anything, it’s that no one can hear you scream. If you get lost in space, nobody’s going to find you. Unless you’re a spacecraft with a direct link to NASA. Then, there is hope for you yet. STEREO-B, from the Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory mission, went missing on…
Today my son asked me to take him shopping for his favorite foods. He’s tired of fast-food take-out. I told him I was busy today running the spotlight for and videotaping yet another one of Carolyn’s performances (this time her voice teacher’s summer revue).
The poor boy has been left at home a lot while the rest of us did so much theater over the summer. He competed in a chess tournament last week. I fell asleep in the next room. He came in second place. (I have no pictures. I’m a bad father.)
While secondary schools pour their resources into helping students get into a good university, and adults rush to teach teens how to behave well socially, no one’s covering what kids need to know for, you know, the actual classes. I have a clear picture of what’s missing from their preparation. Here’s what to tell your…
AFTER A 14-YEAR run, Gawker.com is shutting down next week. Gawker Media’s new owner, US Spanish-language TV network Univision, made the decision to shut down the site after bidding $135 million for the web publisher’s seven-site portfolio in a bankruptcy auction earlier this week. (A bankruptcy judge is set to approve the final sale later…
Helen Keller, rendered blind and deaf after an infection as a toddler, learned the gift of language from her patient and determined teacher, Annie Sullivan. Their story is told in the play The Miracle Worker (and my daughter plays Helen in three more shows this weekend at Latrobe’s Cabaret Theatre). As a young woman Helen Keller…
Similar:A Successful Failure: The TI-99/4A Turns 40My family had one of these when I was 12…AwesomeDelighted, amused, touched, and quite frankly weirded out (so… many… puppets…) by @t…PersonalBird flight simulator. The boy goes for altitude and distance, the girl does stunts.In the bird-flight simulator at the Pitt…CybercultureOpening night. They've got magic to do! CultureEvery family…
Business Insider calls this article an “anecdote… provided by linguist and cross-culture studies expert Richard Lewis.” The article provides several direct links to other works by Lewis, including an Amazon link for his book and an advertisement for the services he offers to businesses. The article makes many unsourced claims, and assumes that all Americans…
Similar:Subtle Stylesheet Tweaks for Mobile SiteOn the mobile version of my WordPress we…AestheticsWhen backwards newbie poets write…PersonalComputers and Writing 2020 Funding Request: SubmittedMy contributions this year are a worksho…AcademiaLast event of a busy day downtown. #AgathieChristie #murderontheorientexpressAestheticsStandardized Test Scores Don't Really Measure LearningThere are ways to raise a child’s test s…AcademiaProud of My JournosI saw…
Similar:Perspective | Could ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ really be done? We found out. The three of us approach them in…AmusingPompeii artifacts at the Carnegie Science Center The lighting was very low, so the phot…AestheticsApparently, I needed to watch a supercut of doors and corridors from Star Trek.I did in fact search YouTube for videos …AestheticsMost…
Similar:Masked up, so I don't infect you, in case you are in a vulnerable group. Feeling healthy. …CultureCarnegie Science Center: Roboworld (and a bit of SportsWorks)Here’s a brief video, made up of clips I…CultureAs Twinkle Twinkle is to Suzuki musicians, so is a wooden shipping crate to CGI modelers. …https://youtu.be/diQF9buONqY I ha…AestheticsGreen / mahogany variation…
Similar:The girl asked me to read R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) to her. #quarantine #partylik…BooksLook at the adorable little tape casette. Adventure International / Scott Adams Inc. spoke…GamesCarolyn portrays Maria in West Side Story, Aug 9-12. #ifeelpretty #tonight #somewhereAt the Geyer Peforming Arts Center in Sc…AestheticsWe celebrate the good life of my father, George Joseph Jerz…
Trump offers plenty of opportunities for his detractors to criticize him. In the case of BabyGate, it does appear that the media were quick to spread an unflattering story without confirming some key facts. From a reporter seated one row behind the crying baby: “Mom and baby, very much not kicked out, came back to their seat a bit later. The baby was sucking a pacifier, silent.” There’s a little more to the story than the transcript and video suggest.
Kinetic Theatre‘s production was full of great twists that honor the source material while also smashing the fourth wall. (Carolyn has worked with all three cast members in PICT’s Great Expectations and/or Oliver Twist.) Similar:Today's 10 sq cm of a #steampunk control panel (background greebles for a personal project…AestheticsAnother section of a #steampunk control panel for a…
I’d rather blog about prepping my fall classes than actually start prepping my classes, so here you go. I don’t spend much time on the syllabus on the first day, though I do show students where key topics are, and I do assign a take-home syllabus quiz. (“If Gus Griffin tells you he’s worried about…
We spent Sunday afternoon at the Sadecky’s Puppets studio/workshop in Tarentum, Pa. Carolyn recorded an audio track for a musical adaptation of “Heidi,” to be synced with performances of live puppeteers touring across 9 states during the coming school year. Mr. Sadecky, who has been performing with his puppets since the early 80s, was charming…
Americans are more worried than enthusiastic about using gene editing, brain chip implants and synthetic blood to change human capabilities. Majorities of U.S. adults say they would be “very” or “somewhat” worried about gene editing (68%), brain chips (69%) and synthetic blood (63%), while no more than half say they would be enthusiastic about each…
If we’re all going to be disagreeing more, we should be careful to do it well. What does it mean to disagree well? Most readers can tell the difference between mere name-calling and a carefully reasoned refutation, but I think it would help to put names on the intermediate stages. So here’s an attempt at…
Similar:Evita in Zelionople CultureCombined, base color, roughness and metallic passes. #Blender3d steampunk control panel. AestheticsMy crazy Friday night involved tweaking the graphic for an #MLAstyle instructional web pag…AcademiaMy parents holding a picture of the family I took with my first SLR camera in 1987.PersonalThis happened the last time an eclipse was visible in the area.…
The teen summer camp production of Les Miserables runs at the Palace Theatre Friday at 8:30, Saturday at 2pm, and Saturday at 8:30. Similar:These chairs were cheap, but it really annoys me how the design collects water.PersonalTin Man (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 20) Sad telepath bonds with starshi…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureHere's…
Long before the Apple ad, and Michael Radford’s 1984 film version of Nineteen Eighty-Four, there was the 1949 radio drama above. Starring British great David Niven, with intermission commentary by author James Hilton, the show aired on the educational radio series NBC University Theater. —Open Culture Similar:Media Bias Chart version 10 — Left / Center…