Rewatching ST:DS9 On an assignment to write a profile on Bashir, budding writer Jake tags along to a medical conference, and nothing really surprising happens. Their casual, character-based banter is not interrupted by a distress call from a colony in desperate need of medical assistance, and no side-quest, custom-tailored to appeal to the people who…
In my lit classes, I’m definitely teaching more short stories and fewer novels that I used to. I’ve expanded the time I spend on note-taking, synthesizing quotes from different sources, and why at the college level it’s not a good paragraph if it simply introduces “One quote that supports my position,” repeats three or four…
For years I used ScreenFlow, which offers a paid upgrade every couple of years, and doesn’t update the old versions when OS upgrades break them. There was a time when I was making promotional videos almost every week for a nonprofit, and at the time I thought some of the specific features of ScrenFlow were…
Starting with the robot and basic locomotion that comes with Unity3D’s “Starter Assets.” I’ve added a system that lets you tag an object with a custom translation/rotation, and a custom help text message (such as “[E] Activate Door”). Similar:The Secret Power Of Black TwitterA recent Pew study (Smartphone Ownership…CybercultureHappy Father’s Day One of my favorite…
Persuasion: Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Kairos Similar:Mars Curiosity rover sings 'Happy Birthday,' dares Earth to collect royalties One year ago today, NASA’s Curio…AmusingInequity and BYODIf we are really wanting to help these k…CultureEveryone Nov 1AmusingFacebook’s push of “related articles” to users without checking credibility draws fireThe links under your friend’s post got y…CybercultureGoogle engineer put…
Teaching myself the #Unity3D game engine. Each step requires a lot of focused attention. I lost 2 hours today trying to decide the right typeface for text overlays for a steampunk game. Similar:Computers and Writing 2020 Funding Request: SubmittedMy contributions this year are a worksho…AcademiaThe Inner Light (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 25) When…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Outside the O’Briens’ quarters, Quark catches Bashir eavesdropping on raised voices. (It’s actually Miles and Kira fighting.) Dax and Worf are happily bickering over opera when he is smitten by the sight of a “glorious” Klingon woman. “She’s okay,” says Dax. It’s Grilka, Quark’s ex-wife. Quark realizes she needs his financial advice, but…
TThe automatic doors on my fantasy steampunk cruiser do work… kinda. My PC got trapped. Similar:The girl sank her brother's last ship with the homophonous cry "I-1."AmusingComputers and Writing 2020 Funding Request: SubmittedMy contributions this year are a worksho…AcademiaOpens Wednesday.PersonalAnother #steampunk #neovictorian control panel module. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #…AestheticsAnother delightful #blender3d #cgi #steampunk control panel.…
Interesting. I don’t particularly care for the title of this YouTube clip, which seems very self-centered and not at all in tune with the message the speaker (Connor Neill) gives. He focuses on that moment when we realize there’s a difference between what we feel we need to say, and what we know the other…
No names in this single-source anecdote out of Hong Kong, credited to “Senior Superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching.” The employee joined a video call with who he thought was the business’s chief financial officer. He was initially suspicious after a message from the CFO mentioned a ‘secret transaction’, suggesting it was a phishing scam…. However, after other…
The organ composition is called “As Slow As Possible.” It’s currently being performed in a church in Germany. The first chord proper whooshed through the pipes in February 2003, prompting complaints from neighbours that it was too noisy. In 2011, a way was found to reduce the air pressure. “We haven’t had any complaints since…
Ok, never mind Dusgcxms2… buddy, you can keep your first place as far as I’m concerned. Similar:Adding details to a clip-art silhouette, for a project that will be released in a day or t… An important but small detail in a B…AestheticsMicrosoft's Bing AI Now Threatening Users Who Provoke It: "If I had to choose…
Researchers had programmed the various large language models (LLMs) to act in what they termed malicious ways, and the point of the study was to see if this behaviour could be removed through the safety techniques. The paper, charmingly titled Sleeper Agents: Training Deceptive LLMs that Persist Through Safety Training, suggests “adversarial training can teach models…
The amazing daughter is featured in the ads for this commercial dance event. Similar:Today's 10sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dartAestheticsHello, I’m Dr. Jerz, I’ll be your server tonight for Christmas on the Hill. Hello, I’m Dr. Jerz, I’ll be your serv…PersonalGinger Christ Superstar!AestheticsThe daughter was invited back to perform at this year’s Shakespeare…
When the kids were little, my wife and I managed their media consumption with the help of reviews from sites like Common Sense Media. (Or maybe a competitor. It was a long time ago… I emailed the webmaster to correct a detail they got wrong in a VeggieTales review.) I’m impressed by the level of…
Attending Religious Perspectives on the War in Gaza. Similar:There, in my morning snapshot of the kids home-schooling in the kitchen, is the cable I sh…EducationSimulated iceberg, preserved artifacts and re-creations at the Titanic installation. …CultureSeeing Lyle Kessler's "Orphans" with the girl.PersonalThe ballroom of my #steampunk fantasy space cruiser is now a less lonely place. Thanks…
For confessionals or tapdance routines vertical video is fine. When my students do multimedia projects I remind them that the video screen in our classroom is horizontal, so if they do use a vertical video there’s plenty of room for them to add infographics and annotations. Or they can actually edit a vertical video. If…
Far from being “stochastic parrots,” the biggest large language models seem to learn enough skills to understand the words they’re processing. […] A trained and tested LLM, when presented with a new text prompt, will generate the most likely next word, append it to the prompt, generate another next word, and continue in this manner,…
Look what I found on my shelf in a closet. #history #archaeology #media Similar:How long has Google Docs let you pop up a window with your current word count? Why wasn’t …PersonalThe girl will be dancing as the Gold Fairy in Laurel Ballet's Sleeping Beauty tonight… PersonalSteampunk officer uniforms — test #Blender3D #Unity3Dhttps://youtu.be/SDh4TW8ujNg The vide…AestheticsSecond episode…
This was before the printing press, so books were copied by hand on parchment, which made them expensive and rare. Most people didn’t read much, especially for pleasure. Instead, they listened to books at group readings for entertainment. Pero López de Ayala wrote at the end of the 14th century, “It also pleased me to…