Out for an April stroll.

I ditched Google for Bing with ChatGPT for a month — here’s what happened | Tom’s Guide

Occasionally, when I don’t know exactly what to search for, I have found it somewhat useful to describe a problem to Bing and see what topics it searches for as it assembles its answer. But decades of experience with search engines means I don’t usually need a bot to tell me what to search for.…

Game night at our local library.

Improbable Cause (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 20) Odo investigates an attempt on Garak’s life

Rewatching ST:DS9 During his usual lunch with Bashir, Garak dismisses as farcical the notion that Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar would be surprised that his best friend betrayed him, in a literary reference that is definitely random and will certainly have nothing at all to do with this week’s plot. Garak departs with a promise to deliver…

There’s Something Off About LED Bulbs

When I’m stressed, or I feel life is spinning out of control, I buy lights. I’m sure there’s something symbolic in that action. Over the years I’ve picked up a half dozen photography lights with umbrella reflectors, and as the cool-white spiral fluorescent bulbs fail — one every two years or so — I’ve been…

Why Tetris is the ‘perfect’ video game

Rather than wanting to make a film about Tetris the video game as such, Baird was fascinated by this human story that pushed the game into existence. “The original title of the film was actually Falling Blocs, just like the Eastern blocs that dissolved when the Soviet Union collapsed. I thought it was a really…

Will ChatGPT Kill the Student Essay? Universities Aren’t Ready for the Answer | The Walrus

I’m still grappling with exactly how the rise of AI writing apps will affect my teaching. I don’t think it’s reasonable to ban technology from the classroom. While I will likely assign more in-class, hand-written activities, that strategy won’t work for online classes — and I am just not interested in requiring students to use…

Why I disagreed with my students who said, “That was easy!”

“That was easy!” Today three different students made some variation of that statement. In that class, we are gearing up to write a research paper. I have broken the project up into multiple tasks, that I can grade quickly and generously. Today’s assignment asks students to submit a paragraph that argues the…

Thank you, frog and friends, for reminding us all what the Internet is supposed to be for.

this frog and their band pic.twitter.com/bVo6xuakuv — non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) March 26, 2023

Which State Offers The Best Online Casino With No Deposit Bonus?

An in-person casino opened up a few years ago in the shopping mall near my house. I haven’t been inside, but I hope the rent helps the rest of the mall stay open. Just as the in-person shopping has to compete with online retailers, the in-person casino offers a restaurant and entertainment, to establish it…

Just a #steampunk captain inspecting the æther power orbs. #Blender3D #Unity3D #design #aesthetics

We were pretty even for about 25m, but I let him get my queen, and I had no hope after that.

What can you do with an English Major?

You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in.

Some people out there will never like you, no matter what you do. Some hurting and traumatized people will latch onto you as the symbol of their insecurities, and treat all your imperfections as personal attacks. It’s important not to pay that negativity forward, or to punch down, or to take it out on yourself.…

Credible case that a lost Shakespeare sonnet has been identified

A dedication in the script of a 1603 Ben Jonson play (Sejanus: His Fall) may have been written by Shakespeare, who appeared in that play as an actor. “It’s tantalising. There are so many parallels with Shakespeare’s style that it must surely make even the most hardened sceptic pause and think.” Initially intrigued, he had…

My Polish grandmother used to bake these cookies, which my wife picked up at a Ukranian festival. They’re apparently called nut horns. Hadn’t tasted them for 30 years.

My grandmother shaped them a little differently, more like segments of a sphere… the name I must have given them in my childhood is just “powdered sugar crescent cookies.” She packed them in a tin with chocolate chip , oatmeal raisin, fork-impressed peanut butter, and maybe sugar cookies? I would have made a beeline for her…