Translating the markings from base 60 – the counting system used by ancient Babylonians – showed that these ancient mathematicians were aware of the Pythagorean theorem (not called that, of course) as well as other advanced mathematical concepts. “The conclusion is inescapable. The Babylonians knew the relation between the length of the diagonal of a square and…
Similar:Out for a walk during some downtime. Paused to appreciate this beautiful city of #Pittsbur…AestheticsApple Watch is ugly and boring (and Steve Jobs would have agreed)I am not feeling the love for Apple’s iW…AestheticsUshering The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. @prime_stagePersonalFinished Reading The Chronicles of PrydainWe could hardly stop reading just before…BooksCheerful scene from…
Similar:Not bad for a couple hours of work. #blender3d #blender3dart #steampunk #neovictorianNot bad for a couple hours of work. #ble…AestheticsI was perhaps a bit more conversational and chipper than usual during class today. A grinn…I was perhaps a bit more conversational …AcademiaVisiting the KLBE Air MuseumPersonalMostly German, sometimes refreshing my high school Latin.PersonalMy schedule every…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Lonely Jake frumps in the Promenade people-watching spot where he and Nog used to hang out, and Odo and Quark try to offer him comfort in their own faux-antisocial way. At home, Jake is shocked to find a visitor — Jennifer Sisko from the mirror universe. Though he knows this is not actually…
About four years ago I bought an electric mower that was quiet enough that I could listen to audiobooks while doing my suburban adulting duties. The battery held enough charge that I could get about 1/2 of my lawn done at a time so that summer I bought another battery. A couple years later I…
As much as I love escapist science fiction, the way to get to the future for real is to avoid killing each other and ourselves in the present. We can’t count on capitalist techbros selling joyrides to billionaire tourists. People tend to liken space exploration to expansion on Earth—pushing the frontier. But on the edge…
After starting my 200-level “Shakespeare in Context” students on a few sonnets, I assigned Twelfth Night (most had never read a Shakespeare comedy before) and Othello (they loved Iago), and then asked them to sample four different plays — The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, and Jonson’s…
If you are writing an academic paper that quotes from an author that uses the ellipsis in a way that differs from MLA style (such as the script of a modern play that uses “…” to indicate when a speaker is interrupted, or a graphic novel that might use “…” to indicate a meaningful silence…
Similar:Lecturing is So Much Easier than Leading a DiscussionLecturing is So Much Easier than Leading…AcademiaHome Soil (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 17)The concept was good, and the production…PersonalMy Minecraft-obsessed tween made this blocky foam pig at art camp. Next up: Stage Right summer musical th…AestheticsMy Son Plays Mozart Too Fasthttps://youtu.be/gXAtRI1NLxs He says “M…AmusingClues (#StarTrek #TNG…
Similar:World Trade Center Literary and Cultural Reflections (first posted September 11, 2001) Not knowing what else to do, in the nu…AestheticsMy J-Term course on August Wilson doesn’t actually start until tomorrow, but the first ass…We’ll cover all 10 plays, but each stude…AcademiaA new study says young Americans have a broad definition of newsI expect that…
Similar:1,000-pound rosary sends heavy message: PrayThe rosary that retired quarry worker Be…AestheticsWhy Fears of Fake News Are OverhypedFacebook seems to have made changes that…CultureTurnitin's slick new iPad app almost erases years of web-based GradeMark traumaI have in the past griped on Twitter and…AcademiaChecking sources back in 2006 involved using this *steampunk* contraption.Research Before Google Books…
Similar:10 questions to help you write better headlinesI already have some handouts on writing …DesignEnjoying a visit with an Austrian imperial commander (ahistorically but magnificently pres…Enjoying a visit with an Austrian imperi…PersonalPopcorn MakerI’ll have to look into this. Popc…AestheticsThings are not going well when the other king and queen stop by for such an intimate…
Rewatching ST:DS9 A haggard O’Brien, with a scraggly beard, is released from an alien prison. He seems disoriented… “I can’t leave. Where would I go to?” A concerned Kira watches as smug aliens infodump that they punish offenders by inserting extended memories of incarceration — twenty years, in O’Brien’s case. Sisko explains to Keiko that…
Similar:Dogmeat and I may yet win this game. Yes, this was the decisive moment. I…GamesNot a #carguy but I pried open the hatch of the van to change 4 bulbs. #adulting PersonalThe Sacramentality of Teaching and LearningFor the one-credit journalism class that…AcademiaMy daughter found where all the missing pens and pencils end upAmusingOut for a walk…
Similar:The Psychology of Getting More Done In Less TimeSummary of not-so-new scholarship, but p…CultureOut for a walk during some downtime. Paused to appreciate this beautiful city of #Pittsbur…AestheticsJournalism In The Service of Democracy: A Summit Of Deans, Faculty, Students And Journalis…This morning in my mail I found an attra…CybercultureMove Along Home (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season…
Rewatching ST:DS9 After a nightmare featuring dead Klingon children, Worf wakes up in Odo’s security cell. He’s clearly in trouble. A Vulcan admiral convenes a Federation hearing called to explore allegations that, while commanding The Defiant, Worf destroyed a Klingon civilian transport. A Klingon prosecutor, Ch’pok, intends to prove Worf’s negligence, thereby stoking sympathy for…
In September, 2003, I was blogging about What the NY Times called the “campus fad” of Internet plagiarism. “What Does a Professor Do All Day?” (Clearly we are wasting our time whenever we are not standing in front of a classroom.) “Graphic Artist Carefully Assigns Ethnicities To Anthropomorphic Recyclables“ Leni Riefenstahl Dies (although she distanced…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Bashir reluctantly helps O’Brien clean up before Keiko is due to return after an extended absence. At the family reunion, little Molly points to her mother’s belly and announces she has a little brother. At the request of Kira and her mentor Porta, Sisko blesses a young couple. He’s not thrilled with his…
Similar:The Random Pulp Science Fiction Title Generator from Cornelius Zappencackler's DERANGE-O-L…From Thrilling Tales (where the future i…Amusing"Do Date" vs "Due Date": Do Profs Really Have to Explain the Difference? If there really are teachers who lis…AcademiaComputers and Writing workshop on Inform 7. (Happening now. In an asynchronous way.)https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8nP…AcademiaCrazy-looking keyboards that never caught on As the…
For the past 2 weeks I have slept a lot, coughed a lot, and one of my four classes is a week behind where I had hoped to be, but I guess I’ll be okay. Still dealing with some heavy eldercare and other issues that I just don’t have the energy to write about here,…