Blender Griffin, Part 3

Okay, that’s enough work for one evening. I added a skeleton I had already created for another project, and I added new rigging for his wings and tail. I still need to add the fancy stuff, like having the eyes follow a target, having the limbs move automatically to follow the placement of the feet…

Blender Griffin, Part 2

After another couple of hours of work, I’ve added the Griffin logo and a tail (trust me — it’s there). I’ve improved the lighting, and added some very subtle ambient occlusion (the inside of his beak and the inside of his eyes are shaded more realistically). I could probably do a better job differentiating such…

Correlation or Causation? – Businessweek

Correlation or Causation? – Businessweek. Similar:Meet Our Advisor: Dennis Jerz “Journalism is an imperfect human ac…Academia‘People are rooting for the whale’: the strange American tradition of Moby-Dick reading ma…When I went off to college to be an Engl…AcademiaOn the spiral staircase that leads from the top deck down to the officers' pub and wa…AestheticsThe Masterpiece…

Blender 3D Update

Holy ray-tracing, Batman, it’s a Blender 3D update! I have not had the chance to try out Blender 2.61, which features an ocean simulator, motion-tracking, and real-time ray-tracing. blender.org – Blender 2.61. Similar:Rubric for the Rubric Concerning Students’ Core Educational Competency In Reading Things I…Sadly, this only barely counts as satire…AcademiaI should be writing my…

Blender Griffin

To celebrate yesterday’s on-time submission of final grades, I spent part of last night and much of today working on this Blender 3D model of our school mascot, the Griffin.   Similar:Elderly ballerina hears familiar music from 50 years agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owb1uWDg…AestheticsPOV: You are coding the automatic doors on your fantasy neovictorian cruiser personal proj…  POV: You…

Narnia Lesson Plans: Activities Related to the Musical (based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) — Jerz’s Literacy Weblog

I just posted the latest musical theater education packet, written by my wife, as she aims to make the most of our home-schooled children’s participation in Stage Right Greensburg’s student theater production. 1.10) Narnia, once a utopia or paradise, has become a sad, cold dystopia under the Witch’s rule. Read & discuss other examples of…

Pittsburgh Parent Magazine: Future-oriented College Majors

Pittsburgh Parent Magazine’s December issue features Seton Hill’s New Media Journalism major in a cover story by Kelli Robinson. Similar:Frodo Baggins, A.B.D.When I had pneumonia a few years into my…AcademiaStandardized-test robo-graders flunk“According to professor of theory of kno…AcademiaSecrets of a 60 Minutes cameramanThey say polo ponies can run 35 mph and …Current_EventsThe Mere Presence of…

Losing Face

This story features my Seton Hill colleague, Lee McClain. “It’s kind of like if you are looking at a bunch of leaves on a tree, you could study them, but you’d have to work really hard to tell them apart,” said McClain. That is how she sees faces. “That part of my brain that most…

On the Spot: Campus Diversity

One of my journalism students posted this insightful and well-edited documentary. (She also posted a brief introduction.) HTML5 HTML5 480p FLV360p FLV360p MP4240p FLVFlash Similar:What Can You Do With An English Degree? | Seton Hill UniversityOne of our seniors interviewed recent gr…AcademiaHow to create a magazine: 5 tips from top designersCreative Bloq. AestheticsUnpopular grammar rulesLanguage…

National study: Youth ‘sexting’ is downplayed

A national study released Monday suggests there is a smaller percentage of young people involved in “sexting” — sending or receiving explicit or sexually suggestive images via cell phone or Internet — than previous studies found. via National study: Youth ‘sexting’ is downplayed – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Wait a minute… who or what is doing the…

And With Your Spirit

My daughter was amused that, even with a cheat sheet in my hand, I automatically responded to “Peace be with you” with the traditional “And also with you,” every time this Sunday, instead of the new translation “And with your spirit.” Not once did I get it right. Similar:Anime Treatment of Star WarsI am not…

Lego Rudolph

Before settling down to finish reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins, my daughter made this Lego reindeer. Similar:Virtual debates about homelessness in Sim City hold up a mirror to real lifeBack in 2009, the story of Alice and Kev…BooksHow Zuckerberg’s Facebook is like Gutenberg’s printing pressHistorian Niall Ferguson notes that Sili…BooksNext up for the girl: Cherry in…