A new study from researchers at Northeastern University, in collaboration with scientists from MIT and the University of Glasgow, investigated what happened when a group of domesticated birds were taught to call one another on tablets and smartphones. The results suggest that video calls could help parrots approximate birds’ communication in the wild, improving their…
Here’s to you, grim-faced photojournalist who waited just long enough to make sure 20-year-old me learned an important lesson, before saving me from the consequences of my own poor planning. Every day on the job, I’m trying to pay it forward. In 1989, I was an intern in a crowd of media professionals covering…
Similar:Carolyn is in PICT Classic Theatre adaptation of Oliver Twist (opened Sat night, runs thro…[Artistic Director Alan] Stanford had no…BooksRepresenting the Humanities at Accepted Students Day.Representing the Humanities at Accepted …PersonalToday's second 10sq cm of #steampunk control panel. Love those letter flip tiles. Maybe I'…AestheticsThis is the first time during the pandemic that we’ve brought…
Similar:My older brother falls to my son's chess skills.PersonalI am slightly ahead of the boy. Rare.PersonalFacebook, Now You Remind Me of a Half-Drunk Cocktail Party SchmoozerLast week, Facebook asked me what sports…BusinessLining up for Honors Convocation 2016. #setonhillAcademia"The Nightmare of Prince Prezelsky"Leigh, Peter, Carolyn and I had fun reco…AmusingA professor examines why her students seem to…
Rewatching ST:DS9 With a come-hither glance and an obviously fake cough, the dabo girl Leeta introduces herself to Dr. Bashir. A very amused Dax interrupts with news that the valedictorian of Bashir’s medical class will be visiting the station soon. (Bashir was salutatorian, and he’s not bitter about that, no, not at all.) Sisko returns…
Amy Silverstein writes a stunningly powerful guest essay in the NYTimes: Today, I will explain to my healthy transplanted heart why, in what may be a matter of days or weeks at best, she — well, we — will die. I slide my hand across my chest and speak aloud, palm to my heart’s crisp beating.…
One of the world’s largest scientific publishers refused to reduce its $3,450 fee to publish in NeuroImage. […] On Monday, every editor at NeuroImage and the NeuroImage: Reports companion journal—over 40 people—resigned. “It’s a pretty big exodus,” said Cindy Lustig, a University of Michigan at Ann Arbor psychology professor and one of the eight now former senior editors of…
Similar:Digital Humanities: A DefinitionDoes the world need another working defi…AcademiaAbout to DM a journalism class role-playing exercise. Surprises coming! AcademiaEnjoying a visit to the Carnegie Science Center with my son. Mars exhibit is immersive an…PersonalHide and Q (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 9) Riker, buffed up by Q, grants desires of the…Rewatching Star Trek: The Next…
Similar:Hey there, chaotic world in academia and beyond, could you settle down just a bit so I can…AcademiaIf I don’t design the sign for the pub on my #steampunk space cruiser, who will? #prioriti… AestheticsSeeing the Barebones production of The Sound Inside. (Support the arts in your community!)PersonalNow that I have polished so many details,…
An amazing story of hope and dignity. That book club helped the inmates develop their analytical and communication skills. And out of that came a surprising insight: prison inmates read 9 times more books than civilians. So together with the National Justice Council, the Carambaia publishing house created a program called The Prison Reviews. The…
Very glad to see another of August Wilson’s plays is getting filmed. Sad to read that it won’t be filed in Pittsburgh, where Wilson grew up and where most of his plays take place. “The entire film industry of Southwest Pennsylvania is saddened to not be able to welcome August Wilson’s ‘Piano Lesson’ to Pittsburgh,…
Rewatching ST:DS9 After the recap of S3E20 “Improbable Cause,” we see Bashir, clearly missing Garak, holding forth on the decline of modern theatre during lunch with O’Brien, who kinda sorta pretends to listen. But this is the teaser for the second half of a two-parter, and there’s a plot to jump-start. A fleet of Romulans…
NPR will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform. In explaining its decision, NPR cited Twitter’s decision to first label the network “state-affiliated media,” the same term it uses for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other…
Similar:Watching a National Guard helicopter lift off after an EMS displayJust spending an August evening with the…PersonalAfter the haircut. The girl seems to like it.PersonalMicrosoft “lobotomized” AI-powered Bing Chat, and its fans aren’t happyMicrosoft limits long conversations to a…Current_EventsWhy ‘Cats’ the Movie Fails So FlamboyantlyI can’t seem to get into superhero movie…AestheticsLet’s Make the Academic…
Similar:The stair railings on my #blender3d #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser need some realigning….AestheticsPerforming as Alquist in ActIII of Rossum’s Universal Robots. (Free Zoom performance of gr…https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL…PersonalDean Jones Dead: Disney Actor Was 84″The Love Bug” was one of the movies tha…Current_EventsThis is about half of the #steampunk control panel details I've created in the past m…AestheticsThough I…
Similar:Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling DadAre you unexpectedly home-schooling your…CultureTook the whole day off and spent part of it making #greebles with #Blender3D because reaso…AestheticsHe checkmates me in two moves. I lasted about a half hour, and went down fighting.PersonalSynergistic Synthesis XVII Sub B1 Chair by Kenneth SmytheAfter my daughter’s theater workshop, I …AestheticsChoosing Carolyn's…
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.…
Similar:I Made a Cheerful Maze Game in Scratch Well, it’s cheerful unle…CybercultureWhen we play Star Trek Monopoly, I am the Captain’s chair. GamesI accidentally did too much DuoLingo. I don't want to advance to the harder league. Come o…EducationUshering The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. @prime_stagePersonalI've completed my second set of 25 #neovictorian control panels,…
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…
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…