Thinking a lot lately about masking and empathy, and my role as educator.
Thinking a lot lately about masking and empathy, and my role as educator. Finding the right balance between making people uncomfortable by avoiding eye contact and making people uncomfortable by staring is one of the many unwritten rules I’ve seen autistic people struggle to master. I still mention “eye contact” in my rubric for student…
The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books
I didn’t realize how involved the children of divorced dads Packard and Montgomery were in the creation of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” gamebooks. (The children of divorced dad Will Crowther were one motivation for, and were early playtesters for, Crowther’s original Colossal Cave Adventure; the history of parser text adventure games and branching path…
The chief engineer has a forward-facing station, on a platform above the technical staff conference table. #steampunk #blender3d #design #aesthetics
Civil Defense (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 7) O’Brien accidentally triggers dormant Cardassian security protocols
Rewatching ST:DS9 Although some time ago Jake told his father he didn’t want to join Starfleet, the plot of this episode requires O’Brien to still be mentoring Jake as they putter about an unused ore processing room, so that when O’Brien enters the wrong passcode they can get locked in together with Sisko. A recorded…
One deck below the bridge, the chief engineer coordinates with his technical heads here at the Forward Ops conference table. #steampunk #blender3d #design #blender3dart #aesthetics
The Abandoned (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 6) A genetically engineered baby and Sisko’s son both grow up quickly
Rewatching ST:DS9 Quark scowls as a lucky customer cleans up at a dabo table. Jake blows a kiss at the attendant, who must be Mardah, his girlfriend (of whom we have heard but never seen). Mardah encourages the customer to play one more round, which he loses. He aims to console himself with Marda’s attention,…
Live theater. August Wilson's Jitney, in the back yard of the August Wilson House.
When the art director was too cheap to buy the graphic designer a protractor.
Mostly German, sometimes refreshing my high school Latin.
A Las Vegas public official is held on open murder charge in connection with the killing of an investigative journalist, sheriff says
An elected county official in Las Vegas is being held on a murder charge in connection with the stabbing death of a veteran journalist who had reported on the official’s purported wrongdoing, a sheriff announced Thursday – a case that raises questions about press freedom in America. Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, 45, was…
The Miller of the Dee; by James Baldwin; read by Dennis Jerz
I showed up at the recording studio for about two hours over the summer; the creative team had three or four different scripts for me to record. We had a grand time knocking them out, one after the other. But this particular script included the stage direction “he sings.” There were lyrics, but no score.…
Treasure peaceful moments in a turbulent world.
Reading fiction early in life is associated with a more complex worldview, study finds
This study relied in part on the repondents’ self-reporting of what they read as children, but it was a complex study that approached the core issue from multiple angles. The researchers note that an “association” is not a “cause” — yet the correlation is still worth reflecting on: Those people who did not read fiction…
Second Skin (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 5) Is Kira a Cardassian sleeper agent? Of course not, but it’s a fun story.
Rewatching ST:DS9 Quark notices Dax looking glum because Kira is late for her “anti-grav sailing” appointment in the holosuites. Their outing is interrupted by a Bajoran archivist asking about Kira’s stay in a Cardassian prison — an event Kira doesn’t remember. After consulting with Odo, Kira makes a video call to someone the records say…
Many of these individual steampunk control panel elements are repeated, but I’ve arranged them in modular variations that should increase the “background eye candy” factor. #steampunk #blender3d #aesthetics #blender3dart #design #greebles
More glorious #steampunk control panels, created for no practical purpose. #blender3d #blender3dart #aesthetics #design
Advice to First Year College Students on Freshman Comp
Full disclosure… I have marked AP English tests maybe a half dozen times. The pay is not great, but it’s good professional development because it helps me normalize my expectations. Having said that… One of the hallmarks of growing sophistication as a writer is seeing the idea you thought you were expressing change in front…
The Drudge Report is pulling no punches as it covers the Trump document saga
The Drudge Report is pulling no punches as it covers the Trump document saga. Backstory: In 1998, Drudge went public with word that Newsweek was sitting on a story about an intimate relationship between President Clinton and 24-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Hilary Clinton’s defense of her husband, as she appeared at his side…
Bryan A. Louiselle, 1966-2022 (musician, composer, orchestrator, musical director)
I was Mayor Shinn to Bryan’s Harold Hill in the only high school musical we did together. Yes he was an incredible musician and performer, but I was not musical and could barely sing on key, so I really wasn’t equipped, at the time, to realize just how talented he was. Once during a snowstorm…