Similar:Anthony Weiner, Reality Star of Sorts, Returns to the StumpBecause my beginning journalism students…Amusing'Jane Austen, Game Theorist' by Michael Suk-Young Chwe Is a Joke When [Chwe] says that Austen was a g…AcademiaFor years, I’ve tried to work my way back into the middle classWell-meaning people tried to encourage m…CultureA certain potions instructor is done with…
Pandemic living can make it much more difficult to form a memory at all, let alone call it back when we need it, said Yassa, director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine. “Sometimes we’re a little bit harder on ourselves. We think, ‘Oh, how…
The filter won’t replace real hand-drawn art, but the imperfections give some life to a CGI scene. Similar:Infographics: the PowerPoint of the 2010sI used to say that PowerPoint slideshows…CybercultureRiding on Square WheelsStan Wagon, a mathematician at Macaleste…DesignYou can be a Trek fan without loving TOS. But if we think tolerance and empathy are good t…I…
In February, 2002, I was blogging about Robert E. McElwaine was a conspiracy theorist who had a habit of spamming multiple newsgroups with his political, religious, and social ideas. He used an account at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, and was very active until around the time I started teaching at that school. Animator…
Rewatching ST:TNG Picard, Data, Troi and LaForge are lounging in the back section of a runabout (seen only in this episode), reflecting on a conference they just attended, when they start running into pockets of space where time moves at different rates. They find the Enterprise-D and a Romulan Warbird frozen in time, apparently in…
A 20-something former CEO takes a fast food job The death of Astrid Lindgren (creator of Pippi Longstocking) at 94 Isadore, patron saint of web surfing (who remembers when “surfing the web” was the dominant metaphor?) Teenager created a glove to translate ASL finger positions to speech On the implausibility of the Death Star’s trash…
Clearly influenced by Kubrick’s 1969 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the 1975-1977 British TV show Space:1999 features our protagonist riding a gleaming off-white almost empty shuttle to a gleaming off-white space station and then on to a gleaming off-white moonbase. A delightfully consistent design ethic created a seamless connection between the sets where the actors…
Similar:Find yourself someone who makes you plomeek soup like Nurse Chapel makes for Spock.PersonalBlender 3D Flyover of Fantasy Steampunk Spacecraft When my kids were small, at bedtime …AestheticsThe barbican at Mickelgate was pulled down in the 1800s but I made a rough approximation f…The barbican at Mickelgate was pulled do…PersonalStandardized Test Scores Don't Really Measure…
Rewatching ST:TNG Worf is uncharacteristically late for a shift because he was distracted by a ritual to invoke the fabled warrior Kahless. He tells Picard that since meeting the young Klingons who grew up with no knowledge of their heritage (s6e16&17 “Birthright“), he has felt “empty,” and feels the need to test his faith. Picard…
Great writing and great photography in this story about a small Minnesota town where conservative Lutheran pastor Jason Wolter denies that COVID-19 vaccines work. “You’re lying to people,” he says, “You flat-out lie about things.” Wolter is speaking of Reed Anfinson, his next-door neighbor, who is the editor of the Swift County Monitor-News, “[a] contemplative man…
Part of my enjoyment of genre franchises is looking for and appreciating continuity. The other side of that coin is, of course, pointing out continuity gaps. But a plot hole is just a plot hole, and means nothing without context. A logical inconsistency in a tense psychological courtroom drama would be more serious than a…
A history of the beginning of the pandemic, oragnized around emotions. More recently, the Museum of Contemporary Emotions—a project of the Finnish government’s Finland Forward pandemic communications initiative—picked up Ekman’s work as its scaffolding. The Museum, really an interactive website, is a kind of digital archive of experience during the Covid-19 pandemic, styled with the sans-serif…
Rewatching ST:TNG A defeated-looking Crusher tells Guinan her career is over, and, film-noir style, narrates how “it all started when…” After meeting a Ferengi scientist at a conference, Crusher invites him to the Enterprise-D to demonstrate his unorthodox technobabble technology. Only four scientists accepted Crusher’s invitation to witness the demonstration — a Klingon (not much…
Rewatching ST:TNG A well-done mystery that could have, *should* have, redefined our understanding of intelligent life in the Star Trek storytelling universe, but did not. Picard’s beloved archeology professor shows up after 30 years with an invitation to join a mysterious expedition. I respect that the writers don’t ask us to believe that Picard is…
Similar:Prime Stage's THE OUTSIDERS Stays Golden at the New HazlettCherry, the upper-class go-between spann…BooksThe Speech Eisenhower Never Gave On The Normandy InvasionA fascinating text from an alternate his…CultureThe Hidden Signs That Can Reveal a Fake Photo Farid emphasises that forensic techniq…CybercultureWho cares about hyphens, commas and capital letters? You should.You’re a busy editor, fighting a…
Similar:New "Adventure" Details from Will Crowther in Mammoth Cave BookThe new book from the University of Kent…BooksPerspective | After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the Americ… I have always taken a neutral stan…CultureI may have mentioned that I have a daughter who does things. @frontporchtheatricalsI may have mentioned that I…
Similar:Another section of a #steampunk control panel, made in #blender3d for a personal project. …AestheticsStage Right Water SpriteLast week my daughter and I were a littl…AestheticsThe Complete Deaths: all of the Bard's 74 scripted deaths in one new play.Over the past four centuries, the brutal…AmusingFeeling classy while I lose. Feeling classy while I lose. Personal30…
Dear Tevye, This letter is to inform you that you are in gross violation of the rules of this Homeowners’ Association (HOA). Please note the following infractions: Your contract allows for a modest structure in the prevailing style of the neighborhood. It does not allow for a big tall house with rooms by the dozen.…
Is this satire? It doesn’t matter. It gave me feels. For me, though, it was Word Perfect and Broderbund Print Shop that were there for me as a teenager finding my voice. Bold and italics are the oils that grace my palette. Cut and paste the strings upon my lyre. Fonts, bullets, columns, indentations—these stubborn…
Rewatching ST:TNG Riker overprepares for a role in “Beverly’s play,” which distracts him during his briefing for an undercover mission, so that Worf accidentally cuts him while demonstrating a ceremonial knife. The night of the performance, the crowd applauds enthusiastically, but Riker is disturbed when he notices in the crowd a humanoid alien he had…