Rewatching ST:TNG When Picard is up in the middle of the night amusing himself with his archaeology hobby, he’s annoyed to find that Stellar Cartography has taken communications, library systems, and the replicators offline. When he heads down there, the officer in charge is taking some sensor readings that are so delicate they can be…
Objective news reporting is an ideal. Wherever humans are involved, there will be bias. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with journalism that reports with a particular slant, but informed consumers of news who want to understand a complex issue aren’t served by one-sided media coverage that flatters and amplifies their world view. This chart sorts popular…
If you said hello to me recently and I didn’t seem interested in smalltalk, but just raised my eyebrows, made friendly sounds, and drifted on, I hope I didn’t seem indifferent. I really was glad to see so many familiar upper halves of faces at the Lamp Theatre last night, but it was also kind…
The role of mainstream journalists is significant, and, overall, their record has been far less than stellar. Too many, whether in a one-on-one interview or at larger sessions with a number of reporters, have failed to push back in a way that matters. Trump is such a facile talker — one who specializes in dazzling…
Rewatching ST:TNG The Enterprise-D visits Deep Space Nine, so that the producers can take advantage of the beautiful promenade set and jam in a guest appearance from DS9’s Dr. Bashir. O’Brien doesn’t appear in this episode, but he’s mentioned in a brief and completely unnecessary scene where LaForge complains the pasta on DS9 “tastes like…
Similar:Family, I Hear You. I Love You. Go Away. This Weekend, I'm Marking Papers.No, I don’t want to see the new jacket y…AcademiaThose shoggoths hacked from lungs unspeakable1) Last night, I’m fairly certain some …AmusingFirst Day in the Theatre for Twelfth Night (May 3-12) Daughter: (is sad her “first day in …CultureTWEEN GIRL: "What's a…
For decades, champions of the video game industry have touted gaming’s cultural impact as the equal of literature, film and music. Traditionally, the classic works from those mediums have been preserved for study by future generations, and amid gaming’s global rise in relevance, a group of video game scholars and advocates is pushing to preserve…
Similar:Nerdling spots typo in space exploration textbook.PersonalPinkalicious — "Buzz Off"My daughter plays the Bumblebee in “Buzz…AestheticsAt the airport, sending the daughter off to Ireland.At the airport, sending the daughter off…Personal"She even disgraces the name of Linton." –Heathcliff, on his simpering wife Isa… PersonalEquus. Powerful theatre.PersonalOwner of former Latrobe Athletic Club continues pursuit to transform it into…
Similar:Still in her make-up from her scene as Marley's ghost, with script in hand standing i…PersonalRossum's Universal Robots (Act 2)https://youtu.be/XfOONrGsf2I For my b…CulturePresenting at #NEMLA session 8.1 Friday. “Hacking English: Examining a multimedia sandbox …AcademiaFaculty/staff orientation begins @setonhilluniversity PersonalFamily outing to the Pittsburgh National AviaryPersonalBusy with Midterm GradesPosted midterm grades for the most labor…Academia
Rewatching ST:TNG Picard is in sickbay with a gaping hole in his chest. Crusher can’t save him. In a white void, Picard meets a familiar figure, Q, who claims to be God, and conjures up a vision of Picard’s father (who is *so* disappointed), and voices from Picard’s past — people he says have died…
Similar:Sold out opening night of Mamet’s Oleanna. Chilling. Gasps from the audience. Office furni…Sold out opening night of Mamet’s Oleann…PersonalOklahoma Was Never Really O.K. (Frank Rich, Vulture)”Oklahoma! was greeted as jingoistic ent…AestheticsHumans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy The illustrations clients bring to her…ArtSchool ditches rules and loses bulliesSwanson School…
Similar:Stuffed planet Venus, made for me by my dear mother, around 1974.AestheticsIn Which I Bow Before the Mistress of Teen SnarkThe Girl: I’m sorry I’m being so… Me:…CultureSomething to Ponder — Let Me Fix That Meme For YouArtIn the Hands of the Prophets (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 19) Keiko's scienc…Rewatching ST:DS9 A candidate…
My friend from high school passed away a few days ago. What an amazing preacher. So intelligent, so approachable, so passionate. What a loss to the Diocese of Lansing and everyone who knew and loved him. I am laughing through my tears at his aside, “I want to smack ’em!” (I knew him…
Rewatching ST:TNG Troi wakes up, looking like a Romulan. When Subcommander N’Vek tells her she’s impersonating the imperial intelligence officer Major Rakal, and that she’ll be killed if she doesn’t play along, he invites her to use her empathic powers to see whether he’s lying. He’s not. He’s using the assumed authority of “Rakal” to…
A conspiracy theory featuring a news story that NPR posted early on Jan 6 2021 and then updated after the pro-Trump demonstration turned into an anti-democracy riot was shared widely last year. My meme explaining the concepts of time-stamps and updating a breaking news story didn’t get shared nearly as much. People who already believe…
Rewatching ST:TNG LaForge gets a little too involved when investigating the disappearance of a lieutenant posted on a remote relay station. On a routine supply mission near the Klingon border, the Enterprise-D finds only a friendly dog and a mystery. The plot requires the details of the mystery to remain fuzzy so that LaForge has…
Similar:Part of Wright brothers' 1st airplane on NASA's Mars chopper “Wilbur and Orville Wright would be pl…AwesomePulitzer Alert: Local TV Reporter Throws Cookies to Dramatize Destructive Walmart Flash Ro…The serious-faced TV anchor introduces a…DesignFBI: 'Exercise Caution and Attempt to Verify Information Through Appropriate Official Chan…The FBI reminds journalists about a few …CultureThe Daughter's 21st Birthday…
Some of my amazing colleagues have collaborated on an amazing NEH-funded summer institute that provides teachers in grades 6-12 with resources for teaching about genocide. The event, scheduled for summer 2022, includes units on the erasure of Native Americans, an empathy-building Narrative 4 storytelling workshop, and more. There’s a stipend for participating in this event,…
Similar:Why I Left Academe to Become a Science Communicator: The pursuit of academic research was …From explaining the effectiveness of soc…AcademiaTWEEN GIRL: "What's a tribble?"TWEEN GIRL: “What’s a tribble?” MY GE…PersonalThe Maquis, Part 2 (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 21) Sisko must stop the diss… Rewatching ST:DS9 Hudson and Sisk…EthicsShall we dance? The girl…
Similar:West Side Story Maria MontagePersonalHumans Aren’t Mentally Ready for an AI-Saturated ‘Post-Truth World’ How is AI going to change individuals …CybercultureLooks like somebody’s webmaster accidentally preloaded a headline that would be easy to ed… Looks like somebody’s webmaster acci…Current_EventsSomething to Ponder — Let Me Fix That Meme For YouArtThe girl is rehearsing for Hello DollyPersonalSummer…