Thoughtful analysis structured around one man’s personal journey away from QAnon. No single online platform is responsible for QAnon’s rapid rise. YouTube hosted the videos that many members credit with their “red pilling,” the favored term for a supposed enlightenment or exposure to conspiracy theories. Facebook allowed for easy conversation, meme sharing and organizing. Twitter, Justin’s…
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:From this station on the bridge, the exposition officer can relay whatever random bit of i…https://youtu.be/_E-3E7Q3LSs Get a lo…AestheticsGirlhood 2014They don’t even seem to want to watch Fr…CultureTeaching myself the #Unity3D game engine. Each step requires a lot of focused attention. I… Teaching myself the #Unity3D game engi…AestheticsMy kids are in a tree. How's your…
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:Can't upload photos to Facebook from my MacBookI spent 30 minutes trying to upload abou…CybercultureCarolyn as Luciana in the PPT Shakespeare Summer Intensive DramaSpanish dance @laurelballettheater @westmorelandsymphony The NutcrackerDanceDaughter is in 2 theatrical productions opening this weekendThe daughter plays Laertes in Seton Hill…BooksShe was a musical ingenue Sunday, filmed a slasher movie past midnight Monday, and…
Similar:Weird History offers a good debunking of this persistent myth.PersonalDaughter made a Rainbow Loom Marty McFly. Note vest jacket and hover board.PersonalBusy with Midterm GradesPosted midterm grades for the most labor…AcademiaFanciful Fun in Theatre Factory’s “The Fantasticks”A great review from Pittsburgh in the Ro…CultureMasked up, so I don't infect you, in case you are in…
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:Modular low-poly medieval buildings. Ground-level storefronts have more detail than the up…Modular low-poly medieval buildings. Gro…AestheticsTin Man (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 20) Sad telepath bonds with starshi…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureBill Murray Admits A Painting Saved His LifeDuring a February press conference in Lo…AestheticsDean Jones Dead: Disney Actor Was 84″The Love…
Similar:The Course of True Fun Never Did Run Smooth: A Midsummer Night's Dwarf Fortress ReflectionI am in rehearsals to play Oberon in a c…CultureDo television and electronic games predict children’s psychosocial adjustment?Wow… what a drab, unquoteworthy, unsou…AcademiaYou can be a Trek fan without loving TOS. But if we think tolerance and empathy are good t…I…
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:The Masterpiece Society (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 13) Space Thing Threate…Rewatching ST:TNG When a Space Th…CultureFair use prevails as Supreme Court rejects Google Books copyright caseFair use is a concept baked into US copy…BooksMy hard-working media students curated a collection of psychology student editorials & inf…My “Media Aesthetics” students worked wi…AcademiaRing Theory Helps…
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:Google’s healthcare AI made up a body part — what happens when doctors don’t notice? Though not in a hospital setting, the …CultureDowntime with the boy.Personal‘She didn’t have credibility anymore’: The moment Rolling Stone’s U-Va. rape story unravel…Blogging the latest developments in a st…Current_EventsWe're enjoying the intensity and also the (surprisingly appropriate) humor.PersonalThis is the…