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:Brother Stuck in the BathroomThe girl posted this story on Instagram …AmusingSlow flyby of a scout shop. Starfield backdrop; particle-based engine exhaust; hull uses a…More progress as I continue to level up …AestheticsSteampunk officer uniforms — test #Blender3D #Unity3Dhttps://youtu.be/SDh4TW8ujNg The vide…AestheticsPart of my daily routine is practicing German for about 15m per day. With no…
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:This the last hour I will have a teenager in my house. (Tomorrow my youngest turns 20.) I blogged in 2004: “The ti…AwesomeLast event of a busy day downtown. #AgathieChristie #murderontheorientexpressAestheticsRossum's Universal Robots (Act 1) Artistic ProsperityThe first act of Artistic Prosperity’s v…CultureClassroom Vignette: MLA StyleStudent (shouldering backpack and headin…AcademiaLeveling up my skills in #blender3D.…
Similar:Living Room PhysicsI’ve blogged before about my eight-year-…EducationI'm not showing you my email inbox, or my laundry pile, or the state of my soul. Just…PersonalUnion siege cannon, printing press, and "From Slavery to Freedom" were the highl…PersonalDeus Ex MemoriesI’ve just finished my final training run…CybercultureThe reception line begins. Grad2018PersonalRelics (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode…
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:Reading a Classic American Play to My Daughter BooksFreshman writing students present their research projects in a suitably decorous setting. … Personalfrom “The Poet” by Ralph Waldo EmersonThe poets made all the words, and theref…AestheticsThe Myth of ‘Learning Styles’The discourse around “learning styles” (…Academia"The face of the last man on Earth." #alquist #rur #robots #capek…
Similar:After you finish your brass-polishing shift, join me at the Gear and Heart to swap stories…AestheticsLining up for Honors Convocation 2016. #setonhillAcademiaSomeone seems to have slipped this over my transom. Thank you, #foodsubstitutefairy whoeve…PersonalMy parents doing their daily brain treasers in a coffee shop.PersonalPict Free Summer Webinar: Shakespeare’s HeroesCultureA question I find myself thinking all…
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:Business as Usual #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 18) Quark accepts a lucrative …Rewatching ST:DS9 Playing tongo at the …BusinessEnsign Ro (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 3) New Bumpy-nosed Officer Is Stubbor…Rewatching ST:TNG Picard is ordered to …CultureMost Television From Before 2000 Is Trapped in the Uncanny ValleyJust as the technological innovation of…
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:How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public DomainI get my fill of Disney pretty quick. In…BusinessI regularly teach A Raisin in the Sun but haven't seen a live production in decades. Looki… AwesomeHappy birthday to the son.PersonalAnd again I ush.PersonalTapestry (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 15) The dying Picard has a chance to a…Rewatching ST:TNG…
Similar:A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse The newest and most powerful technolog…BusinessArsenal of Freedom (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 21)With an A-plot that comments on the Cold…CultureThe Girl's Obsession with Scottish History ContinuesWife: “What did you do with your bedshee…AestheticsFour Academic Plagiarists You've Never Heard Of: How Many More Are…