What if the DC rioters had been Black? I think we know the answer | Aja Hannah
This is not just an issue of a double standard between BLM protesters and white, Republican rioters. It is an issue of safety and justice. Black people asking for accountability when police are violent were met with violence from police. White people attempting to stop an election by force is met with sympathy and seemingly…
Robot wars: 100 years on, it’s time to reboot Karel Čapek’s RUR
I was honored to play Alquist in Artistic Prosperity’s virtual production of RUR over the summer. I’m glad to see Čapek’s play is getting some attention in the Guardian. Not many plays introduce a new word to the language. One that did was Karel Čapek’s RUR: Rossum’s Universal Robots that had its premiere in Prague…
Fact Check: No, an NPR story on the Trump supporters’ attempted coup dated January 6, 2021 9:33 AM ET is not a sign of a conspiracy theory
According to the Internet Archive, this is a story NPR posted at 9:33 this morning. As events developed, and the story changed, NPR updated this page — drastically. As you can see, the headline and the picture are different; though the date the page was first created is still there, the page now also includes…
Twitter has blocked President Trump’s account, citing policy violations.
Playing with depth of field (blurring details that are closer than and farther from the focal point). #Blender3D #Steampunk
Fact check: You can safely ignore that “HOW TO FIGHT COVID AT HOME” meme
I noticed this meme a few days ago. I recognized the “friend of a friend who has insider knowledge” formula that makes people want to share a memes. I know better than to trust anonymous online sources that claim to have special knowledge, so I just re-read what the CDC says and moved on. Here…
The Unbearable Weakness of Trump’s Minions
Note that the URL of this story indicates it was initially published under the title “Cowards Are Destroying the GOP.” Opinion stories that take a clear stand are a valuable part of legitimate news coverage, though of course they need to be well sourced, and a good editor will seek a balance that reflects a…
More #Blender3D practice. Additional details for a steampunk control panel. Just because.
Galaxy’s Child (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 16) LaForge meets the engineer of his dreams
Rewatching ST:TNG LaForge is surprised when he learns the starship designer he had previously become infatuated with via the holodeck (s3e6 “Booby Trap”) is nothing like the romantic possibility he expected. (I turned the episode off during the cringeworthy dinner scene, and didn’t come back to it for almost a week.) The story unfolds like…
Thomas Jefferson on “newspapers without government” vs “government without newspapers”
Those darn founders with their darned respect for the free press. So biased! I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors:…
Swiss cheese metaphor for fighting the pandemic: “Multiple Layers Improve Success”
The anti-maskers are right when they say masks aren’t 100% effective. The pro-face-touchers are right when they say not touching your face isn’t enough. The bar-hoppers and close-talkers and eaters-in-crowded-diners are right when they say social distancing alone won’t stop the spread of a pandemic. The “98.2% survival rate” crowd is right that most people…
This is the first time during the pandemic that we’ve brought this game out. Very topical.
My son showed me Seven Samurai. I had never seen it before. Amazing!
I’m going to have to watch this one again.
My son just handed me my serving of noodles in the butter substitute container. Recycling.
First Contact (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 15)
Rewatching ST:TNG This flipside episode, told entirely from the viewpoint of a civilization on the verge of discovering warp drive technology, documents a visit from members of a federation of space-faring aliens who wear brightly colored pajamas. An ER team with serious forehead bumps admits a patient with serious head injuries. They are first confused,…
As I was preparing to take this screenshot, two more papers came in.
I still have odd jobs to tie up, but I’m about to put a pause on this J-Term course that starts in December.
Stunned by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman and the rest of the cast in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Stunned by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman and the rest of the cast in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Loved the documentary aesthetic in the opening sequence. Loved the intimacy of the cinematography and acting. Some of my favorite monologues were cut or trimmed, but I recognize a movie can express in a montage or a camera…
Is There a Santa Claus? (Reading of 1897 editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church)
My J-Term course on August Wilson doesn’t actually start until tomorrow, but the first assignments are already coming in. Sixteen weekdays to cover Wilson’s 10-play Century Cycle.
We’ll cover all 10 plays, but each student will only be responsible for reading an overlapping list of six plays. The movie adaptation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom opens on Netflix this weekend, and we’ll be covering that play on Monday.