Look at this picture. A guy in a uniform obviously has his hands around a kid’s neck. Why would Business Insider use the word “allegedly” to describe what seems like a pretty obvious assault? If you are Young Sesame Chicken, what makes the Business Insider post worth sharing is the contrast between the mealy-mouthed headline…
Rewatching ST:TNG Who doesn’t like seeing stuffy Picard react to the quirky mayhem caused by the unpredictable Q? Who didn’t like seeing stuffy Picard react to the quirky mayhem caused by the unpredictable Vash? Certainly not the cigar-chomping network executive who burst into the TNG writers’ room and barked, “I want a Vash and Q…
When I was in college and grad school, a couple of times of year I would stay with my sister in her apartment for a long weekend, and we would splurge on junk food (often Keebler Fudge Sticks) and video games (often the latest Sierra point-and-click adventure). I remember playing The Colonel’s Bequest in my…
Parchmap is a wonderful expansion to the interactive fiction player Parchment. It adds a visual auto-mapper to Infocom-style games, including those created with Inform 7. You can jot notes on the map, too! My own 2001 IF-Comp entry, “Fine-Tuned: An Auto-mated Romance,” is one of the 217 stories available on the Parchmap site. Similar:No,…
It’s weird that in the Narnia board game, the Pevensies compete against each other. I thought it would make sense that they would have to work together to defeat the White Witch, but no. Why do they all work against each other? In the book, Edmund betrays his siblings — but they don’t betray him!…
Forget for a moment that the picture is among the most famous in US history, or that the photographer—a 21-year-old Kent State journalism student named John Filo—risked his life to document the tragedy. Consider what the photo captures: Our own military occupied a public university and then opened fire on a crowd of unarmed citizens—students…
Similar:In September, 2001 I was blogging about… With a grant from UWEC, I was able t…AestheticsTrimsheets baked with greebly texture goodness add eye-pleasing woodgrain & tech detai…AestheticsFuture Imperfect (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 8) Riker Van WinkleRewatching ST:TNG after 30 years. Aft…PopCultAnd so it begins: the unmarked assignments counterThis little icon will control my life…
Rewatching ST:TNG Engineering schlub Lt. Barclay gets zapped by this week’s Space Thing, which makes him smart, charming… and also dangerous. Stumbling through a friend-zoning scene from the play Cyrano de Bergerac, actor Dwight Shultz deliberately flubs a dramatic line and fails to shove a prop to the floor on the first try, masterfully embodying…
A student newspaper article about interactive fiction (quoting Emily Short and me) Blaming Roget’s Thesaurus Finding the URL of a framed HTML document My visit to the John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project HarperCollins re-issuing the works of C.S. Lewis Dave Winer on “The Web is a Writing Environment“ Similar:Mechanical innards for a Steampunk set piece.…
How dare President Biden be invoked by a British tabloid that rather creatively linked a scholarly study to a plan Biden floated during the Democratic primary. How dare Biden be implicated in a Fox News graphic that falsely lists cutting beef sales by 90% as a requirement of Biden’s “climate requirements.” How dare Biden be…
I love watching my daughter perform. Here she is doing some short tap routines. The last two also incorporate her interpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60, “Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by TapTitansToday (Official) (@taptitanstoday) Similar:My Kids Loved Narnia but Were Unimpressed by…
When my wife and I were grad students in Toronto, my sister would fill up VHS tapes with episodes of Babylon 5. When the tape was full, she’d send it off. (Together with some Mystery Science Theatre 2000.) What that means is that, though the episodes aired weekly, I binge-watched them. (I assume they were…
We’re talking about elite students here landing jobs in highly desirable firms. These are Deresiewicz’s “Excellent Sheep.” We can presume that their educations have been rigorous as they’ve climbed to the top of the meritocratic heap. If these young professionals can’t write well, who can? And if they’re not writing well, why not? My belief…
Similar:Woodward dismisses CNN's lawsuit against the White House; Fox sides with CNNBob Woodward, half of the Washington Pos…CultureBirthright, Part 2 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 17) Worf sows disorder in a …Rewatching ST:TNG L’Kor tells Worf th…EthicsOpinion | Fake News Comes to AcademiaThe three academics call themselves “lef…AcademiaEnjoying my "Dystopia in American Literature" class.After…
Just in case you haven’t been thinking lately about the passionate accusations of massive voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election (which led led to the Jan 6 storming of the Capitol Building), here’s an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Note that the Post-Gazette editorial page endorsed Trump in 2020. Massive voter fraud? This author,…
I remember when I started seeing political cartoons that began depicting office workers using flatscreen LCDs instead of bulky CRTs. I inherited a handful of CRTs as people I know upgraded. I still haven’t bought a new LCD TV — I’ve inherited several hand-me-downs from family members. The next time I offer my course on…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight Similar:A Las Vegas public official is held on open murder charge in connection with the killing o… An elected county official in Las Vega…Current_EventsLounge area of a steampunk villain’s lair. Still needs a light fixture or two. #blender3dAestheticsShort Reports: How to Write Routine Professional DocumentsNew graphic.…
Similar:My #AugustWilson #Steampunk NightmareToday is my last official day teaching a…AcademiaOp-ed: QAnon, the Holocaust and the deadly power of conspiracy theories The Holocaust was the most murdero…CultureDonald Trump tests positive for Covid-19. CNN: "A nightmare scenario for the White House." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdXL…Current_EventsSCUBA Diving at the PoolBecause a beautiful sunny day at the poo…CultureProcession #classof2017Personal‘Belonging Is Stronger…
Similar:Why I Resist Web Redesigns (And Maybe You Do, Too)Words many of us never want to hear: “It…AestheticsRichard Scarry unfinished manuscript to be publishedSome of my happiest memories of fatherho…AestheticsGoogle engineers mined the text adventure game "Zork" for AI image promptsYouTube commenter Bob Hepple writes, “Tw…AestheticsSpring and Fall, by Gerard Manley HopkinsMárgarét, áre you gríeving…
Similar:Henry Bemis waited his whole life to finally read a book. Listen to Lynn Venable’s story,…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc3DHCiz…BooksYour Brain on ShakespeareAmusingEssay on the flaws of distance educationThe web also creates the illusion that a…AcademiaAnd Now for This Breaking News Report “Police have cornered the suspect wh…AmusingAdobe Shockwave interfereres with my system, blocks my attempts to remove it,…