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Cinderella Deadlines: Reconsidering Timelines for Student Work
I have been experimenting with midnight deadlines lately, including midnight Sunday deadlines. Students who don’t want to work Sundays can of course get the work done earlier in the week. I also often have students start assignments during class time, ask them to submit what they have by the time class is over, and let…
Reunion (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 7) Picard Arbitrates Klingon Leadership Struggle
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. The Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire requests Picard’s help about an urgent matter. Chancellor K’empec names Picard arbiter over the power struggle that will follow his impending death. He suspects that one of the two rival faction leaders has been slowly poisoning him. The scenery-chewing Ambassador K’Eyhlar gets…
Here’s How the Pandemic Finally Ends
This is the end of the coronavirus pandemic. And this is how it could happen in the United States: By November 2021, most Americans have received two doses of a vaccine that, while not gloriously effective, fights the disease in more cases than not. Meanwhile, Americans continue to wear masks and avoid large gatherings, and…
Professor teaches class of 300 students from his phone while trapped in elevator with 2 small kids
I had to teach my Introduction to Psychology class today to 300+ students from my cell phone while I was trapped in my apartment building elevator with my two young kids. This has to go down as my most surreal and stressful teaching experience. — Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) September 24, 2020
Fox lawyers Convince Judge that Fox’s Tucker Carlson is “not stating actual facts” and “any reasonable viewer” should be skeptical of his claims.
To defend Fox personality Tucker Carlson against a defamation lawsuit, Fox’s lawyers successfully argued that no reasonable viewer takes Carlson seriously. CBS | MSN This is a legal win for Fox, who convinced a judge that Carlson is “not stating actual facts” on his show. As Defendant notes, Mr. Carlson himself aims to “challenge[] political…
The false link between Amy Coney Barrett and The Handmaid’s Tale, explained
One of the weirder ways this debate has played out since Barrett was first discussed as a potential Supreme Court nominee is the fight over whether or not People of Praise, the group of which she is a member, is also one of the inspirations for The Handmaid’s Tale. In Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel (and its recent TV adaptation), fertile women are forced to live as childbearing slaves called handmaids. The book isn’t an established inspiration — but the story has developed legs anyway.
Pictures only hint at her passion and can’t capture how smart she is. I love you, daughter.
Trump administration gave Courage Award to a woman who criticized Trump, then rescinded the honor, then lied about it, a watchdog agency finds
The State Department revoked a prestigious award from a Finnish journalist because of social media posts critical of President Donald Trump, according to a report from the State Department Office of Inspector General. Although the watchdog found that the State Department had acted within its “broad discretion” to rescind the award from Jessikka Aro, it also…
The phrase “debate begins” in the headlines of multiple stories on coronavirus does not mean sneaky journalists copy-pasted a press release
If you encounter the same story on different news sites, that does not mean you caught sneaky America-hating fake news “journalists” in the act. A meme I recently encountered shows three slightly different coronavirus headlines, all of which use the phrase “debate begins.” Text shared along with the meme suggests the repetition means the story…
Twitter, Fix Your Cropping Algorithm
When given the chance to crop four different arrangements of photos of two different men, each time the Twitter algorithm chose to center on the white man and crop the black man out of the picture. Source: https://twitter.com/sina_rawayama/status/1307506452786016257 Update, 22 Sep: See also https://twitter.com/TLopesVictorM/status/1307846503885672449
CDC Website Publishes, Removes Updated Coronavirus Guidelines
Friday the CDC released updated guidelines that reflected recent scientific observations that the coronavirus is airborne and can transmit over a distance of more than six feet, as CNN reported. This morning the CDC reversed itself, removing the updated information. From the Washington Post: The agency had posted new guidelines suggesting the virus can…
Fact check: Biden ad misleadingly suggests Trump called Covid-19 a ‘hoax’
CNN fact-checks a misleading Biden ad, which edited a Trump speech to make it look like he called coronavirus a Democratic hoax. To be clear, Trump’s informal and freewheeling style of speaking at rallies often leaves his exact meaning hard to pin down. But I agree with CNN that this ad misrepresents Trump’s intentions. …
Legacy (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 6) Visiting Yar’s Lawless Colony
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. The Enterprise tracks a distress call to the lawless colony where the late Lt. Tasha Yar was born. One of the two main factions holds Federation hostages, prompting Picard to editorialize that he “certainly won’t trade weapons for crewmen” — an apparent reference to the Iran-Contra affair. The teaser…
The Anatomy of a Shakespeare Play: King Lear (Free video lecture from Pict, 2pm Friday)
Scientists should be goggled and in the lab, where they belong. Shut up and make me a vaccine, beaker-nerd!
Am I doing the tribal rage thing right? Laura Helmuth of Scientific American says the decision to break tradition was both unanimous and quick: “We took this decision very seriously. You don’t give up 175 years of tradition for nothing.” —‘Scientific American’ Breaks 175 Years Of Tradition, Endorses A Presidential Nominee –NPR
Auschwitz color photo: ‘A 14-year-old girl, not just a statistic’
I don’t know what this prisoner did, but she sure looks like she existed as a human being, despite laws that defined her as less than human, an animal, and illegal. How dare she! It’s pretty simple when you think about it, isn’t it? If she didn’t want to be arrested, beaten, and executed by…
Something to Ponder — Let Me Fix That Meme For You
Boy, this sort of thing sure makes some racist people very angry.
We stand together against racism. #ItTakesAllOfUs pic.twitter.com/xfeUACPu8Z — Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 14, 2020
R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) Artistic Prosperity Trailer
We rehearsed and recorded a Zoom recording of RUR during the lockdown. I really enjoyed being able to do theater while so much of the rest of society was shut down. Here’s a “human interest” promo (which also includes actors who played Robots). Stay tuned for news about seeing the full production. Artistic Prosperity -RUR…