I get all my news online now, but I grew up with TV news and my father’s daily copy of the Washington Post, so I can appreciate how changes in the medium have changed journalism. Likewise, I was a kid in the 80s and an avid gamer through the 90s. On the rare occasions when…
Quantum Theatre’s streaming production of “Far Away” is an enigmatic abstraction, grounded by psychologically deep performances. In an unstable landscape of shifting allegiances, just how much faith can we have in own senses, our family members, our co-workers, our own creative impulses, our government, and nature itself? Known for making theatre happen in unusual spaces,…
In February, 2001, I was blogging about Computer nostalgia and text adventure games.“Walking into a room rendered in the Q3 engine can be lovely and impressive, but when you’ve only 16K to tell a story, you have to rely on the gamer’s imagination to provide the details. Just the words ‘you are on a beach’…
Similar:I am very happy for these folks, who spent 20 or so years tweaking an insanely complex, co… AwesomeUnmarked assignments. As more keeps coming in, can I reduce that number each day, without …PersonalMore #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #blender3dartAestheticsMore world-building props for a fantasy #steampunk #Blender3D project.DesignReally enjoyed watching Your Name with…
Some of Elon Musk’s stunts have caught my attention. He was involved in founding the company that became PayPal (which I use from time to time, to accept freelance payments and to pay other freelancers), and I can see a lot of people would benefit from the high-speed train systems he has advocated, but I…
Similar:"Syllabus Day": The Absolute Worst Way to Start the SemesterI’d rather blog about prepping my fall c…AcademiaDaily 10sq cm of control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #steampunkAestheticsToday's lunarbaboon… there might be something in my eye. Hey! Want me to take her f…AwesomeThe Trouble With Online EducationI’ve taught an online “Video Game Cultur…AcademiaBeam me up, Chewie!AwesomeWriting,…
The Holocaust was the most murderous and massive manifestation of Jew hatred — and it began and ended with the aid of conspiracy theories. State-sponsored conspiracism fueled the genocide of 6 million innocent human beings. A major pillar of Nazi ideology — and an effective method of drumming up anti-Semitism — was the false accusation…
I can’t believe I’m fact-checking a viral story about a plastic potato, but Hasbro is removing the “Mr.” from its “Potato Head” logo, and offering a new mix-and-match package that includes two potato bodies, one baby potato, and a bunch of loose parts that will let kids put them together however they want. That…
While some survey respondents were unfamiliar with the term “humanities” (apparently guessing that it had to do with the study of the human body), once they were given the definition “studying or participating in activities related to literature, languages, history, and philosophy,” most respondents had a high opinion of the subject. Predictably, people who were…
It’s a bit of a stretch to call this Teddy Roosevelt quote “encoded,” but it’s still fun to notice. We’re told to be on the lookout for more surprises as the mission develops. Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the…
Similar:The boy plays chess with his uncle before seeing The Fantasticks.PersonalThe choreographer daughter is doing a thing.The choreographer daughter is doing a th…PersonalScratch StatsScratch is a kid-friendly programming sa…CybercultureAnother #neovictorian control panel for a personal #steampunk project. #design #aesthetics…AestheticsComing up for the girl is another classic show: The Fantasticks.So looking forward to seeing her in…
New video from NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover chronicles major milestones during the final minutes of its entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on the Red Planet on Feb. 18 as the spacecraft plummeted, parachuted, and rocketed toward the surface of Mars. A microphone on the rover also has provided the first audio recording of sounds…
Years later, after earning my degree in Jazz Performance from Howard University, I joined a country band where I was the only Black member. It was 1983 when we visited Frederick, Maryland, and played at an all-white bar (a bar where Blacks were legally allowed to enter but wouldn’t be welcomed). After I finished a…
Beckett’s masterpiece Waiting For Godot was once famously described as ‘the play where nothing happens – twice.’ First produced in French and then re-written by Beckett into English, it remains one of the most significant plays of the twentieth century. Beckett described it as a tragi-comedy: it has as much comedy within the characters and…
Similar:The girl as Mrs Lovett with Ben Federico as Sweeney Todd.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITqwfTCk…CultureA pleasant Independence Day photo shoot with the daughter.AestheticsEverything is beautiful at the ballet.Dance7 ways for teachers to beat the Sunday bluesTell yourself, I am rejecting these thou…EducationOpening night! So great to see live local theatre.PersonalIdeology shapes our view of reality, which affects what persuades…
I often invite my colleague Kelly Clever to give the “library session” to my freshman writing students. Of course there’s only so much anyone can accomplish in a single session, but my students often credit her for helping them make the leap from a general idea to a well-formed research question. Maybe they end up…
If it were possible to build a digital novelist or poetry analyst, then computers would be far more powerful than they are now. They would in fact be the most powerful beings in the history of Earth. Their power would be the power of literature, which although it seems now, in today’s glittering silicon age,…
I already bought the thing, and I’m only looking in the manual because I can’t figure out what’s wrong with the non-working piece of junk, so I don’t really want to read a chipper note congratulating me on my purchase. People hate reading instructions, and will only glance at them after they are already frustrated…
The pandemic sucks. We’re spending more time with a smaller circle of people, and tensions can mount. But I’m grateful my family is together, and grateful for our health. Sure, things could be better. Recently in my email I found this reflection on the benefits of being in a relationship. 4 Main Benefits of Being…
Today, February 18, 2021 at 20:44 UTC (3:44 p.m. Eastern US time), if all goes well, another robotic rover will land on the planet Mars. —Bad Astronomy Similar:Trump, halting his own policy: "I didn’t like sight of families being separated." No fake news here. This is why journ…Current_EventsThe new marshmallow test: Resisting the temptations of…