A Texas lawyer accidentally left a kitten filter on during a video conference call with a judge and was unable to change it, eventually responding to a judge’s query about why he was being addressed by a digital feline by saying: “I’m here live. I am not a cat.” Later, the judge wrote: “These fun…
I’ve taken over teaching the English department’s relatively new career focus sequence, so I’m more than usually invested in these ideas. It’s time for faculty and administrators to be blunt: postgraduation success, more than ever, requires a demanding curriculum that includes extensive writing, facility with data and statistics, and extensive opportunities for collaboration and critical…
The media constantly takes things I say and then repeats them on their news shows and in their magazines, and they always leave something out, like the thing I haven’t even said yet that lets you know I don’t believe the thing I already said. If the media wants to be completely accurate, they should…
Enjoyed watching the restored version of the hugely influential 1927 sci-fi movie #Metropolis I hadn’t seen any of the 20m or so of restored footage. Added main title music was good, but repetitive and not always emotionally aligned with the story. The print was very clear, with crisp details. Nothing like the version I saw…
August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoiler-free scene breakdown Premiered: 1999; Broadway 2001 Setting: 1985; backyard of row houses; Pittsburgh Hill District Prologue (starry night) Stool Pigeon, clicking ham bones, monologues to an offstage cat (which belongs to Aunt Ester). “The story’s been written. All that’s left now is the playing out.” I.i King (30s), ex-con…
Similar:The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan PoeSo, who else is taking advantage of curr…Current_EventsDatalore (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 12) Data's bro wants to be with a big crystal tr…In “Datalore,” an encounter with Data’s …CultureThat's not an argument. (Yes it is.)I spent some time this afternoon sifting…AcademiaCarolyn will portray Cosette Saturday…
Similar:Thinking about physical therapy and cheerful, chatty older gents…I feel like I’m living in a sitcom. A…CultureA student who is writing her research paper on Taylor Swift made a passing reference to Ka…PersonalTwelfth Night Cast Photo (Prime Stage, May 3-12)My daughter can hardly stop talking abou…Aesthetics#AugustWilson #CenturyCycle Three week intensive course (whew!) All the students…
One former student said I’m the only adult male in their life who ever supported their creative efforts. A second former student posted an essay on social media, describing bouncing back from alcohol and cocaine addiction, and after mentioning several life-savers, mentioned me in the final line of the essay — thanking me for teaching…
Although considerable resources have been invested in helping teachers retool, not much has been done to assist their pupils. Instead, it has been taken for granted that 21st-century youth naturally become fluent in any technology, even without explicit directions. While supposedly clueless instructors are given a plethora of tips and tricks – like the OK,…
I enjoyed reading this short John Henry Newman poem for WAOB Audio Theater. Similar:Public service announcement! If you are feeling awkward at a social event and you see me t…AwesomeThe Future of Academic Style: Why Citations Still Matter in the Age of GoogleLooking forward to getting my copy of th…AcademiaA serious summer activity.Once classes start…
I’ve been a college English faculty member for over 20 years and I just realized I’ve been spelling and pronouncing “detritus” wrong all my life. A short while ago I realized I had typed “detrius” — and that’s how I heard the word in my head — “DEE tree us.” But the word has an…
Similar:Night Terrors (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 17) Trapped crew grows paranoi…Rewatching ST:TNG After discovering t…PersonalThe Post drops the ‘mike’ — and the hyphen in ‘e-mail’When I announced these style changes, an…CultureI'm down to a king and two pawns but my son likes playing until he crushes me.PersonalFull Bloom opens next weekend. Tickets 724-527-5777.PersonalWilliam…
Ford built about a half dozen of these custom cars designed by Allegheny Steel. I’m not a car guy so I can’t place it beyond that. Similar:The science of fake news: Addressing fake news requires a multidisciplinary effortThe rise of fake news highlights the ero…AcademiaRelics (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 4) When a huge…
Playwright August Wilson Takes Center Stage on U.S. Postal Service Commemorative Forever Stamp 📬📃🖊 #AugustWilsonForever #BlackHeritageStamps https://t.co/Ezj04lKcPa — U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) January 28, 2021 Similar:Police respond to Twitter bot sending death threat to another Twitter botJeffry built himself a harmless little T…CybercultureBurgh to Burg, episode 2.Academia"You work for the @CollegeBoard?" the bright-eyed teen behind…
Don’t reject a news source just because it slants against your own slant, and don’t accept a news source just because it slants the same way you do. Update: Media Bias Chart 10.0 If you find a news source where you agree with all the content all the time, that doesn’t mean the source is…
I have shared and liked this image, and incorporated it in lesson plans. The juxtaposition suggests that the little knot of photographers is hunkering down in order to make a small fire appear more threatening in front of L’ Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I have seen plenty of cases where unrelated images were juxtaposed…
After spending several days clicking buttons and ticking boxes and waiting for pages to refresh in my school’s content manager, I really, really miss the command line interface. This video shows the 1970s computer game “Colossal Cave Adventure” running on a printer terminal (that is, its only display is text that it prints out on…
Similar:Attending Religious Perspectives on the War in Gaza. Attending Religious Perspectives on the…PersonalBrass desk lamp, with translucent green shade and glowing light bulb filament. #blender3dPersonalWall display by the talented Jess Lohr, interpreting an infographic by Norton (textbook pu…PersonalChipping away at the total as the final submissions pour in.PersonalMore delightful #steampunk control panels. These are computationally…
August Wilson’s Century Cycle > Spoiler-free scene breakdown Premiered: 1982; Broadway 2017 Setting: 1977; Becker’s cab station, Pittsburgh Act I.i (morning?) Youngblood accuses “old man” Turbo of cheating in checkers; Turbo accuses Fielding of drinking his gas money; Youngblood turns down a grocery run, which Turbo takes; Youngblood gets defensive at Doub’s silent look; Shealy…
In January 2001, I was blogging about The Onion: Clinton Not Expecting to Collect White House Security Deposit Anachronisms in the movie Titanic A textual detective who helps the FBI solve crimes and says Clement Clark Moore did not write “A Visit from St. Nicholas” A student whose client backed out needed a project, so…