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…
Similar:On the spiral staircase that leads from the top deck down to the officers' pub and wa…AestheticsThe other day I did a socialize with some of my Humanities colleagues. (I am proud of myse…PersonalDaughter made a Rainbow Loom Marty McFly. Note vest jacket and hover board.PersonalI'm in the timeline where the Borg are everywhere and…
I’m going to have to watch this one again. Similar:At Computers and Writing #cwcon for the weekend.Am I wise now? At an event for encouragi…AcademiaFive myths about daylight saving timeNo, Daylight Saving Time was not created…BusinessAnother square of #steampunk control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #a…AestheticsFact check: Trump utters series of false and misleading…
Similar:John Dewey: Portrait of a Progressive Thinker: His ideas altered the education of children…“You can concentrate the history of all …AcademiaMore rehearsing. More dancing. PersonalMeme alleging Trump said “Africans Are Lazy, Good at Sex, Theft” is a hoax I’ve seen this meme shared by severa…Ethics"We Need to Be More Vigilant With What We Trust From the…
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,…
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. Similar:The Geekling Worked a Shatner/Nimoy Tribute into GodspellMy geekling daughter, who in Willy Wonka…AmusingCarolyn and her friend Travis on Twin Day at summer camp.PersonalThis morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of…
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…
Similar:Bacon Starry Night MemeI’ve no idea where the “Bacon Starry Nig…AestheticsContext for Hayles, My Mother was a Computer (Ch 3 & 4)My undergraduates are working their way …AcademiaAn Excerpt from Mechanisms [2]: 'Professor RAMAC'Among the attractions at the 1958 World’…BooksMr. President, stop attacking the pressReagan recognized that as leader of the …CultureHaven (TNG Rewatch, Season…
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. Similar:Half a Life (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 4, Episode 22) Lwaxana Meets CogsworthRewatching ST:TNG…
In May, NBC published a “Fact Check” challenging President Trump’s prediction that there would be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. NBC was factually reporting the answers they got when they asked experts. Those experts didn’t say there would be no vaccine, they said it would be extremely unlikely. The fact…
Just as the technological innovation of the mass-produced book paved the way for the new storytelling medium called the “novel,” technological innovations that allow audiences to rewatch TV shows and binge-watch whole seasons have changed the whole medium of episodic video storytelling. (Babylon 5 did it early and did it well — but the article…
Similar:Novel defined: a term used by some students to mean “any text we study in English class”Academia‘Not good, not nice’: At Florida rally, Trump says China has ‘targeted our farmers’They weren’t the most newsworthy part of…Current_EventsI'm Gradually Losing My Hearing. (It’s Part of Aging.)During a department meeting today, I not…AcademiaEye of Sauron, Hobbit Door,…
A new handout, based on the opening lecture I give in every literature class. I’m trying to uncouple this chunk of content, which never changes, from the “intro to the course” lecture, which is topic-specific. Your high school teachers probably praised you for summarizing what you read and perhaps relating it to your own life…
You may be surprised to learn that of the trio of long-awaited coronavirus vaccines, the most promising, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, which reported a 94.5 percent efficacy rate on November 16, had been designed by January 13. This was just two days after the genetic sequence had been made public in an act of scientific and humanitarian generosity…
Ahh-aaggh! Similar:My 10yo Created Bookmarks to Express Her Complex Relationship with ReadingMy 10yo has a complex relationship with …BooksChatGPT Can Be Broken by Entering These Strange Words, And Nobody Is Sure WhyReddit usernames like ‘SolidGoldMagikarp…CybercultureSTAR TREK's Still as Relevant on the 50th AnniversaryIn situations of change, it is natural f…CultureApple’s new diverse emoji are even…
Rewatching ST:TNG After the crew blacks out, Picard investigates Data’s mysterious behavior. Although I haven’t seen this episode since it first aired in 1991, I remembered it as a strong episode, with a script that respects the audience’s intelligence. I didn’t remember the Dixon Hill holodeck sequence, which was longer than necessary. Instead of showing…
Imagine a scenario in which circumstances outside your control confine you to a single room for an indefinite period of time — and you have basically nothing to do but stare at the walls. Available activities are strictly limited; you aren’t allowed company; you can’t really go outside; time collapses in on itself; and your…
Similar:Learning the hard way, by making mistakes and starting over. The fore section of the fanta… AestheticsAnother delightful section of #steampunk control panel, for a personal #blender3d project….AestheticsThe barbican at Mickelgate was pulled down in the 1800s but I made a rough approximation f…The barbican at Mickelgate was pulled do…PersonalWe celebrate the good life of…
In December 2000, I was blogging about Typeface snobbery (The Onion) Videogames as gendered play spaces (Henry Jenkins) Who wouldn’t want to trade in the confinement of your room for the immersion promised by today’s video games? …. Perhaps, my son finds in his video games what I found in the woods behind the school,…
Oh no. First YouTube institutes a “COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy” and starts deleting videos that tout fake cures or discourage people from following the medical advice of the WHO; then, YouTube takes a stand against any video that “misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential…