Playing with depth of field (blurring details that are closer than and farther from the focal point). #Blender3D #Steampunk

Similar:COVID-19 Cases (Useful Breakdown by Country, State, Population) A few interesting bits I found interes…Current_EventsA Simple Investigation #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 17) Odo falls for a femme…Rewatching ST:DS9 A duo of knobby-fac…Amusing"I’d never heard of this play before now, but I love it." — World Drama studentA gifted graphic design major in my…

Fact check: You can safely ignore that “HOW TO FIGHT COVID AT HOME” meme

I noticed this meme a few days ago. I recognized the “friend of a friend who has insider knowledge” formula that makes people want to share a memes. I know better than to trust anonymous online sources that claim to have special knowledge, so I just re-read what the CDC says and moved on. Here…

The Unbearable Weakness of Trump’s Minions

Note that the URL of this story indicates it was initially published under the title “Cowards Are Destroying the GOP.” Opinion stories that take a clear stand are a valuable part of legitimate news coverage, though of course they need to be well sourced, and a good editor will seek a balance that reflects a…

More #Blender3D practice. Additional details for a steampunk control panel. Just because.

Similar:Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 3) …Rewatching ST:DS9 Outside the O’Brien…Amusing'Arrival' Is Smart, Stylish Sci-Fi About Language, Not Laser BeamsThe premise sounds quite interesting. Re…CultureGeorge Stone Credits Scott Adams Adventure Games for Inspiring "Max Headroom"Scott Adams (creator of “Adventureland,”…CybercultureMore world-building props for a fantasy #steampunk #Blender3D…

Galaxy’s Child (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 16) LaForge meets the engineer of his dreams

Rewatching ST:TNG LaForge is surprised when he learns the starship designer he had previously become infatuated with via the holodeck (s3e6 “Booby Trap”) is nothing like the romantic possibility he expected. (I turned the episode off during the cringeworthy dinner scene, and didn’t come back to it for almost a week.) The story unfolds like…

Thomas Jefferson on “newspapers without government” vs “government without newspapers”

Those darn founders with their darned respect for the free press. So biased! I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors:…

Swiss cheese metaphor for fighting the pandemic: “Multiple Layers Improve Success”

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…

This is the first time during the pandemic that we’ve brought this game out. Very topical.

Similar:Enjoyed making a 3D print of the captain’s chair from the #steampunk bedtime stories I use…Enjoyed making a 3D print of the captain…PersonalThe Best of Both Worlds, Part 1 ( #StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 26) We Hav…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break …PersonalI can't really articulate why i enjoy crafting #steampunk control panels,…

My son showed me Seven Samurai. I had never seen it before. Amazing!

I’m going to have to watch this one again. Similar:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaA Dance Mom Gets Schooled by a Ballet Mistress Who Can WriteAvoid trying to publicly shame a ballet …ArtThe Neutral Zone (ST:TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode…

My son just handed me my serving of noodles in the butter substitute container. Recycling.

Similar:I asked my geekling whether she was ready for bed…I asked my #geekling whether she was rea…AmusingAnd again I ush.PersonalDo television and electronic games predict children’s psychosocial adjustment?Wow… what a drab, unquoteworthy, unsou…AcademiaOn Her One Free Day Between Two Shows…[View the story “On Her One Free Day Bet…DesignI filed my grades early. I shall now,…

First Contact (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 15)

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,…

As I was preparing to take this screenshot, two more papers came in.

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:Daughter made a Rainbow Loom Marty McFly. Note vest jacket and hover board.PersonalWoman Yelling at Cat About Academic Argument: an evidence-based defense of a non-obvious p…See: Academic Argument: Evidence-based D…AcademiaQuidditch Comes to…

Stunned by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman and the rest of the cast in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

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…

Is There a Santa Claus? (Reading of 1897 editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church)

Similar:A masked, socially distant museum visit. So nice to get away from syllabuses and email for… Ford built about a half dozen of the…AestheticsStarship Mine (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 18) Picard out-thinks thieves rai…Rewatching ST:TNG Picard plays cat-an…CybercultureMove Along Home (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 10) Hopscotch Cringe Shenanigan…Rewatching ST:DS9 I was…

My J-Term course on August Wilson doesn’t actually start until tomorrow, but the first assignments are already coming in. Sixteen weekdays to cover Wilson’s 10-play Century Cycle.

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:Why Are Babies So Dumb If Humans Are So Smart?Fascinating theory. The hard work…

I’m glad President Trump was right about the coronavirus vaccine

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…

Most Television From Before 2000 Is Trapped in the Uncanny Valley

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…

Seton Hill Virtual Commencement Fall 2020

Similar:BP Lawyers Cheat by Adjusting Line Spacing in a Legal Brief U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier…BusinessTrump Briefly Glanced at Eclipse without Protective GlassesDonald Trump’s persona as a man who does…Current_EventsThe Digital-Humanities BustDinosaurs evolved into birds. Not all of…AcademiaSpring 2025 Final Grades Submitted!AcademiaA Beginner's Guide to HTML & CSSFiling this wonderful resource for the…

Responding to Literature at the College Level

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…

We Had the Vaccine the Whole Time

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…