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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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

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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…