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:“Let It Go,” Idina Menzel’s Frozen ballad: It sends the wrong message.This author is probably overthinking thi…CultureExodus From an Elsevier Neuroscience JournalOne of the world’s largest scientific pu…AcademiaPrepare for the Ultimate GaslightingThoughtful essay from Julio Vincent Gamb…BusinessSocial Distancing: Because the Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the FewEmpathyWhy the trial by ordeal…
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:Happy memories of PC games I played with my son (now 19) sitting on my lap.While doing some spring cleaning around …CultureAfter the haircut. The girl seems to like it.PersonalFirst Day in the Theatre for Twelfth Night (May 3-12) Daughter: (is sad her “first day in …CultureLive theater. August Wilson's Jitney, in the back yard…
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…
Similar:After a productive run-through of West Side Story, the girl decided to slide out from unde…AmusingHamlet. #tobePersonalHome Soil (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 17)The concept was good, and the production…PersonalKinetic Theatre's "Hound of the Baskervilles" was hilarious. Kinetic Theatre’s production was ful…BooksWe found a mushroom fairy ring in our yardIt won’t make the afternoon of mowing…
As part of an independent study project, a graduating Seton Hill student wrote a blog about self-publishing her original collection of fairy-tale adaptations. She’s a double-major in creative writing and graphic design, and she freely adapted each story and illustrated each one in a different style. (She’ll be self-publishing her anthology soon, and I’ll certainly…
Final grades are due tomorrow. My only unmarked assignments are just a handful of final projects with some components I couldn’t evaluate, mostly for some technical reason. It’s been a pretty rough semester, but I’m glad I started prepping for it in July, rethinking and reorganizing and rebuilding lesson plans and assignment sequences with a…
This week for #StorytimeFriday friend of Prime Stage @DennisJerz reads The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, a 1909 short story about a world in which people primarily communicate via video screens. Sound familiar? Enjoy! #PrimeStageShares https://t.co/KaHdCGHVTC — Prime Stage Theatre (@Prime_Stage) December 4, 2020 Similar:“I don’t know how that Jerz guy thinks he’s going to…
Mr. Bernards, 34, of Edwards, Colo., was visiting the monolith on Friday night when, he said, four men arrived as if out of nowhere to dismantle the sculpture. Mr. Bernards had driven six hours for the chance to ogle the sculpture and to take dramatic photographs of it. Using upscale Lume Cube lights attached to…
Similar:The Chicago Tribune Has Made the Best Internet Mistake of the DayEvery second is a deadline, every instan…AmusingShattered Mirror #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 20) Jake Meets Mirror Jennifer …Rewatching ST:DS9 Lonely Jake frumps …Mediadungeon.jpg (JPEG Image, 2535×1616 pixels)Great Zork map.AestheticsThe poetry of deafnessMy auditory processing disorder makes it…AestheticsThe Best Word Book Ever, 1963…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Picard searches for a legal loophole in peaceful planet’s pact with the devil. Memorable scenes include Data playing Scrooge on the holodeck, courtroom hijinks (“The advocate will refrain from making her opponent disappear”), and Picard padding around on the planet in his jammies (“Just have Mister Data fetch me…
Similar:Lysistrata live.Current_EventsStar Trek Graphic Design: Six journalists and surprising discoveries about their agency lo…After an intense 2 weeks prepping for fa…AestheticsWe ask 3 Broadway photographers: How do you turn a live show into a still image?Great story about the art of photographi…AestheticsA day may come when the strength of the girl fails and she must…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. This episode introduces the Cardassians, who years ago attacked Picard on the Stargazer when he approached them during a diplomatic mission. Worf grumbles that the Cardassians have no honor. Indeed, during the teaser they attack the Enterprise. Still, Picard listens to Gul Macet’s complaint: a Federation starship has attacked…
Fascinating art history — a thoughtful close reading of a painting. Great example of multimodal journalism. The clouds are heavy and black. A grim day for fighting. In the air is the smell of damp, and mortar fire. It’s a little after 10 a.m. on Sept. 13, 1759. The battle is almost over. In the…
Screeeech . . . hisss . . . squaawk. These are familiar sounds to anyone who’s ever used dial-up internet or called BBSes. It seemed especially noisy late at night. Have you ever wondered why all that noise was necessary? And did you know you could have muted your noisy modem? Source: Why Did Dial-Up…
Great free Flash game, emulated at the Internet Archive. Similar:Twitter changes strategy in battle against internet 'trolls'Reducing the reach of abusive tweets is …BusinessA serious summer activity.Once classes start again, we will all ha…CulturePittsburgh Post-Gazette reducing print edition to 2 days a week; cites plan to go all digi… The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is scaling …BusinessHTML5…