My students were awesome. So many thoughtful final projects. So much growth. A stressful, rewarding, unforgettable term.

Similar:If I don’t stock the officers’ pub on my #steampunk #fantasy #CGI flagship, who will? (All…PersonalThe girl as the Spanish Soloist in @laurelballettheater & @westmorelandsymphony The Nutcra…AestheticsThe daughter is home from London.PersonalDress rehearsal for The Nutcracker.AestheticsThe YouTube "Blender3D to Unity UMA" tutorials blow through all the steps in a h…PersonalToday's workload included requesting a "less-depressing…

Motivation Amid Crisis (Autotrophic Bat)

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 Fall 2020 is almost over. I survived.

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…

“The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster (a reading)

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:Defend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C StandardsThe DRM…

Details on the disappearance of the Utah monolith

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…

The reflection should show what’s about 60 degrees above the shuttle, not what’s in front of it. #startrek #tng jerz.setonhill.edu/the-devils-due

Similar:Journalism is doing just fine, thanks — it’s mass-media business models that are ailingHmm… I warn my freshmen not to use the…BusinessMeet octobot, a soft-bodied robot that looks like the futureOur future robot overlords never looked …Aesthetics"seriously, the guy has a point" — on the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl ControversyArt conveys significance; however, much…

Devil’s Due (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 13) Picard vs. sexy devil Ardra

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…

I spent Thanksgiving break building a #trimsheet for steampunk control panels, because why not? #blender3d

Similar:Cat-sitting. Hello, Blue.PersonalFight choreography via teleconference. As You Like It @steelcityshakespearePersonalThe Struggle to Save Ballet From ItselfA former dancer reckons with the rigors …AestheticsLook at the adorable little tape casette. Adventure International / Scott Adams Inc. spoke…GamesLook what mysteriously appeared outside my office door!PersonalPrivacy and reporting on personal livesInteresting guidelines, phrased as sugge…Cyberculture

The Wounded (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 12) O’Brien’s Former Captain Goes Rogue

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…

The Myth of North America, in One Painting

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…

Why Did Dial-Up Modems Make So Much Noise?

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…

Cursor*10

Great free Flash game, emulated at the Internet Archive. Similar:"The Nightmare of Prince Prezelsky"Leigh, Peter, Carolyn and I had fun reco…AmusingThank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting this low-resolution (the background image was 640x…Thank you, 1993 Dennis, for documenting …AestheticsCivil Defense (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 7) O’Brien accidentally triggers …Rewatching ST:DS9 Although some time…

The disinformation system that Trump unleashed will outlast him. Here’s what reality-based journalists must do about it.

Highlights from a column by Margaret Sullivan (The Washington Post): President Trump didn’t create the media cesspool that he’ll bequeath to a troubled nation. He just made it exponentially worse — not only with his own constant lies but with his ability to spread the ugliness. Just days ago, he tweeted out a debunked conspiracy theory that…

You’re Doing It for the Exposure!!

The Oatmeal on working for “exposure.” Similar:One wild place. (Sunday.) Nature'My Fair Lady' Couldn't Actually Dance All Night, So These Songs Had To GoClever little Easter eggs in this articl…DesignAncient Sea Rise Tale Told Accurately for 10,000 Years”It’s quite gobsmacking to think that a …CultureMystery Science Theater 3000: The Definitive Oral History of a…

In November 2000, I was blogging about the US Presidential election, mirrors, Arts & Letters Daily, and more

In November 2000, I was blogging about Ursula K. Le Guin Why we perceive mirrors reversing things left/right but not up/down Pioneering blog Arts & Letters Daily (just a year older than my own blog) Nick Montfort’s constrained poem “Upper Typewriter Row“ The 2000 US Presidential Election controversy (ballot design, hanging chads, recounts, political cartoons)…

Data’s Day (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 11)

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data investigates Romulan intrigue, mediates a spat between O’Brien and his bride-to-be Keiko, and gets a lesson from “the dancing doctor.” A clever storytelling device has Data narrate a letter to Commander Maddox, the cybernetics expert who initially wanted to dissect him in s2e9 “The Measure of a Man.”…

Dr Jerz I think your microphone glitched

Similar:All of Your Co-Workers are Gone: Story, Substance, and the Empathic PuzzlerHowever, running parallel to the evoluti…AcademiaFancy iPad Holder with Compartment For Storing Your BabyFisher-Price enters the Apple aftermarke…AestheticsA fleet of drones performs a light show in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day. I can’t help thinking of the b…AestheticsCelebration of Writing Fall 2019PersonalMy 10yo…

Zooming into the abyss: Black squares don’t contribute much to the learning environment.

Similar:Recording Christmas Stories for WAOB Audio TheatreFor WAOB Audio Theater, my family spent …PersonalHaving a rough day. But in a span of about 24 hours, three former students reached out to …One former student said I’m the only adu…AcademiaShy Preschooler Won't Say Her Lines in "Peter Pan" Rehearsal (Stage Right! Greensburg)Little Maggie isn’t so sure…

The Loss (#ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 10) Troi’s Empathic Sense Flatlines

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After losing her Betazed empathic sense, Counsellor Troi dramatically ignores her own advice about grieving. As the scriptwriters hustle her through shock, denial, anger, bargaining and depression, a Space Thing of the Week threatens the Enterprise. Scenes where Troi counsels a recently widowed ensign offer an intimate view of…

Elderly ballerina hears familiar music from 50 years ago

First Dancer of the New York Ballet in the 60’s. One of the most impressive moments that we have experienced since Music to Wake up. Being able to listen to this immense work of art with a person who danced it and was a fundamental part of its history. The power of Music is immeasurable.…