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)…
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.”…
Similar:"It's called an amphora," the artist says.AestheticsLife in Code and Software (Open Humanities Press)This book explores the relationship betw…AcademiaShe was a musical ingenue Sunday, filmed a slasher movie past midnight Monday, and was pre…AcademiaShades of Gray (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Two Episode 22) Forgettable low-budget clipshowRewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….Media"All for the Best" RehearsalHere’s…
Similar:Just a handful more of these elegant #steampunk control panels and I can move on to the ne…AestheticsHappy Father’s Day One of my favorite pictures of my fa…Current_EventsFirst page of a student’s Texture project. (This made me laugh.) This clever freshman writing student…AcademiaGoodby big Android… hello little budget iPhone SE 3rd.I just removed from my…
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…
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.…
I’m stunned by the writing. Here’s just a sample: Outside the Clark County Election Center in Las Vegas, a news conference was interrupted by a hysterical man in a sleeveless tank that read “BEER BBQ FREEDOM.” “The Biden crime family is stealing this election!” he screamed over and over again, as if repetition would make…
Similar:The truth hits Thorvald. Loved PPT PlayTime’s online presentation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s Hous…PersonalProgress.PersonalKnow your rights: photographers — what to do if you are stopped or detained for taking ph…When is it legal to make a video in a pu…CultureSondra's Garden: Butterfly Release Honors Dr. Lettrich (Seton Hill University)”Every good lesson plan has a culminatin…AcademiaRobots…
Here’s more evidence of just how crucial it is to the Trumpiverse to sustain the narrative that “the media” are the enemy. Earlier today, Trump’s Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh tweeted a picture of a Washington Times banner headline announcing the victory of “PRESIDENT GORE,” as “a reminder that the media doesn’t select the Present.”…
Earlier today Trump tweeted that his campaign would hold a “Lawyers Press Conference at Four Seasons, Philadelphia.” He later specified that he didn’t mean the prestigious Four Seasons hotel, but rather an unrelated business “Four Seasons Landscaping,” which happens to be located next to an adult bookstore and near a cremation company. One imagines that…
Similar:An afternoon with Ben Franklin. CultureEaster collage 2018.PersonalCarolyn choreographed a fight-dance adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.PersonalMy Daughter's Synesthesia: "S" Is Always Red, and "T" Is Lime GreenAccording to a color-picking test at syn…AestheticsSaints and Poets, Maybe They Do SomeI wrote the following in 2004, when my s…DramaFoggy April morning on the hill.Personal
That moment during McCain’s concession speech in 2008, when he mentions Obama, and a ripple of boos begin. McCain, his face showing disapproval, holds up his hands palms down — a controlling gesture, but a calming one. He says the simple word, “Please,” and patiently waits until his audience settles down. He says he just…
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC, CBS and NBC all cut away from President Donald Trump on Thursday as he spoke from the White House to make an unfounded accusation that the presidential election was being stolen from him. Trump had tried to commandeer the nation’s airwaves at a time when the evening newscasts are shown…
I was thrilled as a middle-schooler to stay up late watching PBS coverage of science types poring over printouts of the images arriving from Voyager 1 and 2’s visits to Jupiter and Saturn in 79-81, and visits to Uranus and Neptune in the late 80s. The Star Wars and Star Trek movie franchises were in…
For more than 150 years, scientists have considered bird song to be an exclusively male trait, but female scientists have changed that. Americans often idealize scientists as unbiased, objective observers. But scientists are affected by conscious and unconscious biases, just as people in other fields are. Studies of birds’ vocal behavior clearly show how research approaches…
All 3 acts and the epilogue to R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) are now available on YouTube. I’ve loved this quirky play for almost 30 years. I’m thrilled that I got the chance to play Alquist, a humble builder who witnesses the Robot rebellion and its surprising aftermath. (I also designed the set backdrops in Blender…
Similar:That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent ItProfessional disinformation isn’t spread…CultureVincent Connare, Inventor Of 'The Most Hated Font,' Defends HimselfA typographic engineer, Connare was work…AestheticsVisiting my parents. Admiring their original Hallmark Enterprise Christmas ornament. I ask…AmusingCanon Australia video: 1 man; 6 backstories; 6 photographers; 6 photosCanon Australia wants to sell cameras. T…AestheticsTom…
A new graphic for an existing handout, which I touched up a bit. When is the phrase “when asked about…” part of good news writing? Rarely. A journalist who uses the phrase “when asked about” (or a similar phrase) is carefully telling the reader, “I’m bending over backwards to make sure you don’t think I’m…
Similar:The Essayification of EverythingThe word Michel de Montaigne chose to de…EssaysAirport retro video games collect spare coins in SwedenFliers arriving at Swedens two biggest a…AestheticsSMS Generator SMS Generator.AmusingPost Gazette Corrects Headline of Seton Hill iPad FollowupEveryone makes mistakes. As a student jo…AcademiaAnother 10 sq cm section of a #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #blender3dart #designAestheticsMy mother…
Early in my teaching career, I noticed some students silently body-shaming another. I’m sure the target, who had a minor wardrobe malfunction, didn’t even notice. Later that day I asked a more experienced mentor for advice, awkwardly mentioning that the target of the body-shaming was not slim. My mentor interrupted me. “Ignore your students from…