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…
The Oatmeal on working for “exposure.” Similar:Sold out show today. Carolyn gets tomorrow off, then a final week.PersonalJeff Bezos Plan for News: The Washington Post Becomes an Amazon ProductFor the past few months, a group inside …BooksFormer Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh sentenced to 3 years for ‘Healthy Holly’ children’s …Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh,…
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:Facebook, Now You Remind Me of a Half-Drunk Cocktail Party SchmoozerLast week, Facebook asked me what sports…BusinessI'm not tired of @shu.pippin yet! Final performance is sold out.PersonalToasty Warm Bed (designed by drunk AI neural net)Aesthetics‘Hunger Games’ to digitally recreate Hoffman filmmakers behind the “Hunger Games” mo…CybercultureWhy Audiences Hate Hard News—And Love Pretending OtherwiseA reminder that…
Similar:Colossal Cave: The Board Game by Arthur O'DwyerThe kids and I enjoy nerdy board games. …Culture10 years later it’s so much worse.PersonalAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3dart #blender3dAestheticsApple Hill Playhouse is closing, leaving theater group seeking new homeConfiguring socially distanced seating a…BusinessCheerful scene from @pictclassictheatre Jane Eyre (getting great reviews; 11…
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:Me waiting for students to drop by during office hours. AcademiaAdded an overhead minimap to my #medievalyork #unity3d simulation. #mysteryplayAdded an overhead minimap to my #medieva…DesignWhy I Still BlogI particularly value blogging because of…AcademiaWhat’s an environmental issue? — Gus SpethI don’t know the provenance of this quot…CultureTopics in Am Lit: August Wilson — Online J-Term…
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:Professor Sees Parallels Between Things, Other Things”By drawing parallels between things and…AcademiaBlank template details and a wider view of a 30cm x 30cm grid of brass and glass #neovicto…PersonalThe Miracle Worker opens tomorrow.PersonalSome problems bringing #Blender3D models into the #Unity3D game engine. The pink represent…AestheticsA pallet of cabinet fronts and structural elements to flesh out…
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:'Babylon 5' Reboot in Development at The CW From Original Series Creator J. Michael Stracz…The Variety story breaking this news doe…Current_Events30 Web Designs Featuring Vintage Style Typography30 Web Designs Featuring Vintage Style T…AestheticsDon't Be Cruel[M]angled syntax, disordered thinking, a…Academia‘WarGames’ and Cybersecurity’s Debt to a Hollywood Hack After finishing his synopsis, Reagan…CybercultureTales from the Antiquities Theft…
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…