Similar:When backwards newbie poets write…PersonalAfter purchase of latest accessory, I can no longer close my camera bag. #ConspicuousConsu… With the money I saved by working on…PersonalTopics in Am Lit: August Wilson — Online J-Term course starts Dec 16.PersonalFinished Reading The Chronicles of PrydainWe could hardly stop reading just before…BooksSame photo, two different interpretations.This is why…
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:Twenty-Six Old Characters, The (1947)Sheaffer Pen celebrates the art of writi…AestheticsBlender Griffin, Part 3Okay, that’s enough work for one evening…AestheticsWhat about Socialization?Sometimes, I worry that by homeschooling…Current_EventsI felt a great disturbance in the Fandom”…as if millions of voices suddenly cr…AestheticsThank you, anonymous donor of Mardi Gras candy.Okay, on closer inspection I see the red…AestheticsJohn Dewey: Portrait…
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:Dr. Bobby Teaches Ferris Bueller as RhetorMy former student, Bobby Kuechenmeister,…AcademiaThat time three-year-old me spotted a Mary Cassatt painting at the Art Institute of Chicag…My mother had a framed print of Mary Cas…AestheticsNo, Trump's tweet about "Heritage, History, and Greatness" is not a quote from a speech Hi… Trump really did tweet “This is a…
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…
I first met my wife in person, but we were in a long-distance online relationship for a year, and some weeks are so busy we text each other more than we speak in person. Starting a relationship during a pandemic would be tricky. Similar:Which State Offers The Best Online Casino With No Deposit Bonus?An in-person…
It’s striking to hear her audience erupt in laughter at the comedy bits in the opening scenes. I assume they didn’t know what they were in for! Similar:CNN sues President Trump and top White House aides for barring Jim Acosta CNN has filed a lawsuit against Pres…CulturePioneering Harvard Blog Site Wrapping It UpI still…
In the wake of the pandemic, the entertainment industry created a new position on set to help keep outbreaks at bay. […] The demands of the job are big: sanitization, testing, safety equipment and distancing. Cast and crew are split into different zones, based on the frequency of testing and ability to wear masks. The…
I’m proud of the daughter for her involvement in this Equity audio production. (Some of the screams mentioned by the reviewer are hers.) One would be hard-pressed to find a more perfect production for the pandemic, as the radio drama comes with no visuals and forces one to shut out the outside world for the…
Similar:My 4Cs StoryI chaired a session on Friday, and gave …AcademiaWhy is Elon Musk attacking Wikipedia? Because its very existence offends him So, the sight of Elon Musk charging to…BusinessFact check: Biden ad misleadingly suggests Trump called Covid-19 a 'hoax' CNN fact-checks a misleading Biden a…Current_EventsConfuse Students to Help Them LearnConfusing sometimes helps cats, so…
Bits and pieces from a news article that summarizes recent scholarly studies. Some moderately good news, and a reminder that increased testing means finding more cases, and finding them earlier, which means people get medical treatment sooner. (More testing means less suffering and fewer deaths. For those of us who care about such things.) Over…
My big finish as Alquist in a Zoom-based production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Similar:Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, 1960 Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells’s…AestheticsHow Russia’s Disinformation Apparatus Ran Aground in UkraineSkillful propagandists always leverage p…CultureSchisms (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 5)Rewatching ST:TNG Riker is having troub…DesignWhy…
Rewatching ST:TNG. The plot, such as it is, quickly gets Picard and Wesley separated from the Enterprise and in the company of a mining shuttle pilot who challenges Picard’s authority. After a few on-location scenes in a bleak desert, the story shifts to the standard generic cave set, where some falling chunks of foam and…
I wish I had the time or energy to get out the telescope and camera, but I did go out for a walk in the neighborhood and got an eyeful of this in the sky. Similar:Astronauts cloaked Klingon space patch: Star Trek-inspired emblem revealed The current commander of the Internati…AestheticsStar Wars' Original, Scum-Caked BrillianceThe B-movie…
In October 2000, I was blogging about The F. Scott Fitzgerald Short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (background; full text) A biography of Virginia Woolf The precarious status of English as a global language A call for papers for a special issue of Text Technology devoted to interactive fiction (I have a copy on my shelf…