CEO’s brutalist office, for a Zoom-based production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). #Blender3D

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Set design for Acts II and III of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) #blender3d

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Happy Flag Day! All flags matter, but nobody needs to say that out loud, because we are rational and well-meaning individuals who recognize my expression of respect for my nation’s flag in no way interferes with anyone else’s ability to express respect for their own flags. Similar:Academics want to preserve video games. The game industry…

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NYPD’s Lt. Cattani offers heartfelt apology for “wrong decision” that threw his reputation “in the garbage” May 31

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Post-publication review as an efficient alternative to pre-publication peer review

Andrew Gelman of “Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science” writes: Peer review is fine for what it is—it tells you that a paper is up to standard in its subfield. Peer reviewers can catch missing references in the literature review. That can be helpful! But if peer review catches anything that the original authors…

Fox News, accused of manipulating news images, relabels them as “collages,” “regrets these errors”

Using bits and pieces of real news in order to distort the public perception of a story is unethical. Not all news organizations distort the truth this way. What do you think about the ones that do? Today, Fox re-labeled three different altered images, identifying each as a “collage” and posting a note that says…

Set design for a virtual production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Post-apocalyptic laboratory. #blender3d

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Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop

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My #Blender3D set design for a Zoom-based production of Rossum’s Universal Robots, which I’ll be recording next week.

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Yes, I spent the last hour designing this brutalist pen holder for a virtual production of Rossum’s Universal Robots. #priorities #Blender3D

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The Offspring (StarTrek:TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 16) Data Experiences Fatherhood

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Police Department, Fire Department Tell Different Versions of Same Richmond Incident

A Richmond police official and a fire official agree that Sunday, multiple individuals interfered with a fire truck’s response to a fire. But beyond that, each source tells a rather different story.

I just watched a pretty good Star Trek episode exploring the premise that well-intentioned people can remember and sincerely believe widely different interpretations of the same events, without being intentionally deceptive.

When equally credible sources make conflicting claims, there’s probably a story there somewhere. If a source makes unverifiable claims, or won’t respond to legitimate follow-up questions, or vilifies or aggrandizes a third party, that’s a good reason to be skeptical.

Yesterday’s Enterprise (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 15) Alternate history featuring the Enterprise-C

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. A space anomaly activates an alternate timeline in which the Enterprise-D is a bustling battleship, Picard is a hard-edged militant facing defeat after decades of war against the Klingon Empire, and somehow only Guinan realizes something’s wrong. This version of Picard struggles with ethical complexities that “our” Picard could…