Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data builds an android derived from his own positronic neural pathways, and intends to raise it as his child — a prospect that invokes Picard’s iconic facepalm. Picard (to admiral conjured up by writers who needed an antagonist): “There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly…
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.
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…
A Facebook meme that claims “3 of these 4 honorable men were killed by ‘protesters’” is false. I don’t mean that I can prove that not a single one of the guilty parties ever participated in a protest. However, Police never connected Beaty’s death with the protests (and the FBI declined to do so when…
Similar:The Hidden Feminist Messages in 'Schoolhouse Rock!'Hidden? Sure, but certainly not accident…AcademiaGoogle Stops Scanning Student Gmail Accounts for Ads Google said Wednesday that it stoppe…AcademiaFrisbee is a brand name, but how newsworthy is that?What would you do? Today I wrote 192 …AcademiaAs a student journo, naturally I covered the visit from Star Trek creator Gene…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. An agitated Riker, beamed off of a research station just before it explodes, finds himself charged with murder. Testimony from Riker, the victim’s widow, and (indirectly) the victim tell conflicting stories. A solid storytelling concept, which somewhat freshens a mishmash of already-familiar TNG tropes: a brilliant male scientist, his…
“I am the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and was not given even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop,” Budde said. She excoriated the president for standing in front of the church — its windows…
Similar:How to Think Like ShakespeareSaving this for the next time I teach Sh…AcademiaDo the Best Professors Get the Worst Ratings?To summarize the findings: because they …AcademiaA day after using an apparently altered hurricane map, Trump defends his Alabama claimIt was Mr. Trump who used a black Sharpi…Current_EventsNew Ground (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 10)…
The ongoing protests following the killing of George Floyd were caught up in violence again on Saturday, as police all over the country tear-gassed protesters, drove vehicles through crowds, opened fire with nonlethal rounds on journalists or people on their own property, and in at least one instance, pushed over an elderly man who was walking away with a cane. Here are some of the ways law enforcement officers escalated the national unrest.
Throughout the protests over the death of George Floyd, journalists have been injured and arrested covering the unrest. That trend continued Saturday and there were examples across the country but journalists on the ground in Minneapolis expressed dismay at how law enforcement officials seemed to be targeting members of the media. In the Friday night…
A rubber bullet shot by the Hong Kong police on Sunday caused a journalist to lose sight in an eye. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) again urges the authorities to guarantee reporters’ safety. A reporter working for Indonesian-language media outlet Suara Hong Kong News, Veby Mega Indah, has permanently lost eyesight in the right eye on…
Microsoft is laying off dozens of journalists and editorial workers at its Microsoft News and MSN organizations. The layoffs are part of a bigger push by Microsoft to rely on artificial intelligence to pick news and content that’s presented on MSN.com, inside Microsoft’s Edge browser, and in the company’s various Microsoft News apps. Many of the affected workers are part of Microsoft’s SANE (search, ads, News, Edge) division, and are contracted as human editors to help pick stories. Robots will now pick news stories for MSN and Microsoft News.
Similar:Girlhood 2014They don’t even seem to want to watch Fr…CultureWe are in a golden age for journalismMost handwringing about the state of jou…BusinessParable of the Polygons – a playable post on the shape of societyA very clever interactive essay that use…CultureI dunno what to call this but it really hit the spot.PersonalCNN employees resign after…
A Facebook meme with 52k reactions and 37k shares includes pictures of volunteers cleaning the streets in Minneapolis, the day after mass protests of the death of George Floyd. The pictures make a powerful point about the values of the community. However, the text includes an unnecessary slam against journalism, because it introduces the images…
Top — nonverbal addition with Jessica and her mother’s ring; bottom — good camera work (the actors choreographed when to turn on their cameras in order to arrange themselves in this order) @thepublicpgh Similar:GIFs, memes and liveblogs: The controversial new language of book reviewingSalon has an interesting essay on multim…AestheticsToday I didn't save the world,…
Similar:Another #neovictorian control panel for a personal #steampunk project. #design #aesthetics…AestheticsWhen is Donald Trump kidding? When is he being sarcastic? When is he being serious? Who ge…Earlier today a reporter, following her …Current_EventsI Love Books: A Campus Library EvolvesI love books. I love smelling them, t…AcademiaSHU Commemoration of September 11 Terrorism Attacks — Looking Back…
Sobering report from the New York Times, providing evidence that COVID-19 deaths have been over-reported. Mortality data in the middle of a pandemic is not perfect. In most places, the disparities between the official death counts and the total rise in deaths reflect limited testing for the virus rather than intentional undercounting. Officially, about 355,000 people had…
Similar:The last submissions of this o'er ripe term, Ungraded, mock me though this app. And thus,…AcademiaUnearthing a Long Ignored African Writing System, One Researcher Finds African History, by…Not only is this a fantastic story about…AcademiaMy basement dehumidifier was flashing an error code. YouTube had a tutorial with a possibl…My basement dehumidifier was flashing an…PersonalThe Child…
Updating the graphic for a writing handout on how to write instructions, which I created in 2000. Similar:Outtakes from “Once on This Island” promohttps://youtu.be/QlMJuogD9to AmusingShort Stories: Developing Ideas for Short FictionI just supervised a teaching demonstrati…EducationPrime Stage presents ‘Twelfth Night’ as season-ending productionLooking forward to seeing this! Set in …CultureI actually don't mind Canvas –…
Updating the graphic for a resource I created in 2012. Similar:Still More FaceTime FunI realize that video-chatting teenagers …MediaI’ve roughed out earthen embankments for the city walls. I know there was at some point a …I’ve roughed out earthen embankments for…CultureHigh Schooler's Fake Story of Stock Riches Fools New York Editors”If your mother says she…