Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. The episode feels like a gimmick approved by a cigar-chomping producer who barked at a room of scrappy doe-eyed writers: “Put a script on my desk by 4pm today, or tomorrow you’ll be back on the bus to Dubuque!” Picard is transported to a windowless chamber where he and…
Medium is not a peer-reviewed source, and the author is anonymous, which affects how credible this article is. The clickbaity headline obscures the fact that this essay offers a good argument that much of the good done by cops doesn’t involve having a “monopoly on state violence.” It’s also a reminder that being “blue” as…
I’ve loved this 1920s play for almost 30 years, and never imagined I’d be in a production. Similar:Le règne des robotsÉcrite en 1920 et jouée pour la première…CybercultureHow much of what local TV stations post to Facebook is actually local? For many, right aro…I am not a fan of TV news, and in fact o…BusinessKitchen…
Similar:ifMUD IF discussion | Emily Short's Interactive StorytellingEmily Short on the limitations of parser…CybercultureFrozen opens tonight. (All shows have been sold out for over a month.)DramaJournalists are vital to the health of a free nation. #firstamendnent #freepressPersonalChoose wisely… you have the power to turn this wrap into a sandwich or a candy bar… or…AestheticsThey figured…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. A Klingon exchange officer brings news of Worf’s long-lost father, prompting the Enterprise to visit the Klingon home world. The first part of the episode gives us what we want– a tough Klingon striding through the corridors of the Enterprise, not only picking on nerds Wesley and LaForge, but…
There’s nothing like a fair-minded, good-faith analysis of the facts. And this article from PJMedia is nothing like a fair-minded, good faith analysis. I see it instead as a cynical attempt to cloud the truth by feeding conspiracy theories. An actual news story would lead with the evidence — any charges filed against Gugino, quotes…
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:Actors Fail to Distract Audience from Prop Newspaper HeadlinesMy daughter and I were talking about pro…AmusingPerspective | Whoops of selfish delightThe whoops echoed through airplanes as f…CultureYes, I spent the last hour designing this brutalist pen holder for a virtual production of…AestheticsPost-publication review as an efficient alternative to pre-publication peer reviewAndrew Gelman of “Statistical Modeling,…
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:Out of the Zuckersphere, (back) into the BlogosphereThis is why I still blog. While commerci…AcademiaShakespeare on EclipsesPrepping for tomorrow’s first meeting of…AcademiaPop Culture Showdown with My Retro DaughterThe girl tried to weird me out with a vi…AestheticsThe Hidden Feminist Messages in 'Schoolhouse Rock!'Hidden? Sure, but certainly not accident…AcademiaThat's not an argument. (Yes it is.)I spent…
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:Opening night of Sive.PersonalThe Mere Presence of Your Smartphone Reduces Brain Power, Study Shows The researchers found that participants…AcademiaChallenge Accepted.PersonalEffects of Internet use on the adolescent brain: despite popular claims, experimental evid…Big difference between the clickbaity ve…CybercultureA Man, a Plan, a Pointless(?) ProgramI readily admit that my accomplishment h…AmusingNo, you’re not going crazy – package sizes…
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…