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:A day after using an apparently altered hurricane map, Trump defends his Alabama claimIt was Mr. Trump who used a black Sharpi…Current_EventsWhy Fan Theories Are Destroying Film Discourse Fan theories are no substitute for cri…CultureWhen an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a MoraySomewhere today a headline writer is wea…AwesomeBound…
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:The Curtains Were Blue: In Which I Fix Another Meme. Above is my response to a meme that …AcademiaCarolyn is in PICT Classic Theatre adaptation of Oliver Twist (opened Sat night, runs thro…[Artistic Director Alan] Stanford had no…BooksIn Ferguson, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery gives account of his arrestComedian Robin Williams and actress Laur…Culture2001: Stanley…
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:How Russia’s Disinformation Apparatus Ran Aground in UkraineSkillful propagandists always leverage p…CultureCreative People Say NoWhen I was a master’s student working as…AcademiaSean Spicer: Hero in the War Against JournalismThe Onion reminds us not to normalize Sp…Current_EventsWikipedia:VisualEditor – Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaWikipedia is testing a visual editor, in…CybercultureChess tournament.PersonalNutcracker dress rehearsal montage. Carolyn plays the Dew…
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: The Expensive Education of Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley Because what he never managed to grok …BusinessYouTube distortion after the same clip…
Similar:I regularly teach A Raisin in the Sun but haven't seen a live production in decades. Looki… AwesomeRussia is relying on unwitting Americans to spread election disinformation, US officials s…If I ever share something that turns out…Culture2023 public domain debuts include last Sherlock Holmes workFritz Lang’s Metropolis, the first talki…AcademiaMary Rodgers, Composer of Once Upon…
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:Summer project: learning the Unity gaming engine.One bedtime about 11 years ago, my 5yo d…PersonalCraiyon: The signing of the Declaration of Independence, starring Chewbacca.PersonalWe ask 3 Broadway photographers: How do you turn a live show into a still image?Great story about the art of photographi…AestheticsThe girl enjoyed seeing Alex Noble and the rest of the…
Updating the graphic for a writing handout on how to write instructions, which I created in 2000. Similar:Star Trek: The MenagerieJust finished watching a two-part episod…PersonalThe daughter is performing now Twin Lakes Park.The daughter is performing now Twin Lake…PersonalTraces of ScribesBook historian Irene O’Daly notes that t…AcademiaDistributing Candy at Holiday ParadeCurrent_EventsA news site used AI…
Updating the graphic for a resource I created in 2012. Similar:Post Gazette Corrects Headline of Seton Hill iPad FollowupEveryone makes mistakes. As a student jo…AcademiaKey and Peele sportscenter teacher parody: New sketch imagines teachers as athletes (VIDEO…Oh, how I wish we lived in a world where…CulturePrivacy and reporting on personal livesInteresting guidelines, phrased as sugge…CybercultureThe…