Siblings gotta sib.
Parent: “Why don’t you use one of your stress balls?” The girl: “They don’t like me.”
Facebook exec erroneously cites The Lord of the Rings when comparing the social network to the One Ring
A Facebook executive, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, recently defended Facebook’s policies about political advertising, which critics say rewards politicians who spend a lot of money pushing lies to the slogan-chanting, meme-sharing masses (including the ones in red hats and the ones with the blue hats). Bosworth seems to suggest that for Facebook to tamper with its…
To my daughter for 2020: “You shall prevail.”
Wooden document holders. Pretty routine, but practice is practice. #Blender3D
My son, volunteering at the local food bank.
Stack of wooden desk trays with metal supports. #Blender3D. Normal map, glossy map; mahogany, walnut and beech variations.
My goal in trying to do an object each day is to familiarize myself with the workflow, so that I don’t have to keep looking at a list of instructions.
My last few #blender3D experiments with wood objects went so well I thought I’d try an object with two materials. The reflective nature of metal means I had to add a “gloss” map — I should probably have stuck with a single diffuse material. Lots of trial and error.
I realized I have turn off the “glossiness” in order to make the diffuse color maps. With four different styles of wood, with two different types of metal, the normal map, and the gloss map, I had a lot of do-overs, but I managed.
Geometry and color maps for wooden desk tray. #Blender3D #practice
The blue image is a “normal map,” which graphics engines use to fake extra details on flat geometrical surfaces. I have different color maps for pine, spruce, mahogany and walnut.
Richard Halloran / Owns Home Computer.
“Engineers now predict the day will come when we get all our newspapers and magazines by home computer.”
Why ‘Cats’ the Movie Fails So Flamboyantly
I can’t seem to get into superhero movies. The non-stop CGI onslaught just leaves me cold. As an English professor who teaches classes like Shakespeare in Context and World Drama, I do a lot of reading and see a lot of local theatre. But I’m hardly a media snob. For relaxation, I often put on…
Brass desk lamp, with translucent green shade and glowing light bulb filament. #blender3d
The Icarus Factor (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 14)
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break Starfleet offers Riker his own command and sends his estranged father to brief him on his new mission. Meanwhile, Wesley notices Worf is more anti-social than usual. A character-based episode that has some good moments for the ensemble, but overall didn’t do much for me.…
Desk trays, with procedural wood materials by Blendermada. #blender3d
Opinion: A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden signals what’s coming (Washington Post)
Critical thinking skills and basic textual analysis are increasingly important in a cultural landscape where the powerful are counting on the average person not caring about such things as the truth. Biden opened by talking about how English common law in the 1300s allowed for husbands to beat their wives, and then said that we…
Desk blotters, with procedural leather and wood materials by Blendermada. #blender3d
Really enjoyed watching Your Name with the family. Visuals hooked me, but the story kept me.
My wonderful daughter.
My mom’s Lionel train set (a gift from her father in 1948) had been in storage for 35 years. Most of the figures were from my father’s childhood.
My mother wants me to thank John at The Train Depot in Chantilly, Va., who cleaned and oiled the engine and made it ready to run after 35 years in storage. My very handy mother stripped the 18-gauge speaker wires to connect the lock-ons to the transformer and track.
