Other than one trip to the grocery store, I haven’t been in public since March 13, so I haven’t noticed if people in my community have started wearing masks. But I’ve wondered how I’ll be able to respond to people’s voices when I can’t see their mouths. In the past few years, I have…
A few interesting bits I found interesting to explore: There are two different ways to view the exact same data: The logarithmic scale shows a great comparison of the magnitude of growth between countries, but less of the human impact. The linear scale shows the real human impact — a growth twice the size is twice the number of…
My weekend coronavirus lockdown project was writing up a new handout devoted to Graham’s “Disagreement Hierarchy” for academic arguments. Does the word “argument” make you think of angry people yelling? This document presents Graham’s “disagreement hierarchy,” which catalogs multiple stages between juvenile name-calling and carefully refuting an error in your opponent’s central point. Siblings might…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After a member of a landing party dies an accidental, senseless death, Picard must break the news to her young son. “Jeremy, on the starship Enterprise, no one is alone,” says Picard. “No one.” Numerous times on my rewatch, I’ve wished episodes would devote less time to scanning and probing…
Public officials misspeak all the time. Journalists make mistakes all the time. Ordinary citizens over-react to headlines without reading the full article all the time. We are all of us human. It’s unfair for any of us to treat every gaffe as evidence of malice or incompetence. For example, critics of President Trump are stretching…
The Shape of the World, According to Old Maps Similar:Shatoetry iPhone app lets you put… words… in… William Shatner's… mouthWilliam Shatner and technology go way ba…AestheticsOut for a walk during some downtime. Paused to appreciate this beautiful city of #Pittsbur…AestheticsUnderstanding 9/11: A Television News ArchiveStunning collection of thousands of hour…Culture‘This is no longer a debate’:…
In March 2000, I was blogging about Palm V handheld computers for Navy officers Teaching with bells and whistles Stephen King selling a short story online NCAA banning online journalists Great moments in bureaucratic history Diploma mills Maps of imaginary lands Similar:A masked, socially distant museum visit. So nice to get away from syllabuses…
Similar:We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now | History & Archaeology”Hear my voice. Alexander Graham Bell.” …CultureThe Pentagon has ordered Stars and Stripes to shut down for no good reasonStunning. The Stars and Stripes is much …CultureDelightful interview with a former Setonian editor-in-chief who's now doing SEOAs a student journalist,…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After a primitive, rationalist society mistakes Federation technology for supernatural power, Picard must do whatever it takes to undo the resulting cultural contamination. Fortunately for Picard, that involves lots of talking. A grim scene in sickbay memorably demonstrates that humans in the 24th century can sometimes delay but cannot…
Similar:Winners Chosen in Annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene ContestMichael Henninger took this wonderful ph…BooksTimeline of Donald J. Trump's Statements on Coronavirus OutbreakCultureUnity3D Maze Game TutorialWorkspace for an in-progress Unity3D tut…AcademiaAdvice for My Conservative StudentsA professor who had been a conservative …AcademiaCrabby 10yo Ties Self to Pole to Protest InjusticeMy wife confiscated my preteen daughter’…CultureLie to…
Similar:Google Pledges $300 Million to Clean Up False NewsThis is a welcome step, but we cannot tr…CultureNASA's Perseverance lander brought some Easter eggs with it to MarsIt’s a bit of a stretch to call this Ted…AwesomeMore bits of my summer project – another delightful span of a #neovictorian #steampunk con…AestheticsPhysician: "My career of treating patients…
Not fake news. Not the enemy of the American people. “Nobody ever thought a thing like this could have happened,” said the the president at Thursday’s press event. Feb 27: “We’re going very substantially down, not up.” [Narrator: “Cases were not going down.”] Feb 26: “The 15 [documented cases of COVID-19 in the USA] within…
Similar:Woman comments on man's looks. Man FREAKS OUT.If I ever over-react to a tweet, I hope …AestheticsLook what mysteriously appeared outside my office door!PersonalBlender GriffinTo celebrate yesterday’s on-time submiss…AestheticsFantasticks (Theatre Factory, Oct 18-27) AestheticsSo, What's in It for Me?All in all, I enjoy my job very much, an…AcademiaAnne Of Green Gables Blond On Book CoverEr..…
I haven’t done any audio theatre recordings in a while (thanks, coronavirus) and I miss it. Here’s my interpretation (recorded some time ago) of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Nightingale.” The nightingale is considered the most beautiful thing in the kingdom… until a mechanical nightingale wins over the citizens, and the true nightingale is banished. But…
Similar:Yes I do own a copy of the 1975 Star Trek Enterprise blueprints, but this guy annotated hi…PersonalMicrosoft lays off journalists to replace them with AIMicrosoft is laying off dozens of journa…BusinessIn January 2001, I was blogging about Bill Clinton's #WhiteHouse security deposit, anachro…In January 2001, I was blogging about …AcademiaThe future is in interactive…
The Society of Professional Journalists links to an interview with an MIT professor who’s studying misinformation on social media (which is not the same thing as bad journalism — some bad actors take journalism out of context in order to deceive). Responsible journalists are aware that sensational headlines can harm the public. The truth is…
Similar:Feeling classy while I lose. Feeling classy while I lose. PersonalMedia Bias Chart 7.0 (Left vs Right Bias; High vs Low Value and Reliability; Ad Fontes Med…Don’t reject a news source just because …CultureObamacare's broken website cost more than LinkedIn, Spotify combinedMuch of the criticism of Healthcare.gov …CultureWhy Student Athletes Continue to FailWhen student athletes…
Similar:Enjoying a peaceful fall moment while it's possible. Taking these moments as they come. AestheticsGet Hands-on Writing Experience.AcademiaReading in the MorningTo qualify for a day at the local water …BooksMy son, volunteering at the local food bank.PersonalAnnie — Cabinet TomorrowMy 10yo daughter Carolyn played Annie in…AmusingVulcan mind-melds from Star Trek: The Original Series, in the…
In light of current events, I’m dropping the bleak Waiting for Godot from my World Drama class (actually I’m making it optional; students could drop a different play) and adding Thornton Wilder’s absurdist but optimistic The Skin of Our Teeth. Writing while World War II was still raging, Wilder depicts a representative American family…
The blurb for a 2011 English version of the 1999 Chinese play I’m teaching this week: China’s most popular and provocative drama. A modern story of love and obsession, Rhinoceros in Love tells the story of a rhinoceros-keeper who develops a dangerous romantic fascination with the woman of his dreams: the uncompromising, unobtainable Mingming. Hear…