Fact check: Trump utters series of false and misleading claims at coronavirus briefing

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…

The Nightingale (WAOB Audio Theatre)

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…

Introduction to The Skin of Our Teeth (optimistic, absurdist metatheater; Thornton Wilder, 1942)

Similar:A stranger took this photo of my parents doing their daily crossword together in a cafe.A stranger took this photo of my parents…CultureWhat My Journalism Class Looks Like on Election DayMy journos are out there, gathering news…AcademiaWhat Can Science Tell Us About Dad Jokes?Beyond making the audience cringe and, h…CultureEconomics in Early Computer Games(First published…

When People Only Read the Headline — Misuse of Journalism

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…

Which of my colleagues wants attention?

Similar:The phrase "debate begins" in the headlines of multiple stories on coronavirus does not me…If you encounter the same story on diffe…BusinessPushing and pulling vertices. Components that fit together perfectly when I model them in …AestheticsThe girl rehearsing as Babette in Stage Right's Beauty and the BeastCarolyn rehearses with Nick Lenz. Her sh…Current_EventsWaiting for a…

The girl asked me to read R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) to her. #quarantine #partylikeaprofessor

Similar:Prophet Motive (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 16) The Nagus's eccentricities a… Rewatching ST:DS9 Quark is enjoying a…BusinessMy dad predicted Trump in 1985 – it's not Orwell, he warned, it's Brave New WorldAs my father [Neil Postman] pointed out,…BooksSteampunk officer uniforms — test #Blender3D #Unity3Dhttps://youtu.be/SDh4TW8ujNg The vide…AestheticsSeeing Floyd Collins, a musical about caving and…

In “World Drama” I’m adding the absurd, optimistic “The Skin of Our Teeth” (dropping bleak “Waiting for Godot”)

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 Survivors (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Three Episode 3) Charming geriatric love and a pacifist morality play

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After the Federation colony on Raina IV is obliterated, the Enterprise discovers a perfectly preserved house with two elderly survivors. The standoffish Uxbridge impresses Worf by confronting strangers with a non-functional hand phaser, and the hospitable Rishon tells a charming story of how the two fell in love on Earth.…

What gives you comfort? I collect lights. Some of these have magnets!!

Similar:Tips to Improve HappinessKing says many simple and effective tech…CultureMelissa Terras' Blog: Male, Mad and Muddleheaded: Academics in Children's Picture BooksLabcoats, suits (but not if you are fema…AcademiaMan arrested in DC with weapons is released; says he made a mistakeA man arrested at DC checkpoint yesterda…CultureI went with frisse. German uses esse “to eat” for…

MoonBot is back. This time he fights a new adversary. #Blender3D physics practice.

I submitted midterm grades at about 11 last night, quickly modeled a new object, and let the animation render overnight.   Similar:Look what mysteriously appeared outside my office door!PersonalUpdating a villain's lair in #Blender3D. Still a work in progress.AestheticsIf you think I'm wrong that the media fairly covered the Cannon Hinnant murder, but you're…Plenty of…

How are you holding up? What difficult choices have you made? How can we all help each other get through COVID-19??

Carolyn and were recently cast in a historical film. I recorded my video audition last week, feverish with an upper respiratory tract infection, coughing and gulping from a mug of tea between lines. Our characters are in different time periods, but we each get to fight someone in a duel. Filming for our scenes was…

Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling Dad

Similar:Leftovers from the food my colleagues brought in to bribe/reward those few students who sh… Leftovers from the food my colleagues b…AcademiaMe (glares in iambic pentameter)Me: I need to post the opening lecture f…AcademiaCarolyn, Easter 2017 PersonalRenata, Carolyn and Alex in a scene from this weekend's Pippin.CultureI baked about 12 million vertices of steampunk control panel…

Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling Dad

Are you unexpectedly home-schooling your kids? Every family is different, and every kid is different. But I think anxious parents who are in unexplored territory probably need to hear this: you won’t hurt your children if you don’t keep them academically occupied for a block of 7 hours. On a typical brick-and-mortar school day, kids…

Oedipus Tyrannos (Oedipus Rex) — Brief Introduction

My first lecture screencasts for my newly-online class. (Thanks, COVID-19.)     Similar:Stage Right's Alice in WonderlandMy daughter shared the role of Alice thi…CultureBuzzFeed plagiarism, deleted posts: Jonah Peretti explains.In 2012 my former Slate colleague Farhad…BusinessNo, Prince Philip did not dress as a palace guard to prank the queenI didn’t share this miscaptioned photo, …AmusingImma…

Trump, finally, takes the coronavirus emergency seriously

CNN’s Stephen Collinson praises the president’s Monday press conference. This version of Donald Trump will save lives. The President offered Americans something they have rarely seen from him in his latest and most somber press conference yet on the coronavirus pandemic on Monday. He dispensed unimpeachable information based on fact. He called for national unity and…