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

Similar:Jeff Bezos Plan for News: The Washington Post Becomes an Amazon ProductFor the past few months, a group inside …BooksCongrats to all the winners at the Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Project! Bit-Sized Productions …Bit-Sized Productions was nominated for …ArtHow Not to Be a Jackass at Your Next Academic ConferenceOkay, I confess, I was once in…

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…

Rhinoceros in Love (World Drama — China, 1999)

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…

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:On Stephen Hawking, Vader and Being More Machine Than HumanIn one version of Hawking’s eulogistic s…CybercultureI may or may not make a zapping sound under my breath while phasering your ticket. @prime_… AestheticsShakespeare’s Genius Is NonsenseJust as comedians generally don’t laugh …CultureNerdy Rainbow Loom CraftingMy wonderfully geeky tween made these Bl…AestheticsSledding in Spring Break SnowMy…

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:Analysis | The fake news is coming from inside the White HouseTo believe Donald Trump, you must believ…CultureFacebook, Now You Remind Me of a Half-Drunk Cocktail Party SchmoozerLast week, Facebook asked me what sports…BusinessFacebook does…

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:Journalists should not amplify the ableist biases of untrained sourcesBeing a cop, lawyer, patriot, protestor,…CultureEye of Sauron, Hobbit Door, Palantir and One Ring Easter Eggs.AestheticsOh that sweet, sweet feeling of progress.PersonalWe Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now | History & Archaeology”Hear my voice. Alexander Graham Bell.” …CultureLaying out our anti-socialization…

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:Yesterday my stack of unmarked assignments was about 120, so this is not bad.Nothing in this stack is pressing, but t…AcademiaWhen your January term starts Dec 18. #partylikeaprofAcademiaAbout the Sinkhole in the Adjunct Faculty Lounge, and Other Mid-Semester AnnouncementsI recently spoke with the…

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…

Kitchen utensils for my steampunk villain’s hideout. #Blender3D.

There’s nothing particularly steampunky or villainous about kitchen utensils, but I am glad I feel well enough to get back to Blender3D. Similar:Carolyn appears as homeschooled teenager "Carolyn." Free holiday show Tuesday at 7. PersonalHow not to attract women to coding: Make tech pinkJust watched videos of the musicals “Tho…AcademiaCursor*10Great free Flash game, emulated at the…

Coronavirus Tribute to Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” (1942)

I found this image on Facebook (where it was being shared without attribution). Similar:That 'Useless' Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest TicketWhat kind of boss hires a thwarted actre…AcademiaWhat's a Snollygoster? Even lexicographers are wrong sometimesThis is an amusing little story about ho…CultureHow Trump Is Making Journalism School Great AgainThis is an important time to…

Those mean fake news people at the Washington Post are at it again, this time publishing a vivid simulation of the effect of social distancing

Those mean fake news people at the Washington Post are at it again, this time pushing a series of four simulations that vividly illustrate the impact of social distancing. Where do they get off, creating clear and informative graphics to illustrate a scientific principle? What do they think they’re doing, some kind of public service?…

Social Distancing: Because the Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few

Similar:Superman Comic about Sympathy and HopeJust in case someone out there could use…AestheticsThe Random Pulp Science Fiction Title Generator from Cornelius Zappencackler's DERANGE-O-L…From Thrilling Tales (where the future i…AmusingI'm Gradually Losing My Hearing. (It’s Part of Aging.)During a department meeting today, I not…AcademiaThe "Monsters, Inc" company play helped me teach ShakespeareToday the awkward but delightful…

Timeline of Donald J. Trump’s Statements on Coronavirus Outbreak

Similar:Audisee Presents: The War of the WorldsAs new age synthesizer music, a rich bar…BooksWhat You Get When 30 People Draw a World Map From Memory Tasked with creating “a piece of art…AestheticsDéjà Q (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 13) Amusing, insightful study of hum…(Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break…AmusingWhy The Athletic Wants to Pillage Newspapers…

The Outsiders Closing after Friday Night’s Show

Similar:Sarek (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 23) Aging with Dignity and Vulcan Min…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureCEO’s brutalist office, for a Zoom-based production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots)….AestheticsOut & About: Stage Right holds its annual Heart of the Arts Gala Source: Out & About: Stage Right…CultureMy son showed me #PacificRim.My son showed me…