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

Similar:The Last Outpost (ST:TNG Rewatch. Season 1, Episode 4) Riker shouts from a cliff while Fer…Rewatching ST:TNG after about a 20-year …CultureWhy Japanese Kids Can Walk to School Alone It’s a common sight on Japanese mass t…CultureThe Last Jedi: Oh, the Feels.No spoilers here. (I managed to avoid al…MediaSeeing a different cast. Break all the…

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:When she isn't playing Hodel, she'll be dancing with a bottle.PersonalMaking a journalism game to teach myself ChoiceScriptMe: (Making a journalism game to teach m…AcademiaThe Hubble spotted this smiley face in spaceReading each other’s facial expressions …AestheticsGreensburg student wins Shakespeare contest A Greensburg student did the Bard pr…CultureNASA finally makes contact with Voyager 2 after…

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

Similar:Easter Blessings 2021 Current_Events"Why are you throwing out all the books?!"The short answer is because we’re about …AestheticsHome Soil (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 17)The concept was good, and the production…PersonalLet He Who Is Without Sin #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 7) Worf Scorns RisaRewatching ST:DS9 A nervous Morn sniffs…AmusingOur 2014 class banner was…

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:The only snow alert you'll ever need.AmusingThe coronavirus is today just as contagious and just as serious as it was when we were all…CultureMy Cow Game Extracted Your Facebook DataThe Cambridge Analytica scandal is drawi…AmusingChess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent Last week, according to Russian media …CybercultureStar Trek Personality Test –Star Trek…

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:Fake News Can Be Deadly. Here's How To Spot ItWe are all vectors by which fake news ca…Current_Events‘I’m sorry, but it’s too late’: Alabama doctor tells unvaccinated, dying COVID patientsDonald Trump is vaccinated. Mitch…

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:In between 3 walks and a chess game with my son, today I managed to churn out a second 10s…AestheticsI just dusted off a #textadventure project I started in Inform6 around 1999.I just dusted off a #textadventure proje…CybercultureSo Why Do People Shrug? Researchers Say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯While contemplating what sort of body la…CultureIf I don’t design the…

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:Bureaucrats Put the Squeeze on College NewspapersFew school newspapers are financially in…AcademiaBreakfast Battle from "The Miracle Worker" (Pamela Lee as Annie Sullivan and Carolyn Jerz …Update: Here’s a clip of the whole break…CultureApple Hill Playhouse is closing, leaving theater group seeking new homeConfiguring…

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:Younger Americans and Public LibrariesMillennials are quite similar to their e…BooksMore #steampunk control panel bits for a #neovictorian #blender3D project. I have a master…AestheticsPracticing my Unity3D design skills. Forgot to turn on gravity.https://youtu.be/PkxxiPAmTFg…

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

I found this image on Facebook (where it was being shared without attribution). Similar:My colleague Dr. Cusick bakes Irish soda bread every year to honor Saint Patrick's Day.AcademiaFalse equivalency in a copspeak guide to dealing with the mediaPolice chief and writer Cliff Couch know…CultureShare a Coke with "Pepsi"AestheticsThe Storyteller (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode…

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:Blender 3D Flyover of Fantasy Steampunk Spacecraft When my kids were small, at bedtime …AestheticsMy simulated city has 1000 capsule inhabitants that are just smart enough to gather around…My simulated city has 1000 capsule inhab…DesignAs yearbooks die, colleges lose a link to the pastThis year, for the first time in decades…AcademiaTwitter changes strategy in battle…