Updating a villain’s lair in #Blender3D. Still a work in progress.

Similar:Cooper Hewitt: the typeface by Chester Jenkins “[S]ince Cooper Hewitt is a governme…AestheticsDesk trays, with procedural wood materials by Blendermada. #blender3dAestheticsInternet Explorer and Murder Rates: More Fun with Causation and Correlation IE.png – mlkshk.AmusingToilet paper isn't selling out because the supply chain is collapsing, or because people a…According to an article in Medium, toile…BusinessInside the…

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:Facebook does not care about truth. Facebook wants to sell your attention to the highest b…  Don’t trust your Facebook feed…BusinessSo peaceful and majestic. Another outing with my son.PersonalNarnia board game — enjoyable family activity (but it's weird that the Pevensies compete …It’s weird that in the Narnia board game…BooksOnly a Dad (Edgar Guest poem,…

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 the Bough Breaks (TNG Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 16)Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureOne Does Not Simply: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Internet MemesWhen we envisioned a journal of visual c…AcademiaDisruptions: Texting Your Feelings, Symbol by SymbolBeing a word-oriented thinker, I don’t h…AestheticsOn Stephen Hawking, Vader and Being More Machine Than HumanIn…

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

Similar:What a great time everyone had at the "Cabbies."CultureMelora (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 6) Bashir floats a relationship with an …Rewatching ST:DS9 Bashir shows off an…EmpathyGiving Obsolete Books an Afterlife as Theatre PropsOnce, someone really cared about these o…AestheticsThe girl as the Spanish Soloist in @laurelballettheater & @westmorelandsymphony The Nutcra…AestheticsMy Parents (aged 72…

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:I'm amused by the quirky way the "Thin Bread Crust" meme remixes the remix.I’m interested in the way the “Thin Blue…BusinessLies about history in Texas can be traced to the Lone Star State's own Big Lie: The AlamoYet many Texans feel they need&nbsp…CultureNew Voices For The Voiceless: Synthetic Speech Gets An UpgradeWonderful, inspiring article that uses…

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:Research Before Google Books (from 2006)Me: It took a few days for the spool of …AcademiaNewly acquired technology for teaching writing in the age of AI. (Not for high stakes test…AcademiaThe Backstory: A reporter…

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:A Message from Hester Prynne (Student Video)Have I mentioned lately that I have awes…AcademiaResources for combating sexual harassment in the newsroom — Society of Professional Journ…The Society of Professional Journalists …CultureI’ve roughed out earthen embankments for the city walls. I know there was at some point a …I’ve roughed out earthen embankments for…CultureGame night at…

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:The dangers of 'character education' in universitiesAs the authors depressingly note, “the U…AcademiaPrototypes in Technical Writing: What are They?Many a high school student has muddled t…AcademiaShirley Temple Black, Screen Darling, Dies at 85 Shirley Temple Black, who as a dimpled,…CultureAlice in Quantumland: A…

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:CNN sues President Trump and top White House aides for barring Jim Acosta CNN has filed a lawsuit against Pres…CultureDeus Ex MemoriesI’ve just finished my final training run…CybercultureSomewhere out there, somebody is working…

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

I found this image on Facebook (where it was being shared without attribution). Similar:Sarek (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 23) Aging with Dignity and Vulcan Min…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….CultureTeachers finding games give a leg up on learningThanks for the link, Dana. Experts sa…CultureMars Pole Holds Enough Ice to Flood Planet, Radar Study…