I’m very particular about my algorithms. Whether it’s Netflix or Disney Plus or (especially) my Spotify account… I don’t have much grace for those who mess with my beloved stats and recommendations. Music was one of those things that changed my life as a young person and opened my eyes to a wider world of …
Weird that I’ve gotten so much done the last few days since it’s technically “summer” for us teachers. But I find that keeping busy with consulting work, aquarium building, and taking notes on what I’m reading (to make myself a better person and teacher!) helps me keep the “I miss my students” blues at bay!
I preached today at Garden of Grace UCC in Columbia, SC (where Rev. Merianna Harrelson is the Pastor). The main thread of the sermon and the service was a rumination on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s talk at Barratt Jr. High School in Philadelphia in 1967. The video of his words was feared lost for …
Anyone who has read my writings and ravings here since 2006 will know I feel this exact way. Buy that domain name. Carve your space out on the web. Tell your stories, build your community, and talk to your people. It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to …
I’m going to miss Dark Sky. It was one of those important iOS apps that made a generation of early adopters into lifelong users. As a reminder, Apple says it will be shutting down Dark Sky on January 1, 2023. The popular weather app was already removed from the App Store in September and it …
I’m constantly on the fence about pre-planning or pre-scheduling too many marketing posts ahead of time on social media. It’s handy, for sure. However, given that events happen without warning, there are real risks that could make whatever you’re trying to do look incredibly out-of-touch. However, there is a benefit to having a month (or …
How Angels Found their Wings | History Today: The angels of the Bible were not winged. (The winged Cherubim and Seraphim are figures derived from the Near Eastern tradition of winged zoomorphic guardian figures and are not angels since they perform none of the angelic functions.) In fact, in the Old Testament angels are often …
One of my favorite Bible studies to lead every year is the “Imagining Jesus” series, where we look at historical, theological, and entertainment (movies, music videos, cartoons, etc.) depictions of Jesus. The ultimate point is to help the participant realize that we “imagine” Jesus’ appearance, demeanor, and personality based on a number of our cultural …
One of my bucket list 🪣✅ items finally got checked off! Asia Has Claims Upon New England is in the Smithsonian! Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
I’ve been hesitant (for some reason) to hop too deeply into Wilco’s newest album, Cruel Country. As a long long long time fan of the band, I can’t explain it really. However, this album is definitely growing on me lately. Go give a listen…. ▶︎ Wilco
“If I didn’t know exactly what it was, which is this computer program we built recently, I’d think it was a 7-year-old, 8-year-old kid that happens to know physics,” said Lemoine, 41. Source: Google engineer Blake Lemoine thinks its LaMDA AI has come to life – The Washington Post
I wasn’t particularly sure how my teaching year would go this year. I knew I was teaching Physics and Physical Science. Both of those are right in my wheelhouse and I enjoy teaching both of those immensely, and I’m incredibly passionate about the topics in those subject areas. However, the big question was Earth Science …
Something Funny Happened On the Way to Teaching Earth Science Read More »
Corrected identification of object about to hit the moon: Short version : back in 2015, I (mis)identified this object as 2015-007B, the second stage of the DSCOVR spacecraft. We now have good evidence that it is actually 2014-065B, the booster for the Chang’e 5-T1 lunar mission. (It will, however, still hit the moon within a …
It’s been a while, but I’m really excited to be using this space again… fun stuff ahead.
Kuo: Apple AR Headset Coming in Late 2022 With Mac-Level Computing Power – MacRumors: Apple is intending it to support a “comprehensive range of applications” with an eye toward replacing the iPhone within ten years. So much is going to change in our society in the next 10-15 years… electric vehicles as predominant mode of …
I’m not saying Track was the best thing that Twitter ever released, but it was probably the best thing Twitter ever encouraged early on with its open API (before the Dark Times when Twitter decided to pivot to an advertising company). Say goodbye to Fleets, the row of fullscreen tweets at the top of the …
Retargeting was fun while it lasted, right? … interesting time for online marketing. Facebook advertisers, in particular, have noticed an impact in the last month. Media buyers who run Facebook ad campaigns on behalf of clients said Facebook is no longer able to reliably see how many sales its clients are making, so it’s harder to figure …
Facebook Advertisers Panicking over Apple Tracking Options Read More »
I need a cellophane balloon wall robot in my life. If a meeting requires privacy, a robot that looks like the innards of a computer on wheels and is equipped with sensors to detect its surroundings comes over to inflate a translucent, cellophane balloon wall to keep prying eyes away. Source: The Googleplex of the …
“…advertising income often provides an incentive to provide poor quality search results.” – Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in a 1998 research paper while they were doctoral students at Stanford I’ve been trying out the search engine service Neeva lately. You can read more about the founding of the company by ex-Googler Sridhar …
One of the consequences of the wonderful democratization that the web has brought us is that now everyone is an expert at… well, everything. Need a new website? Just use Wix or Squarespace! Sigh. Trying to fix your dishwasher? Don’t call a plumber… there’s a dozen YouTube vids for your exact model! Need to draft …