Author: admin

When I watch that man speak, all I can think is “that creep”. And I mean “creep” in precisely the sense of that feeling you get when you notice a poisonous centipede, or some other such verminous creature, crawling up your leg.

The odd thing is that anybody reading this will know, simply from the above description, exactly whom I am speaking about. And yet the people standing behind him in those videos are, for some odd reason, not visibly shuddering with horror.

And I can’t help thinking — What is wrong with those people?

Every day is its own universe, unique into itself. No two days will ever be alike.

Cherish each day as it comes. Do not let a universe go to waste.

What is it, exactly, about live theater? Movies are great, but they are just not the same.

When you see a live human being inhabiting a character right before your eyes, with no special effects, it brings you to a magical place. I am not sure what strange alchemy transports us to that place with such power.

But I am grateful that it does.

One of the best things to me about a great movie or play or novel is the way it creates its own world. Every truly great fiction is its own universe.

If the author or playwright is doing their job properly, within a scene or two, you have entered this universe. And you have been expertly prepped for everything that follows.

And that’s half the fun right there.

For many years I have tried making different types of presentation software. It’s sort of a hobby of mine.

The commercial software that is out there — notably PowerPoint and Keynote — is sort of boring. It gets the job done, but there is no liveness to it, no sense of improvisatory engagement.

What I strive for is a way to go beyond the sense that audiences are seeing a canned presentation. In the visuals there should be a sense of live engagement, which matches the feeling of engagement you can get when somebody is speaking live.

After all, when you go to a live talk, you never quite know what the speaker might say. They could just read from a prepared speech (boring), or they might riff on an idea, or dwell upon a thought that seems to resonate with the audience.

Speakers should be able to capture that sort of electric energy in their visuals, so I try to make presentation tools that are capable of that. And isn’t that better than a stupid slide deck?

I realized a long time ago that effective teaching is not about imparting knowledge. It’s about knowing how to tell a story.

To make sense of that, it’s useful to ask yourself “Why do people like stories?” What is it about fictional people and their problems that we find so endlessly fascinating?

Clearly there is no profit motive in hearing, reading or watching a good story. It usually doesn’t advance our career, or put food on the table. We do it because there is something enormously satisfying in the process of receiving a story well told.

If you want your students to learn, place what you are teaching in the context of a good narrative.
The important thing is for your learners be motivated to ask “And then what happens?”

The rest is all detail.

Some things that are gold also glitter
Some people who wander are lost
The old that is weak may just wither
Tree roots can be killed by the frost

When I was little, our dad would sometimes bring home donuts for dessert. One day I asked him “When you eat a donut, what happens to the hole?”

He thought about it for a moment, and then he told me “The ghosts eat them.”

I really liked this answer. From then on, I felt very good after I ate a donut.

After all, I wasn’t just eating a donut. I was also feeding a ghost.

Today Kamala Harris turns 60. Hopefully she (and the rest of us) will get a nice belated birthday present on November 5 when she beats what’s his name.

Although considering the completely loopy things that guy has been saying recently, it’s becoming increasingly clear that he is no longer her actual opponent. Any month now he may stop being able to form English sentences altogether.

Which means she is actually running against the man who will take his place when he goes off to the cuckoo bin. And that’s what really scares me.

The Republican VP candidate is something far worse than a mere crook. He is a extremist true believer, which is ten times more terrifying.

I find it fascinating the way fantastical fiction seems to come in pairs, like Coke and Pepsi.

Currently there are currently two major fictional SciFi universes in American culture: Star Wars and Star Trek. In addition, there are currently two major fantasy universes in American culture: the universe of Lord of the Rings and the universe of Harry Potter.

Interestingly, the two science fiction universes both originated in the U.S., whereas the two fantasy universes both originated in the U.K. This roughly matches our sense of those two cultures. America speaks to our sense of the future, whereas England speaks to our shared sense of a nostalgic past.

Of course there is now a third fantastical universe, which has taken over popular culture by shamelessly mixing science fiction and fantasy, without regard to any sense of rhyme or reason. I’m speaking, of course, of the Marvel Universe.

Where else could you find a touching love story between a witch and a robot?