Year: 2020

What the hell is a fan, anyway?

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Seriously, I have to wonder at this point, what a “fan” is. It seems like every fandom is trying to be a clique that excludes anyone isn’t interested in every piece of media related to something regardless of their preferences. Not only do I have to watch the bad movie, I have to read a bad book made out of the bad movie? I have to read bad tie-in books to the bad movie? I have to also read the good books that got thrown out by the corporation that made the bad movies, and I have to bad read…

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The Material Mind – What makes a mind “alive”?

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I detailed in a recent Star Wars Mandalorian analysis a rare entry into the the true science fiction space in the mighty space opera franchise. In the final episode of the first season, a droid character acts as though he is sapient, even making moral calculations, but at the same time denies that he is alive. This becomes important when the Mandalorian, who never removes his helmet in front of living beings due to an oath, allows the droid to remove his helmet and treat a life-threatening wound. This creates some dissonance with the titular character – he has come…

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Grades – Important Measure, or a Tool of Oppression?

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Once again, we have a great tweet as an entry-point into a deeper, more important discussion: Grading students – is it necessary and appropriate, or a piece of convention that ought to be reconsidered? Before we even bother digging into any perspectives, let’s challenge the initial response. It turns out the story that Jesse is responding to was the result of a writer being duped, and the email was faked. Buzzfeed issued the appropriate correction at the TOP of the story. That’s actually a responsible correction, so good on them. Why did this gain such traction? I think its because…

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Blogs are Back!

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To kick off 2020, we have a cascade of agreement on all sides: And I’m not the only one agreeing with Scalzi and Wendig: So why? Why are blogs a thing? Or alternatively, why do they NEED to be a thing? Scalzi spells it out – even if you are on the left, and I STRONGLY URGE any of my readers who feel “safe” on social media due to being politically aligned to the left to consider this, the goalposts can shift at any time and you can get your social media presence destroyed. They can destroy it directly by…

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Framing theft and electric shock

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Here we have a man trespassing on private property, attempting to steal someone’s property, and then receiving a mild electric shock for his wickedness. It might be staged, but its the framing that is interesting, including my own. The lefties in the responses try to frame the sign owner as some kind of psycho, ignoring and completely dismissing the obvious crimes being committed, or even trying to pretend that it was the property owner committing a crime. They also continually reveal both their dishonesty and/or ignorance. It was a mild shock, the kind that you would get from a DC…

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There’s Nothing “Nerdy” About Watching Star Wars

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A new Star Wars movie came out recently – another piece of weird corporate fan-fiction with the creator happily disinvited from participation – and I noticed something: People (mostly my facebook friends) were posting about seeing the movie, but with an odd sentiment attached to it – the use of the word “nerd.” “Getting my nerd on.” “Time to let loose my inner nerd.” “Time to be a bit nerdy.” Let me say, there is absolutely nothing nerdy about going to see a movie in the most popular film franchise in the history of humanity. It is decidedly a normal…

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