A classroom?

[Click for a larger view.]

Here is one example of one university’s idea of a socially distanced classroom. No desks. Lousy sightlines. Notice that the chairs go all the way to the far corner.

I am no fan of online classes, as many OCA readers already know. But right now they’re the only choice to protect the well-being of faculty and students. It’s online teaching and learning that should be the experiment this fall, not an in-person semester that will almost certainly end badly.

Related posts
Choose your own nightmare : College, anyone? : Reluctant professors : Something is rotten in Iowa : Students, stay home : What if

“Nothing stops the mail.”

[Click for a larger view.]

When I saw our postal carrier across the street yesterday, I called out, “Thank you, USPS.” He understood what I meant.

Elaine found this image, uncredited. I want to believe what it says. See also this mailbox.

Eugene Levy, honored

In these terrible times, I liked seeing this video with fellow actors paying tribute to Eugene Levy, recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newport Beach Film Festival.

And so I went down a Eugene Levy rabbithole. More specifically, an SCTV rabbithole. For instance. For instance. For instance. And for instance. Okay, I’ll stop.

Nancy puzzle

Today’s Nancy, which takes shape as a jigsaw puzzle, is especially clever. Olivia Jaimes continues to breathe new life into the Nancy world.

Related reading
All OCA Nancy posts (Pinboard)

The new Blogger interface again

Google is now posting what it calls “weekly updates” on the development of the new Blogger interface. Thus far there has been one update, for “the week of August 1.” The weeks appear to begin on Saturday at Google, and they are very long weeks.

Important for Blogger users: comments posted to the Blogger Help Community (sic) do not reach Google. The way to make a comment that someone at Google will read is to leave feedback, via the question mark that appears top right in the new Blogger interface. You type in the box that pops up — a box that’s already filled with text about leaving feedback. Delete that text and type away.

I just left some feedback about the prolix code that now surrounds every image in the new interface’s HTML window, which makes changing the height and width of images tedious. And I object to Google’s assumption that a user will want to add a caption to every image.

W.G. Sebald would not be happy with the new Blogger.

Related posts
The legacy Blogger interface : Is the new Blogger a New Coke? : The disappearing Blogger Preview

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

Recognize him? Think you do? Leave your best guess in the comments.

*

This one must be tough. Two hints: The mystery actor is best known for a television role. He’s making his second mystery appearance in these pages.

*

I guess this was a tough one. I’ve revealed the answer in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ?

She’s all that

Radical socialist, or tool of Wall Street? For Donald Trump*’s supporters, Kamala Harris is both.

In truth though, Senator Harris is an excellent choice for vice president. She is much better known than her Senate colleague Tammy Duckworth. Her tough, persistent questioning of William Barr and Brett Kavanaugh is well within recent memory, offering a powerful demonstration of what it means to speak truth to power — even if the speaking is a matter of asking questions. And she will (almost certainly) make a great nominee for president in 2024. I especially like the note of reconciliation in her presence on the ticket: she criticized Biden sharply at the first Democratic debate; Biden asked her to run with him; she said yes. As the song says, Let’s work together.

Related reading
“Harris’s Approval Rating Soars After Trump Reminds Nation How ‘Nasty’ She Was to Kavanaugh” (The New Yorker)

Chicken and cheese

A recipe for sardine pizza prompted Fresca to wonder in a comment about dishes inspired by books and movies.

I have no dish, but I now remember a childhood habit born of reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula. From Jonathan Harker’s Journal:

The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese and salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was my supper.

As a boy, with Dracula as my inspiration, I would add a slice of American cheese to my plate whenever we had chicken for dinner. Cheese, right?

Cousin Brucie returns

Cousin Brucie returns to WABC-AM, as in “Seventy-seven, WABC!”

This man was on the radio when I was barely sentient. As they say these days, Wut ?

“In 1917 they say, right?”

Donald Trump*, yesterday:

“In 1917 they say, right? The great, the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing, where they lost anywhere from fifty to a hundred million people. Probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”

What I’d like to hear a reporter say today:

“Mr. President, there have been questions raised about your grasp of history. The year associated with the influenza epidemic of the last century is not, despite what you have repeatedly said, 1917. It’s 1918. And there is no consensus among historians that the epidemic had anything to do with the end of the Second World War. Just to set the record straight on your command of history: could you tell us when the Second World War took place, who was involved, and what its consequences were for the twentieth century?”

Notice that my imaginary question is something of a trap, since it’s about the war Trump* spoke of. I can imagine a (non-)answer:

“Listen, everyone knows about the Second World War. It was bloody and vicious — almost as vicious as you people are, and nothing like it should ever be allowed to happen again. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much.”

He lumbers off the podium. And scene.