Category Archives: Popular culture

Success and Failure, Winners and Losers

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”  – Wayne Gretzky (MICHAEL SCOTT 😄) Great quote, of course, but even more intriguing and inspiring to me is the original context in which Gretzky said it. The passage below is … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Life, Popular culture | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Extinction immanent? (and imminent?) Michael Crichton on “cyberspace” dooming human innovation/evolution and forecasting the end of the species

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m teaching “Digital Society” this semester, and as fate would have it, over my holiday break I decided to read Michael Crichton’s The Lost World, a novel I’d never read before even though I love Michael Crichton and have probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Creativity, Digital society, generative AI, Popular culture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2024 by Katherine Wikoff

I have wondered about this for years. It seemed like my dad and grandfather watched the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving afternoon every single year of my childhood. Do the Lions always play on Thanksgiving, or is my memory just playing … Continue reading →

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What I’m Reading: A podcast/newsletter called “What Happens Next”

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Katherine Wikoff

A podcast that I don’t even remember subscribing to but which I really enjoy for its unusual topics and insights on political and economic topics is titled, “What Happens Next in 6 Minutes with Larry Bernstein.” In reading through the … Continue reading →

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The surprising way those beach plane banners get airborne | GBH

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Katherine Wikoff

It’s that time of year again in Milwaukee when small airplanes towing long banners begin to fly around (and around and around😀) the lakefront, the baseball stadium, and in a few months the State Fair Park. All of a sudden … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Popular culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Everything “new” is old (again!😀)

Posted on February 17, 2024 by Katherine Wikoff

I suppose every generation believes it has discovered something new when actually that something has been around not just for a while but for a very long time. Like, sometimes centuries! Let me start off with a little Milwaukee hometown … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, History, Life, Media studies, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Revisiting the Bill Moyers series of interviews with Joseph Campbell

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Katherine Wikoff

This is revisiting only in a general sense. During discussion in my political science class this morning, I had occasion to refer to Joseph Campbell. My students had not heard of him, so I gave some quick background, referring to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Creativity, History, Learning, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Teaching | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

How does AI square with religion?

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Katherine Wikoff

Because I teach political science courses, as well as a course titled “Digital Society,” I subscribe to an email newsletter from Project Liberty. Some info on that: Project Liberty is advancing the responsible development of the internet of tomorrow – … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital society, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 8 Comments

A Fun “Weird Al” Tribute to eBay

Posted on November 4, 2023 by Katherine Wikoff

Although this song appeared on “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 2003 album Poodle Hat, it was apparently not released as a single, nor was there ever an official music video made. “Weird Al” did perform this song at eBay Live! 2003, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Music, Popular culture | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Karma? (Or, what goes around comes around)

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Katherine Wikoff

Remember Rueben Kincaid, the Partridge Family’s manager? A while ago I read David Cassidy’s memoir (C’mon, Get Happy) and discovered that Dave Madden, the comedian and comic actor who played Rueben, was a really sweet, generous person. Among his good … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment