R2-D2 from the Star Wars series is one of the most beloved droids out there. Cute, loyal and resourceful, this little droid saves the day many times in the legendary epic. His successor, the spherical-shaped BB-8, also captured the heart of audiences when Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015. Just like R2-D2, BB-8 is a great friend to the human characters and [...]
Rather than take French or Spanish, I took Latin for four years in high school. I loved it, but people would always ask me why I was learning a “dead” language. You’re never going to speak Latin, they would tell me. Why learn it? I could always name plenty of reasons. The English language relies on Latin words and conventions (which definitely came [...]
While shopping for a computer, I fell in love with a laptop that had facial recognition software. Naturally that laptop went home with me, and the face recognition, which works with the built-in camera, was one of the first things I set up. Instead of asking me for a password or passcode when I turned it on, my laptop would show a screen [...]
PSG boasts a surprising number of musicians in the office. Almost every staff member has had experience playing music at some point, and the staff’s talents range from beginner’s experience in elementary school with a recorder to playing the clarinet in a high school competition in Hawaii. Currently, Ken sings with his church choir, but in the past, he sang with several college [...]
Traveling can be stressful, especially if you visit a place in which the native language does not match your own. But now you can use your phone to translate what you are saying or seeing in real time. In January 2015, Google released a new feature of the Google Translate app, which allows users of iOS and Android devices to speak to the app, which [...]
When I was in college, one of my most memorable courses was Intro to Deaf Studies. Early on in the semester we had to attend an event called “Deaf, Deaf, World,” in which hearing students like myself would be paired with deaf individuals. Within these pairings, we had to carry out what would seem like simple role-playing scenarios: ordering takeout, booking a flight, buying [...]
Beverly Cleary, the treasured creator of Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins and Runaway Ralph (one my son’s favorites), recently celebrated her 100th birthday, to the delight of her fans. When asked about this accomplishment, the author and former school librarian humbly remarked, “I didn’t do it on purpose.” Any fan of Cleary’s classic children’s literature will recall Klickitat Street, the name of the thoroughfare [...]
I can lose track of time experimenting in the kitchen and changing up old recipes. Since some of my favorite dishes involve hours of prep time, I don’t get to make them as often as I would like. I enjoy cooking almost as much as I love eating, a result of growing up with home cooked meals on the table every night. Since [...]
When I was a young hockey player in Pennsylvania, there was no doubt, hockey had been started in and belonged to Canada. I recall playing in tournaments across the Midwest with my Midget A Major team, The Mt. Lebanon Hornets. At times there would be chatter about the opponents, “Yeah man, I hear the team we’re playing Saturday is Canadian.” After a statement like that, fear would [...]
Most of us at PSG dreamed of writing a best-selling novel when we were young. While some of us went on to write novels as teenagers and young adults, none of us achieved early literary stardom quite like we had hoped. One of the most well-known young authors is Christopher Paolini. Guinness World Records acknowledges him as the youngest author of a bestselling book series. His epic [...]