7.05.2008
Okay--testing yet again. If this works, then podcasting is easy (and I know a way to make it even better...if not easier). If not, then it's back to the drawing board. I have a mission and a plan. And a mission.
Instant update: Success! Not really a podcast so much as a highly amateurish video slideshow of some awesome preschooler art with some bad voiceover work and a rather abrupt ending. But we're calling a spade a heart and moving on with our lives.
7.04.2008
Untitled
Fantastic:
The problem, in my opinion, began when we started to consider and to treat our students as our future workforce. When it became our industries that were at stake, rather than democracy, then we had no choice but to mechanize education, to turn it into an assembly line, where we install math, and install reading, and install science, and then measure each product at the end to make sure that they all meet the standards — that they all know the same things and think the same ways.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
6.26.2008
Lists!
It is actually physically difficult for me to encounter a list of "classic" or "essential" anything in pop culture and not
A) cross off or highlight everything i've seen, heard or read
B) start composing mini-reviews of each of the items i've already seen, hear or read
and
C) make immediate plans to see, hear or read everything that remains unhighlighted and unreviewed.
so don't be surprised if, because of ew's evil, evil ways a lot of their lists start popping up here while i do just that.
not right now, of course, because there's a maniac baby in my lap who will barely let me type.
A) cross off or highlight everything i've seen, heard or read
B) start composing mini-reviews of each of the items i've already seen, hear or read
and
C) make immediate plans to see, hear or read everything that remains unhighlighted and unreviewed.
so don't be surprised if, because of ew's evil, evil ways a lot of their lists start popping up here while i do just that.
not right now, of course, because there's a maniac baby in my lap who will barely let me type.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
6.12.2008
"I didn't want to be a planet anyway!"
I love it when we anthropomorphize stuff that isn't anthropomorphic. I understand that we all felt sad that Pluto was no longer a planet. It makes sense--it's totally weird to grow up with the universe in one configuration and have it change abruptly. And I get the bit of transference that happens when we feel sorry for Pluto.
Today, apparently, Pluto is getting a little cred back. Sure, it's never going to be a planet again, but at least it gets other stuff named after it. IF you're an artist formerly known as a dwarf planet and IF you're further away from our sun than Neptune, then you get to be called a "plutoid"
So far, this means that Pluto itself and one other celestial body (either Erin or Eris, there's a typo in the article and I'm ignorant as to the real name) are now plutoids. Another dwarf planet somewhat closer to the sun (Ceres) has to stay a dwarf planet.
So, it seems to me that we've got 3 things floating out there that aren't quite planets and are otherwise more or less the same except for location, but we had to give these things two classifications instead of just one. Is it me, or does this feel like needless obfuscation on the part of astronomical braniacs?
Also, if Pluto was sad it wasn't a planet, how does Ceres feel about not getting to be a plutoid? Or is it happy to remain the only dwarf planet in the solar system? What does Erin/Eris think about it? Is it sad that people don't even know how to spell it's name? Is it all sulky in the corner, thinking bitter angry thoughts about Pluto? Is Pluto full of itself now and lording it over the other plutoid?
These are important questions, and I need answers!
Today, apparently, Pluto is getting a little cred back. Sure, it's never going to be a planet again, but at least it gets other stuff named after it. IF you're an artist formerly known as a dwarf planet and IF you're further away from our sun than Neptune, then you get to be called a "plutoid"
So far, this means that Pluto itself and one other celestial body (either Erin or Eris, there's a typo in the article and I'm ignorant as to the real name) are now plutoids. Another dwarf planet somewhat closer to the sun (Ceres) has to stay a dwarf planet.
So, it seems to me that we've got 3 things floating out there that aren't quite planets and are otherwise more or less the same except for location, but we had to give these things two classifications instead of just one. Is it me, or does this feel like needless obfuscation on the part of astronomical braniacs?
Also, if Pluto was sad it wasn't a planet, how does Ceres feel about not getting to be a plutoid? Or is it happy to remain the only dwarf planet in the solar system? What does Erin/Eris think about it? Is it sad that people don't even know how to spell it's name? Is it all sulky in the corner, thinking bitter angry thoughts about Pluto? Is Pluto full of itself now and lording it over the other plutoid?
These are important questions, and I need answers!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
6.08.2008
blog at a button
i love the instant gratification of the blog button. thumbs up to flock. i approve.
but here is the point of this blog entry:
agent casper has written and directed the screen adaptation of choke, which is fascinating to me (especially since the only other thing he's written was the screenplay for what lies beneath.
so anyway...i'm excited by that. also nice to see sam rockwell in the lead role...and disappointed in myself for not knowing about this sooner!
but here is the point of this blog entry:
agent casper has written and directed the screen adaptation of choke, which is fascinating to me (especially since the only other thing he's written was the screenplay for what lies beneath.
so anyway...i'm excited by that. also nice to see sam rockwell in the lead role...and disappointed in myself for not knowing about this sooner!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
6.07.2008
The Softness of the Center
The Softness of the Center:
Testing the blog a picture feature: more awesome!
Testing the blog a picture feature: more awesome!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Testing
So, what happens when I blog from here? I'm using the blogging function in Flock, which I'm not 100% sure about, but mostly I'm liking some of the stuff...especially once I realized I could still use iGoogle easily and turn other features on and off. It's not super-friendly with del.icio.us like Firefox is, but I might be able to get used to digg. I'll have to put some stuff in there and test it out. I'll know in a few days.
Okay, they're playing bad aerosmith on the radio now, so I've got to go change the station. And then maybe watch some battlestar.
Okay, they're playing bad aerosmith on the radio now, so I've got to go change the station. And then maybe watch some battlestar.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
6.06.2008
shut up, harvard
the year i graduated from portland state, we had miss america and fellow student katie harmon speak at our commencement. she had accomplished nothing beyond being pretty and having good posture in heels (which, admittedly, is something).
the graduation before me was bill clinton, the one after me was outgoing oregon symphony conductor james depriest, whose speech totally moved me to tears. so..i feel shafted and like i have a viable beef where commencement speakers are concerned (granted, it could've been much, much worse).
and i know, portland state is no harvard (for one thing, harvard is now cheaper for someone at my income level!), but come on, who wouldn't be doing frickin' cartwheels to have jk rowling at my commencement. i don't think it's reasonable to dismiss the single most influential author of our time (doubt me, go take a look at the young adult section of your local bookstore) as "some children's writer." i also don't really get why she wouldn't compare favorably with bill gates--harry potter's as universally known as windows, but without the bugs (unless you count all of the camping in book 7).
the graduation before me was bill clinton, the one after me was outgoing oregon symphony conductor james depriest, whose speech totally moved me to tears. so..i feel shafted and like i have a viable beef where commencement speakers are concerned (granted, it could've been much, much worse).
and i know, portland state is no harvard (for one thing, harvard is now cheaper for someone at my income level!), but come on, who wouldn't be doing frickin' cartwheels to have jk rowling at my commencement. i don't think it's reasonable to dismiss the single most influential author of our time (doubt me, go take a look at the young adult section of your local bookstore) as "some children's writer." i also don't really get why she wouldn't compare favorably with bill gates--harry potter's as universally known as windows, but without the bugs (unless you count all of the camping in book 7).
5.30.2008
the list, revisted
made some updates and some changes to the list.
i have justified the changes to myself, and now to you, in the following way:
baby = change
school = change
both baby and school were wholly unanticipated and therefore warrant overhaul of list, even though it's 2/3 done at this point.
that's 2/3 time-wise done, not 2/3 of the stuff actually accomplished. in those terms, i'm just under halfway done. but with only a year left to do the rest. some of it should be easy--in order to make pants, i really just need to make pants! i've got everything i need already, so...
and the writing stuff--that's easy enough to do. break out the self-discipline and make it happen! yeah!
but first, i must organize the changes within an inch of their lives, thereby feeling productive without actually having to accomplish anything.
i love you, sandy
i have justified the changes to myself, and now to you, in the following way:
baby = change
school = change
both baby and school were wholly unanticipated and therefore warrant overhaul of list, even though it's 2/3 done at this point.
that's 2/3 time-wise done, not 2/3 of the stuff actually accomplished. in those terms, i'm just under halfway done. but with only a year left to do the rest. some of it should be easy--in order to make pants, i really just need to make pants! i've got everything i need already, so...
and the writing stuff--that's easy enough to do. break out the self-discipline and make it happen! yeah!
but first, i must organize the changes within an inch of their lives, thereby feeling productive without actually having to accomplish anything.
i love you, sandy
5.29.2008
toilet trouble
How much would it suck not to have a working toilet in outer space?
A lot, I would imagine. It's not as though you can just call the plumber or the super. It takes, well, massive international cooperation to get a repairman up there (and it's not as though they're plumbers or even handypersons anyway--come to think of it, I'm surprised the john doesn't malfunction more often...everything up there's pretty DIY).
And it's not as if you can just hold it...for days. Or go outside. Or put a jar in the corner. Diapers?
A lot, I would imagine. It's not as though you can just call the plumber or the super. It takes, well, massive international cooperation to get a repairman up there (and it's not as though they're plumbers or even handypersons anyway--come to think of it, I'm surprised the john doesn't malfunction more often...everything up there's pretty DIY).
And it's not as if you can just hold it...for days. Or go outside. Or put a jar in the corner. Diapers?
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