WHAT THE...

I just somehow lost an entire post. It had pictures, a little J update, that sort of stuff. I have no idea what random button I pushed to lose it, nor do I understand why it wasn't saving as I went along, which it USUALLY DOES.

So I'll re-post it soon. Now I'm just annoyed. Sorry for the delay. GRRRR.

The writing on the wall (or the paper)

I wrote about this to dear Yum, so I apologize for her having to read this twice. As I made a grocery list the other day, I had the funny thought pop into my head that I like the look of my handwriting. I like how I make my As and that my Ss have a slight upward line with the S at the end of a word, making that cursive loop. I thought about how handwriting marks a person almost as intimately as a fingerprint--one person's handwriting may look like another's, but it's individual to that person. Heck, people study handwriting to see others' tendencies and personality traits. Do your letters slant forward or backward? Do your Gs and Ys go straight down, or do they loop? Is the loop closed or open? Do you write in cursive, print, or a mixture of the two? How close together do you make your letters? You know what I mean. I had a third grade teacher who had the most perfect, round, exact hand-writing--Mrs. McGennis. T and I both had her as a teacher, and we attended her retirement party a few years ago. Within a week, a letter arrived in the mail; I didn't even have to look at the return address. She'd written us, thanking us for coming. We kept the letter, partially because of the sweet gesture, and partly because of that handwriting. Anyone who ever had her in 37 years of teaching would know it.

This is also why so many different fonts exist to try--we try to maintain that individuality somehow, hoping that we don't all have to conform to Times New Roman, Arial, or Verdana. Has anyone noticed the handwriting fonts out there, too? They have lots of cursive and ones that sort of look like similar, but it's still someone else's version of what's mine. And they don't always work with every site and every person, so the attempt at creativity in writing sometimes gets roadblocked, and we're forced to use what's available. I also wonder what will happen to our fine motor skills if we start typing everything. This veers dangerously into my rant on how we have too many screens in our lives--TV, laptop, smartphone, Kindle--but I just want to make sure that J learns how to write his name and wield a pen to make his mark, as it were. It goes to nostalgia, too--100 years from now, will my grandkids look at my e-mails? My blog posts? My writing says a lot about who I am and how I think, but I don't see it the same way as looking at actual writing--it seems far more personal. It just urges me to keep using that muscle at the bottom of my right index finger, nestled up next to my thumb joint. Keep my individuality a bit as the typeface tries to pigeonhole me.

P.S. Don't think I don't appreciate the irony that I typed this whole post. ;-) However, in its original form, I did hand-write it, so there.

The Perils of Voice Technology

My dad sent me this. It's funny yet makes quite a comment on how we treat people from different cultures.

P.S. the right side gets a bit cut off--you can also see it on YouTube.

Cool Technology

In my quest to become more organized, Google has given me a new tool: the wonder wheel:


Has everyone seen this? It's so handy. It makes me giddy with organized happiness. Use it. Just do a regular Google search and then click the "Wonder Wheel" option on the left, and it organizes everything into little components. An old site, Grokker, used to do this, but the site shut down for reasons unbeknownst to me. Anyway, extremely nifty.

And I know I've written about this before, but if you're not using Delicious for your bookmarks, you are MISSING OUT.

That is all. Stay cool. Literally.

Making fun of technology

Recently I met a delightful woman I met at a party and we decided we had a funny SNL skit that really could work. We were bashing Twitter and Facebook a bit. Not to get hypocritical, I admit freely that I do have accounts on both. HOWEVER: I do not check Facebook obsessively every ten minutes--I probably look at it every few days. And I don't remember the last time I checked Twitter. I know each has its uses and I have gotten in touch with old friends and even thought about using each medium for teaching. So there.

HOWEVER...we were making a bit of fun of the users who feel the need to type every little bit of mundane crap that goes on in their lives, giving the rest of us the blow by blow. When did this desperate need to tell all and sundry about minute details arise? I must admit I'm in awe and impressed (truly, not ironically) that people make a living doing this. For crying out loud, Dooce [very famous blogger who now has her own show on HGTV] got a friggin' free washing machine when she complained about crummy service via Twitter. That's power.

Now, our skit consisted of this same spewing forth of our daily gems...about ten years ago, when we were still using telephones and e-mail was hitting its heyday as a regular means of communication. Here's a sample, although I think it would be best as a visual. Use your imaginations. All names will be made up-ish.

From: Meg
To: Jo, Beth, Amy, Marmee, Laurie, JBrooke, Sallie
Subject: laundry
Time: 10:03am

Just did four loads of laundry! Will these twins ever get potty trained?


From: Meg
To: Jo, Beth, Amy, Marmee, Laurie, JBrooke, Sallie
Subject: laundry
Time: 10:07am

And now Demi just pulled half the laundry off the line and Daisy just threw up, so you know what that means!


From: Meg
To: Jo, Beth, Amy, Marmee, Laurie, JBrooke, Sallie
Subject: laundry
Time: 10:12am

Now someone's at the door!


From: Sallie
To: Meg
RE: laundry
Time: 10:14am

Ugh, yes, laundry is the worst. That's why the maid does ours. P.S. that's me outside ringing the doorbell.


From: Marmee
To: Meg, Beth, Jo, Amy
RE: laundry
Time: 10:21

Now, Meg, you know that laundry is just part of your wifely duty. Of course I'll help you if you need it, but you should really try to bear the burden cheerfully.
* * *
[phone conversation]

Harry: Hello?
Hermione: Hey, Harry! Just finished Snape's latest essay on wolfsbane potion!
Harry: Um, ok....Is there anything else, Hermione?
Hermione: Nope! Ok, now I'm off to call Ron, Ginny, Padma, Neville, Luna, and everyone else in my contact list to tell them the same thing. [click]

* * *
[voice mail from me to everyone I ever met from Colgate]
"You should really start watching Lie to Me. It's a cool show and it's got Tim Roth, the dude who was in Pulp Fiction robbing the diner, in it. By the way, this is Die Frau*, Class of '99."


Doesn't it seem weird? Is it just me? Why do I really need to tell people that were in my sister's class in grade school about the fact that I have wild strawberries growing in my back yard? (OK, I do, and it's so cool.) How far will the madness go?

Now I have to run and update my Facebook profile for the day. GTG, CU L8R. [shudder]

*not my real name

Perspective

"Real" post coming soon, probably with a lot of pictures. In the meantime, a colleague sent me this e-mail today and, in this constantly upgrading world, I wanted to share it and hear your thoughts:

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade named: BOOK

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it.

Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere -- even sitting in an armchair by the fire -- yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc. Here's how it works:

BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.

Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKs with more information simply use more pages.

Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it.

Unlike other display devices, BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting, and it can even be dropped on the floor or stepped on without damage. However, it can become unusable if immersed in water for a significant period of time. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of selected information for instant retrieval.

An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session -- even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKmarkers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).

Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. Also, BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

How Amazing is This?

It's right out of the Jetsons! Or something that actually depicts the future. Erm...The Matrix? Star Trek? I, Robot? Take your pick; this is pretty mind-blowing, I think.

I gave in to the 21st century

I got a Blackberry. I love it. I'm addicted.

I did it for the Internet and the calendar: I tend to forget appointments and the PalmPilot never did work for me because I always forgot I even had it. If it's attached to my phone, there's much less likelihood I'll forget it. At least, that is my plan, and at an extra $30 a month, you bet your sweet patootie I'll remember it. This also means I'll spend less elsewhere to make up the difference, so it's really a very economical move I've made, you see. I am not sending this entry from my Blackberry, but I'm sure I will later on, just because I can. Ah, toys.

On a totally different note, my friend H. is technically due today, so wish her luck on a smooth delivery and a happy baby!

Google's saving energy

Just found out about this from my students: Google has a new search engine called "Blackle": It's a black background with white lettering, which saves wattage energy every time you use it.

Not quite sure what it'll do in the grand scheme of things, but I'm attempting to use less energy in my appliances if I can and it looks pretty cool.

What do you think of the new layout?, Part II

My dad said it was way too green, so I'll try this.


And be honest. I think it might look too green. Also, if anyone has tips on how to get a picture to stretch out (like yours, Scarlet), that would be great. Princess Powerless, thanks for your help from last time!

Time for change

I'm bored with the look of this blog. How do I make it look like the rest of your cool blogs out there without taking a tech course? I can change the template, blah, etc., but how do I add fun pictures and things?

Help!

Am I creating the future in this blogosphere?

I've read a bunch of educational articles recently, several having to do with how to assess reading in the digital age. Do we look at digital literacy as something different from reading literacy? As I understand it, digital literacy has to do with reading a lot of information quickly, often assessing it and interacting with others through sites that allow it. Thus people can look for a topic, say, "Olympics", and come up with all sorts of sites and information, and glean what they need. My problem with this (and others' problem as well) has to do with several facts:

1) People may not know the difference between legitimate, accredited sites and ones that have either incorrect or unsubstantiated information.

2) This sort of quick jumping around, while causing certain neurons in the brain to fire and react, certainly doesn't help with sustained attention. It may even hinder it, according to certain experts. [NB 1: I find it mildly ironic that I learned about this while reading it online in the NYTimes.]

As a teacher, when I write people, I really mean students because that's who this concerns. If, as I wrote before, a decent chunk of the working world increasingly requires its employees to be Internet-savvy, doesn't it also require them to have an attention span longer than ten minutes to complete a task? Doesn't it require them to sometimes analyze data properly and put that data together? Thus it's up to my profession to do that. What am I really trying to express here? I think it comes down to the fact that I believe today's youth need to practice activities that grab their attention for a sustained amount of time, and I believe teachers need to incorporate more Internet-based strategies in their teaching. How to do this? Not sure. My dad made a point on a previous entry that I'll put here, with his permission, that I think has a lot of merit as well:

While I usually agree with your take on things, and not just because I’m your father but because they are thoughtful, I have to disagree on one of your concerns. You say that when your students go out into the working world they will be dealing with IM, texting, blogs, Facebook, my space etc . No, actually they will not. Whether they are in a steel plant or an investment banking house or a law office, those things are by and large not part of the real work-a-day world; they are a huge part of their social fabric of the non working world of the generation that you teach. For that reason they are important, but they must know that the vast number of employers, except for a few newly rich 20 something entrepreneurs, do not use those things in how they do their jobs. The internet is the key to accessing facts which with thought may turn to knowledge but those other devices/tools are social facilitators.

He's right. The working world certainly is not all about social networking; it's about knowing a skill and sticking to it to get things done.

On a similar note, I discussed something with Scarlet Lily recently that has me concerned. Bear with me a moment as I ask: Have any of you seen or even heard of the movie Idiocracy? Not surprised if you haven't; it went pretty much straight to video and the parts I saw annoyed and alarmed me. It's not a quality flick. However, the basic premise comes from the stereotypical idea that uneducated people seem to have more children on the whole than educated folks do. Thus, over time, the educated population will die out, leaving the world filled with, shall we say, less-than-bright people. The idea of the movie is that this guy gets cryogenically frozen (always a recipe for an Oscar-winner) and wakes up 500 years later in a society so dumbed down that he's the most intelligent person on the planet. Wacky, zany hilarity ensues, of course. [NB 2: Do you agree with me that when a comedy is labeled as either "wacky" or "zany", it almost guarantees that it's terrible?]

While Idioocracy will never win any awards, part of it names a possibility that scares the heck out of me. Can that happen? I know intelligence is a dominant trait, but if procreation continues on this track, what exactly will happen in 500 years? Please feel free to tell me I'm an alarmist. I think I see tests and material being watered down because kids "just don't get it" and everything's too hard, and we have to make sure their little egos stay intact so we give every kid a trophy and bring down the bar so it's easier to reach. What good does that do anyone?

I don't mean to gripe, honestly. It's what makes me want to be a hardass teacher because when a student gets an A in my class, she knows she's earned it. I don't care if it means they don't like me--I watched it happen this year. I'm not as bad as my Ethics professor who notoriously said, "God gets an A, I get a B, and everyone else gets Cs and Ds" (Remember, Feather Nester? Good ol' Terrell), but I make them work. I praise them like crazy when they do well, so it all balances out.

What do you all think?

More Web 2.0/ Au Revoir for the fair north

So I'm done with the class and I'll try to recap what I've learned and share some helpful sites, some of which you've probably heard of but some you may not have.

Overall, we looked at a lot of sites that have to do with searching and networking, online collaboration, that sort of thing. I honestly will use some of them to enhance my teaching because, as the one article I read put it (and I've thought for a while now), the entire educational system needs a giant overhaul because its methods lag about 20 years behind the rest of the world in terms of getting information to students and processing it. I admit this with a sigh, because I like teaching grammar and vocab in something of a vacuum, and I don't think anything will top reading a chapter of a book (a REAL book, not online and not on a Kindle) and analyzing it in class. However, I think as the educational system continues this lag, students will become more and more disconnected from school because it has so little to do with their lives outside of school.

Think about it: They text, they IM, they spend hours on MySpace, Facebook, and playing RPGs (role-playing games for those who don't know: Going online and playing a game while hundreds of others log in and play the same game at the same time), some of them blog...It's everywhere. Yet we rarely access this way of living in the classroom. It's a sort of changing of the guard. I don't think computers will ever replace talking and writing on real paper, but they do have a place and we as teachers need to respect that when our students go into the working world, it's one dominated by these interactive sorts of sites and ways of communicating, so why not teach using those same methods sometimes?

Now that I've lectured (sorry if I went on; I feel strongly about this), let me cue you in on a few cool sites:

del.icio.us
In case you haven't heard of this, Delicious (or del.icio.us) is an on-line bookmarking site. You know how annoying it is when your bookmarks are all on your work computer and you go home and rats, what was that site? Now you can just save them all on Delicious and access them from anywhere. You can add tags to remind you what they're about (like the ones I use for my posts: "puppy", "work-related", "fun stuff", etc.) and you can share them with others if you want--and you can see others' related to yours. Like if I have a site I like about composting but I want to know more, I can find others' bookmarked sites about it. Cool stuff.

- Backflip.com and furl.net are similar

The Education Podcast Network
This network has all sorts of podcasts that you can learn from on tons of different subjects. I like the idea of podcasts because you only have to listen; you don't have to sit in front of the computer.

www.teachertube.com
Like YouTube but for teachers. Pretty self-explanatory. It's more informational and cuts through the ridiculous videos.

www.zohowriter.com
Very similar to GoogleDocs--It's a free online word processing program that lets you share documents and edit and save and all that without having to save it all to Microsoft Word...or pay for it. They've got spreadsheets and things, too. Nifty. I always worry about someone hacking in, but that's always a concern and a risk, yes?

Grokker
It's a search engine that searches specific sites and then categorizes everything for you into specific headings, kind of like putting it into folders so you don't have to.

Technorati
This one's another search engine but it searches blogs, posts, videos, and the like. It's more opinion than fact, but it has its place.

www.squidoo.com and rollyho.com are others but I didn't like them as much as search engines. I did like that the latter allows you to search under specific categories, like "research" or "news". Check them out as you like.

So that's my technical update for you. This evening around 3am we're beginning our journey to beautiful Tadoussac, Quebec for a week in my teeny car with us and the puppy. Wish us luck, because it's about 12 hours. We're doing it like this so we can avoid major traffic, cross over the border nice and early (no lines), and arrive in daytime so we don't have to find the place in the dark. We have books on CD and tape and a multi-charger unit for the car (three jacks and a USB cord--niiiiice. Got it at Target for ~$25.), a full tank of gas, it will be dark out, but we will not be wearing sunglasses. Hit it. (like the Blues Brothers reference there?)

I will have computer access but may or may not post--I'm on vacation, man. I plan to read, play games, chill with my in-laws (T's brother and sister will be there, and it's his mom/stepdad's place), go whale watching, hike, and have lots of fun. Sounds good to me!

So enjoy your week and don't tell me anything about The Dark Knight because I probably won't see it until my return, at least not in English, and since I don't speak Quebecois, I doubt I'll see it up there. No Batman, Le Chevalier noir pour moi.

Be good, my dears!

Blogging Potpourri

I've just taken the first of five on-line classes on Web 2.0. How many people really know what it is? As I understood it, Web 2.0 is the next evolutionary step in the Internet where people wanted to make it more accessible to everyone. For example, instead of shelling out hundreds for Microsoft Office, people can go to OpenOffice.org and download a comparable set of office tools for free. Or they can use GoogleDocs, which also has spreadsheet capabilities. Basically, it turns the Internet from a commodity controlled by the few into a "platform", as they kept calling it, that has programs that everyone can access, use, and even change, like Wikipedia. It's kind of interesting: The reason Google knocked the tar out of Netscape as a browser is because Google isn't technically just a browser; it's more. It's a connection between the user and other browsers, other sites, etc. It also keeps up on the technology in that they update the site every day instead of every few years, as sites used to do. This opening up of the Internet obviously has a lot of pros and cons, the most obvious one being that it requires a lot of trust that people won't abuse what's now available. For example, in teaching research, we teachers frown upon Wikipedia as a legitimate site because anyone can add to it. We tell them to click on the sources at the bottom and see if they're legitimate in and of themselves, or we tell them just not to use it at all. Web 2.0 also includes blogging (hah!) because it's so interactive and anyone can comment if you let them or add RSS feeds to see exactly when it changes, and sites like Facebook. Interesting stuff, I think. I'll let you know what future classes yield (if I think you'd like it--I won't bore you!).

On a totally different note, I'm taking a break because it's pretty beastly hot--a "blinger", as you call it, Grammie!--and anyone who's seen me knows I'm fairly vampiric when it comes to sun exposure. In a few minutes I'll slather on my 30SPF and go back outside to help DH.

...Annnnnd he asked me to help him: We have these pine trees with the very long, leafy branches:

...but we don't need that much canopy and not all the branches were doing well, so we used this tree cutting tool called a pole saw that looks like a really long scythe with a small branch-cutting attachment. It's hard to explain, but using it was a ton of fun and we cleared a ton of branches out, clearing out an entirely new space of yard. I also spread that dried blood on my plants, which are kind of flourishing, in hopes that the deer will let me get my veggies! Here's what they looked like, post eating session:
See? Nice clean bite. However, they're still growing, so I'm still hopeful for a few peppers and tomatoes. Here's the full effect of the fencing:
As you can see, things are still a-growin'. We also have a wild blackberry patch that I should go harvest in the next few days; there are TONS of them. Delicious!


That's it for now, chickadees. We're off to the wilds of Quebec and the St. Laurence River on Thursday for a week, so we have to get ready. Enjoy the weekend!

Technology: Mixed Feelings

I went on Amazon today and it opened with their newest device, the Kindle. Has anyone else seen this? In and of itself, it stands as an absolutely mindboggling piece of equipment: It's a wireless reading device. As the product features crow

• no syncing needed
• high resolution screen makes it look ("and read") like paper
• the wireless feature means you can add books to it from anywhere
• more than 111,000 books available, including many bestsellers
• access to many popular blogs, newspapers, and magazines
• can hold over 200 titles
• lighter than a paperback
• long battery life
• does laundry, taxes, and gives you a massage all at the same time

Ok, that last I made up. As I wrote, I find it an amazing new technological breakthrough, albeit pricey ($400), but I have mixed feelings. I understand the love and need for technology, the idea of a paperless society and saving trees, etc. However, a Kindle, no matter how fancy, just doesn't beat a real book in my mind. Many readers make notes in the margins, underline, scribble definitions, or simply dog-ear pages they want to remember for whatever reason. And there's just nothing better, in my mind, than curling up with a good book and then grabbing it off the shelf months or years later to look at again. Would I ever exchange my Harry Potters for a Kindle version? Not on your life. I remember where I bought my books, when I read them, who I read them with.... To me the idea of a Kindle, while revolutionary, just doesn't cut it. We need to get away from the glow of the ubiquitous screen that we've all become so accustomed to, and I'm no exception.

Maybe this is just the wave of the future and I have to live with it. Maybe I'm being an old fuddy-duddy. The irony that I write about this on a computer which then sends it out into the Blogosphere to anyone who wants to read it does not escape me. But I'd still rather have a real book than a computer copy of one. I have my great-grandmother's books from when she traveled to France; I have my father's old copy of short stories by Roald Dahl. How do you pass down a Kindle to the next generation?

That's my rant for the day, my dears. Now I'm off to let out the puppy and read Macbeth, in a hard-bound, paper pages book. Enjoy your weekend!