October 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Effin' Blogger and its Weird, Frustrating Settings

I think I fixed the commenting on this blog. Now we can have exciting discussions and get links to ED medicines for less and never pay full retail price for Gucci watches again!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Technology in classrooms: confusing for everyone, especially NY Times readers

In the past few days, the NY Times, bastion of everything educated and literate, has run a bunch of single articles (at least, I don't believe these are part of a series) about technology in the classroom. Spurring intelligent discussion or spreading confusion? You decide.

Screen Time Higher Than Ever for Children:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/us/screen-time-higher-than-ever-for-children-study-finds.html
(my summary: studies show increased tech use; term "app gap" used for the division of people who use apps and don't)

And
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/occupy-the-classroom.html?emc=eta1
(my summary: we need to change classroom tech inequalities instead of financial/job inequalities)

And
Out with Textbooks, in With Laptops for an Indiana School District:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/education/19textbooks.html?pagewanted=1
(my summary: this school uses only laptops and PDF textbooks; it's ka-ray-zay!)

Contrast this with:

A Silicon Valley School That Doesn't Compute:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?hpw
(my summary: these rich IT execs send their kids to a school with no computer use; the kids learn fractions from cutting fruit; it's ka-ray-zay!)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Beautiful network of utility: friends

Somebody told once that if I wanted to make lots of friends, I could just buy a truck. It might have been my brothers-in-law, because they all have friends and trucks, and also like to throw out little tidbits like that.
I was thinking about that the other day: the usefulness of friends. So, I made a list, which is of course a completely logical thing to do. At this point, I feel compelled to say two things:
1.    This blog is not small-children-with-big-eyes cutesy, so although I fully acknowledge that a friend “who knows where all the bodies are buried” and a friend “who loves you even at your worst” (yeah, I work in an office and have received that particular email a time or twelve) are both really nifty, I want to talk about utility, not about feelings of joy like a wriggling basket of puppies.
2.    And when I talk about utility, I don’t mean it in a cut-throat way. I’m not going to drop or make friends just because they have certain things. But you can’t possibly know, have, or learn everything, so it’s nice to have friends who do.
All right, caveats aside, here is my list of The Friends Everyone Needs
-A friend with a truck.
-A friend with power tools.
-A friend who can fix your computer or tell you when it can’t be fixed.
-A friend who can help you shop for a car.
-A friend who makes really excellent desserts.
-A friend—who may or may not be a medical professional—who knows if something looks infected, if those sound like symptoms or just a result of eating pizza four days straight, and who doesn’t mind helping you with lancing, bandaging, icing, or driving to the hospital.
-A friend who can find you on the freeway with a spare and a jug (that’s the wrong word: bottle? Tank? Nozzly thing?) of gas. In the night in the rain.
-A friend who knows about cars.
-A friend who will cook for you when you are sick or hungover.
-A friend who still has whatever bad habit(s) you quit and will indulge you with it/them when you hang out.
-A friend who will float you a twenty when you forgot to go to the ATM… and never bug you to pay him back.
-A friend with an AAA membership.
-A friend who brings good booze to the bbq or dinner party.
-A friend who can offer free legal advice.
-A friend who can explain technical things.
-A friend who will help you look for a job.
-A friend who has a house with a pool or lives by the beach.
-A friend who enjoys planning parties.
-A friend who’s handy.
-A friend who will make phone calls for you.
-A friend who likes gardening.
-A friend with actual grown up, nice possessions who acts like a mature adult.
-A friend who has good taste in books and music.
-A friend who can grill and has a nice bbq.
-A friend who will forward really great YouTube clips and silly websites.
-A friend who loves to babysit.
-A friend with all the latest tech toys.
-A friend who is DIY crafty. Not shifty crafty.
-A friend who knows all the slang and pop culture references.
-A friend who gives a good massage.
-A friend who knows what’s going on Friday night and will make an effort to get your ass out of the house.
-A friend who will research something for you, or proofread something for you.

Got any you want to add?