May 2012
13 posts
“The importance of learning to code isn’t so that everyone will write code, and...”
– A federal judge learned to code - O’Reilly Radar (via everythingisdisrupted)
Interesting thoughts, but not everyone has the luxury to learn to code.
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RIP MCA Facebook Photo Album →
For now, this has just a few pics I’ve created for this blog w/ Yauch’s lyrics, but may have more soon. Share away!
RIP MCA →
Ch-chek out my tribute blog to Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys. A true loss.
March 2012
13 posts
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NPR - In Praise of eBooks →
ebookporn:
NPR Commentator and Poet Andrei Codrescu praises the lightness of his e-book. (click for audio)
After years of hurting his back lugging around real books, he finds the electronic device to be a relief for his spine.
When I retire, I promised myself I will read all the great books I said I would read one day, and I’ll reread all the books I once loved. And all my life, it seems I...
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20 tips and resources for using learning... →
world-shaker:
I was surprised by the quality and depth with this one. Here’s an excerpt:
Blended learning should transform learning, not just replicate teaching: Companies want graduates who can source, filter and use existing knowledge to create new knowledge, and the university is key to equipping students with these skills. Yet we seldom see technology tools being used in radically new ways...
“Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten...”
– Chinua Achebe (via amandaonwriting)
“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at...”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald (via amandaonwriting)
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Is Tumblr all that micro?
I keep coming across sites that call Tumblr a microblogging site, but I thought that was more Twitter’s thing. On Twitter, the nature of the platform forces you into teensy posts. On Tumblr, everyone’s free to expand, to go macro. I made my own blog on Tumblr feel more like my old Blogger blog, and now I’m starting to wonder if I’m missing out on this Tumblr-as-micro thing....
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A New Food Blog About Peanut Butter And Jelly
I’ve always loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And I’ve wanted to be a food writer ever since I dropped out of culinary school almost fifteen years ago. Now I’ve combined these desires into a new food blog all about PBJ sandwiches, entitled The PBJ Spread. I’ve thought of renaming it PBJ Power, but I’ve already got a domain registered. I hope it can still be a...
The Museum of Useful Things: Pencil Pushers →
museumofusefulthings:
We are pencil pushers at the Museum of Useful Things. Not in the traditional sense, but in the sense the we extol the virtues of the simple pencil and like to tell others about it. Here are four products that highlight its utility and value.
The Pencil Dispenser dispenses pencils neatly and…
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'The Lorax' Film Review: Good Enough
I was excited to see “The Lorax” movie, and went today to check it out. It’s my favorite Seuss book, so naturally I came away with mixed feelings. I posted my review on Rotten Tomatoes, with three-and-a-half stars. Here’s the first paragraph:
“The Lorax” is a good enough movie, as long as you’re not hoping for a faithful adaptation of Dr. Seuss for the...
February 2012
3 posts
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Computer Program Writes the News
Wisconsin jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 51-17 win over UNLV on Thursday at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers scored 20 points in the first quarter on a Russell Wilson touchdown pass, a Montee Ball touchdown run and a James White touchdown run. Wisconsin’s offense dominated the Rebels’ defense. The Badgers racked up 499 total yards in the game including 258 yards passing...
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Nielsen Names Web Kids 'Generation C'
A day after I came across the “We, the Web Kids” manifesto, Mashable posted about a new age-based categorization called “Generation C”:
It’s hardly news that young adults are the most digitally connected, but now Nielsen has come up with a new name for this group based on their common behaviors: “Generation C.” The C stands for “connected,” and the group comprises...
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Read & Share This Manifesto: "We, the Web Kids"
This piece has been going around the web in the past few days. It’s not from me, but I sent it to Cory Doctorow on Twitter, just thinking the guy would appreciate it, and he put it on BoingBoing. I love to share things I like, and I’m glad that I could help spread these words around.
Here’s part 1 of “We, the Web Kids.” It was written for print by Piotr Czerski,...
December 2011
4 posts
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English Composition Teaching Resource Page
Check out the “Teaching” link in the sidebar, or click here to see my new page of resources I’ve created and/or used in the college English composition classroom. I’m especially excited about the list of Creative Commons resources for teachers at schools that are extra/overly-careful about copyright infringement. I’d love to start an entirely open/Creative Commons...
Two Great Fan Podcasts about "Once Upon a Time"...
I’m a huge fan of podcasts, so I thought I’d pass along two good ones I just discovered. They are both fan podcasts about the new TV show, “Once Upon a Time,” written by folks from my favorite TV show Lost. The show retells popular fairy tales through the standard science fiction trope of parallel universes. Check out the show on ABC, then listen to these two great fan...
How do I allow comments on Tumblr blog?
I haven’t been able to find an easy way to allow comments on this Tumblr blog, even though it looks from the code that it can be done. Are there any boxes I need to click in the settings, or code I need to add to the template? Let me know by clicking “Ask Me Anything” on the top of my Tumblr blog, by reblogging this with an answer, or tweeting me @travpol. Thanks!
EDIT: It looks...
November 2011
17 posts
iPhone poets beware!
A blogger at the literary site We Who Are About To Die posted a provocative article against folks who read poems from iPones as if it were a stupid trend for trend’s sake. I don’t agree with that conclusion; I think that everyone is getting away from paper for both writing and reading, and it’s not a bad thing in and of itself. It’s different for sure, but not bad or icky,...
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WatchThis clip from Frontline “Digital Nation” discusses the impact of digital technology on writing in college, and the impact of technology on education in general.
Writing, Technology and Teens - Pew Research... →
Teenagers’ lives are filled with writing. All teens write for school, and 93% of teens say they write for their own pleasure. Most notably, the vast majority of teens have eagerly embraced written communication with their peers as they share messages on their social network pages, in emails and instant messages online, and through fast-paced thumb choreography on their cell phones. ...
'How SOPA would affect you: FAQ' from CNET News →
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Fighting SOPA is as Easy as Searching the Web
Goodsearch.com donates to the Electronic Frontier Foundation if you set up an account and link it to EFF, a member of the anti-SOPA americancensorship.org. EFF also has an Amazon Affiliate account, and other ways you can help the cause. Goodsearch is particularly interesting to me, in light of Google’s blacklisting of pirate websites from automatic search. Goodsearch happens to run on Yahoo,...
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It's official: I'm done with Blogger
I started blogging in 2006 after reading Biz Stone’s wonderful book, Who Let the Blogs Out? Biz was the head blogger at Google when he wrote the book, and from what he wrote, and what I noticed, Blogger.com seemed to be the best platform out there. It was free to use, and simple to edit with my basic html knowledge. But Blogger’s code kept getting more complicated as they picked up...
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My vision (and call for help) for a Linux OS for...
Several months back I had a great idea: Put together an operating system based on GNU/Linux with everything a professional writer needs. Here’s where my brainstorming has taken me:
Built on top of Ubuntu, Lubuntu, or Fedora, some top shelf, open/free, completely stable flavor of Linux.
The learning curve should be zero, or as close to zero as possible. Writers should want to use this...
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“As recalled by Michael Hart in January 2009 in an email interview: “On...”
– “A Short History of EBooks”, by Marie Lebert
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“You tell your troubles to it, how your letters
all came back with no...”
– “The Thought Machine” by William Stafford — Keep reading
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Writers & Artists, Hackers & Geeks: End the Stop...
The US Congress is debating a bill that would end up censoring the internet in broad, even draconian ways. The bill is known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). A number of organizations have banded together to stop it, including groups that I’ve supported for a while, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Software Foundation, Mozilla, and Creative Commons. I’m particularly...
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“I don’t like reading off a computer screen” — it’s a...”
– Opening paragraph of “You DO like reading off a computer screen” from Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright and the Future of the Future by Cory Doctorow
If I had written this essay, it would be my manifesto—or something like it. Still, I’ll adopt it...
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Lieberman Wants Google To Let Users Flag... →
Blogging was made for free expression, not snitching.
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College Composition Lesson Plan: Advice to...
I put this together for a college composition class I teach, but it could just as easily be adapted to basic writing and high school English, or even advanced comp or creative writing. Feel free to print, adapt, and share this resource under the terms of CreativeCommons 3.0 BY-NC-SA. Read the Scribd embedded view after the jump.
College Composition Lesson Plan - Advice to Writers
Read this...