new plan, sort of

The angle of my article has changed considerably with a new interview about the future of education.

Here are some extra, more relevant, leads:

Students rely on new technology in their everyday lives, but are teachers and students ready to embrace cell-phones in the classroom?

Cell-phones, chatrooms and video sites are making their way into the classroom, but some students and teachers are not ready for this new technology.

Youtube videos and social networks, often criticized as distractions, are now being embraced in Garneau classrooms.

To allow students to use the internet in class is often deemed distracting, yet some educators are embracing youtube and facebook as today's newest teaching tools.

Leadsies

Rumours about banning youtube have spread around the school causing debate on the value of internet in education.

Youtube, often criticized as a distraction, is now being touted by both students and teachers for its education value.

Youtube won’t be banned at Garneau, but teachers and students are still debating its value to education.

new and improved 30 words

1. ethnography
2. wiki
3. blog
4. geographic
5. technology
6. addicted
7. sanitize
8. catastrophe
9. diversion
10. procrastination
11. textual relations
12. tabloid
13. typography
14. taboo
15. trashtalk
16. whambam
17. cyberspace
18. social utility
19. exhibitionism
20. graffiti
21. mediocrity
22. fragment
23. puzzle
24. googling (say it fast)
25. stupidity
26. blogger
27. a milllionbillion
28. cataclysmic
29. fatalistic
30. bibliography
31. cellular tellular phone
32. plasticity

Almost all of these words are related to my videos in the last post. A few aren't related and I'll admit, a few aren't even words, but I also have a few extra and another list of thirty, so I thought I'd take some licence with my word choices.

youtube and education

This video is about more than just youtube, it's an informal analysis of education today. It makes me think about the time I spend on the computer, doing my homework, reading actual texts for school and searching to find information online. If I think about it, the only textbook I actually use this semester is for math. For biology and writer's craft, I'm much more likely to google any questions I have. This movie highlights impact of technology on study habits and communication.

At the end of the video is a link to the blog Digital Ethnography. I looked through the blog and found a page of youtube stats about the types of videos posted and the people who post them. Then I realized there is an entire youtube project with videos about the project (which is a study of the culture of the digital world on youtube), why we youtube, the history of youtube, the authenticity of youtube, the community of youtube, and the sound of youtube. Basically, if you want to learn about youtube, this is the place to go.

I found the reasons why people youtube intriguing. Some people say they do it because they have no social life, others youtube to escape reality, twelve percent say they are addicted to youtube and sixteen percent want to be famous. There are many more reasons if you follow this link and find out for yourself.

These videos, especially the first one also deal with distraction. In the clips, students write about multitasking and facebooking while watching a lecture. They talk about doing what's relevant to their own life and weeding out the rest of what they are taught. Still, the clips don't condemn the Internet for the distraction it provides. Instead, the filmmaker has realized that the move towards technology based education is an unavoidable and forward step. Education needs to shift with the introduction of new technology to avoid alienating students who would prefer to google over reading a blackboard or would rather go to an online encyclopedia than buy hundreds of dollars worth of textbooks.

30 Words

I had to miss writer's craft today and go to biology instead and I wasn't happy about it. I ended up making my list of thirty words while the teacher talked and I now have a very biological theme.

1. catastrophe
2. tori tarsali
3. coagulate
4. polypeptide
5. symbiotic
6. vicariance
7. centrifuge
8. cyanide
9. niche
10. inexactitude
11. squabble
12. nestle
13. squirrel
14. cataclysmic
15. derision
16. nebula
17. semblance
18. polyploidy
19. zygote
20. scruples
21. Galapagos
22. punctuation
23. phenolphthalein
24. xylene cyanol
25. typography (for ms parrish)
26. oort cloud
27. cellular tellular phone
28. pyloric sphincter
29. wriggle
30. spliceosome
31. squabble

And yes, these are related to my youtube video, since my youtube video was about biology.

To carry

If education were grade two math, youtube would be the flashcards.

Youtube is the flashcard of highschool.

Youtube Distracts (16)

Chew chew chew
On hair
On pencil
On pen
Doodle doodle doodle
On paper
On notebook
On hand
Dream dream dream
Of friends

Of Friday

Of prom
Google google google
A name
A list
A blog
A world of distraction

Always at our fingertips

Letter pictures

Poetry? Art? Pictures? Writing? Beautiful? Silly? Ingenious? Cute?

Go here and decide for yourself. Maybe even take out a pen and give it a try.

(If you must know I think it's poetry art pictures silly ingenious and cute and my favourite things are the colours and the faces =)

Atwood on Religion

This is a bit of a grim interview, but it's interesting nonetheless.

I haven't read A Handmaiden's Tale but I could still follow this interview about repressive regimes and the loss of human rights in America. The book is set in a future where women are denied their freedom in the name God and the country. The creepy part is, every horrible thing that happens in the book has happened in humanity's history, making it disturbingly realistic. Margaret Atwood clearly believes that a loss of freedom and democracy could happen in the United States, another scary idea that she presents in this interview. There are other interesting points about Christianity, witches and the weakness of our society in the interview as well.

From a writer's perspective, I think the background information she gathered for her novel adds to its strength. Instead of just making up a future, she based the fictional novel on her views about humanity, making the novel true in a strange and scary way.

Translation

Okay, this is a youtube video my biology teacher told us to watch, but it is also one of the weirdest and most creative things I have ever seen. The beginning is normal (and boring) enough, but then the dancing, rhyming, music and Jabberwocky quoting starts and the video becomes an educational poem and interpretive dance.
A man talks for the first 3 minutes and 40 seconds. He explains the sciencey part, but he's not very interesting, so if you're impatient you can skip ahead and watch the protein synthesis dance without the chalkboard explanation.

again

Waking up to ritual of careful careful plan
Done right down well
No choice.
Lives are in my clean hands, my locked door
Lives depend on me
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Again
Again
Again
A spot of dirt? (chest tight)
A spot of dirt? (can’t breath)
A SPOT OF DIRT
Breath in bursts of teary panic
A new fresh shinning bar running under thunder tap
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Soap
Water
Again
Again
Again

Hands red raw with
Skinned meat fingers
The air is stinging but
Shelter of gloves buries damage
Secret safe within them

Key from pocket gleaming
Carefully
in lock turn lock door locked
Step away
Turn back
Check lock
Door locked
Step away
Turn back
Check lock
Door locked
Step away
Turn back
Check lock
Door locked
Step away
Turn back
Check lock
Door locked
Step away
Turn back
Check lock
Door locked

Again
Again
Again

Key falls on ground
A SPOT OF DIRT
Unlock door and carefully inside to hide from teary panic

And so it goes...

again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again

My clean hands my locked door my life

online diagnosis (more research)

You have to pay or sign up or something, but if your desperate to see if you have mental issues head to mytherapy.

If your wondering if you have obsessive compulsive disorders or you're just a normal worrier look over the checklist on this site.

This site has a lot of true stories about people who suffer from OCD, instead of just listing like a diagnosis like most of the others.

Research

I looked up obsessive compulsive disorder and read about it here, here and here.

Each of these sites explain the obsessive and compulsive components that combine to make obsessive compulsive disorder. I found the rituals of washing, hoarding and repeting interesting from a poetic perspective. The first link explains these quite well. The quotations on the National Institute for Mental Health website (here) provided a scary look into the lives of people with OCD.

I have plenty to write about.

only ONE is the winner

1. OCD
(which stands for obsessive compulsive disorder)

Three is the magic number

1. OCD
2. Salamander
3. Obsidian

Ten is a nice number because it fits well on my fingers

1. Salamanders
2. Black widows
3. OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)
4. Guinea pigs
5. Bugs
6. Altitude
7. Ants
8. Thumbs
9. Herpetology/ herping
10. Obsidian

Play with colour from rizome art.
I tried to copy the commands, but I can't attempt to mimic the result.

10% more blue (azure aster)
20% more yellow (yellow lily)
30% more green (green grass)
40% more brown (brown bog)
50% more orange (orange orange)
60% more pink (pink peacock)
70% more purple (purple pansy)
80% more red (red rose)
this square is completely white
this square is completely blue (blue jay, blue moon) blue
you may now quit.

Ccccccccccccc

S goes sssssssssssssss like snake.
K goes kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk like kick.
And what does C do?
It goes sssssssss like snake (as in cereal) or kkkk like kick (as in cat). Copy-cat much?
If we have K and we have S, why do we need a confusing combination letter that can't decide who to mimic?
C is a useless letter.

It makes a pretty picture though on other clutter.
Maybe it does have some use afterall.

...swan?

Swan
Swan neck
Swan silhouette
Swan
Swan dark
Swan surrounded
Swan
Swan black
Swan simplistic
Swan

Look at this picture from other clutter and see if you get what I mean.

Cats vs Dogs

Look at this.
Finally, cats get their sweet revenge.
My favourite pictures is the second one from the bottom.

I got this link from metafilter.

BBBBBBBBBB

I thought this twisted B picture was fun. I actually like a lot of the other clutter pictures.
And while i'm on the topic of B's...

Bubble
Bubble
Be
Be
Bzzz
Bzzz
Bee
Bee
Bubble
Bubble
Twist
Pop

Confusion

I see a lightning bolt over the earth.
Does anyone see anything else?

Click here for more of these inspiring pictures.

Sound

There a few things I hate in a song, one of them is painfully high pitched notes, another is a computeresque noise. When music sounds electronic I find it fake and unnatural. It reminds me of the beep of a windows error message or the squawking of my alarm clock. I hate both sounds. Even a ring tone type jingle puts me on edge, giving me the annoying sense that I should be running to find my cell. And high pitched noises, they just hurt my ears. That's why I didn't really like this piece. The rhythm was nice, but the sounds just weren't for me. If you want something else to listen to, there's lots more where that came from.

Guy under Raincloud

To be honest, I don't really get this joke.
Still, that doesn't stop me from putting my own words to the picture.
Here is what I think the unhappy guy under the happy raincloud is thinking:

Raincloud happy
I'm sad
Why?
Makes no sense
Trade?
Rain be sad
I want happy
Life sucks

If you wanna see more of these pictures, go ahead, they're pretty good.

One shoe on, one shoe off

Here is what this guy could be thinking:

My shoe? My shoe? Where is my shoe? One foot is cold, the other is warm and they are getting in a fight about it. Ouch. They won't stop kicking eachother. Hurts like hell. The warm foot is a cocky jerk and the cold one is jealous and whines like baby. Maybe I’ll make it fair and throw my one shoe off. It’ll serve those bastards right. (Throws off shoe). Damn, now both feet are cold. Does anyone have extra shoes?

If you like that guy, this site has a bajillion more pictures of him.

Playmobile Security Check

This is hilarious.
I want one.
I really really want one.
But I only want the playmobile version, the real ones always make me stand in line, take off my shoes and hand over my laptop.

Check it out, you'll want one too.

Or go here to find some other weird stuff.

No Helvetica

• Arial
• Courier
• Georgia
• Lucida Grande
• Times
• Tebuchet
• Verdana
• Wedding

Where is helvetica?
Where is helvetica?
Where is helvetica?
here, but i'm not paying and no other font will do for a post about helvetica.
oh no!

Or Try Bugs for Breakfast

If cereal is just not your thing you could try some nice crunchy deep fried bugs. Even if weird meat is not your taste this site is still hilarious. If you're really hungry, there's more where that came from.

My Cereal

Random how-to lists are the perfect diversion from whatever it is you are actually supposed to be doing, so go ahead and get the low down on anything and everything from wikiHow.

These seven wikiHow cereal steps are good, but to make a bowl of cereal in my house the instructions need to be a little more specific.

1. Go into the cupboard and take out the smaller bowl that’s white with a pink stripe.
True, the brown one is a better cereal bowl shape, but it is far too brown.

2. Take a medium spoon from the top white drawer. The huge soup one is annoying
and the tiny ones don’t hold milk.

3. Partially fill the bowl with quaker oats and maybe sprinkle with honey nut cheerios.

4. Flood with 1% milk, the more milk the better.

5. If you have fruit, don’t put it on top of the cereal. Enjoy it separately, wet fruit is strange.

6. Spoon up cereal with milk. Then spoon up the remaining extra sweet milk. Yum.

7. Put bowl on counter.

If you're still trying to procrastinate, I got this wikiHow link right here. Check it out.