December 2009
Six Pixels of Separation →
Is it important to be connected? Well, consider this: If Facebook were a country, it would have the sixth largest population in the world.
The truth is, we no longer live in a world of…
Chrismukkah and Orson Welles By Way of Rutgers... →
This week, my Rutgers Alumni News told me about two fellow alums who have had some literary success. This bring me both happiness (for them) and sadness and frustration (for me, with my unfinished…
The Nature Conservancy in NJ →
Since 1955, The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey has protected more than 56,000 acres. Their first project preserved 500 acres of one of New Jersey’s last old growth forests at…
Twitter For Newbies →
You couldn’t avoid hearing about Twitter in 2009, but it has been around since 2006. Twitter describes itself as, “a
service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected…
Learning Resources 2009 →
I was reading Jane Hart’s “Review of 2009: 100 great resources” post on her C4LPT (Centre for Learning and Performance
Technologies) site today and was surprised (and pleased!) to see one…
Native Americans and the Blue Moon →
There were two comments on the blog from Julia asking about what the Native American name for this unusual “blue moon” to end 2009 on December 31 would be. So, I thought I would add another post…
The Solar Cooker Project →
Women in Darfur are threatened by the simple task of leaving their refugee camp to gather firewood for cooking. The chances of their being attacked, raped or murdered are high. The Solar Cooker…
Invictus →
I’m happy for any attention that the media can bring to poetry. The new film, Invictus, gets its title from a poem that inspired Nelson Mandela. “Invictus” is a poem by the English…
Misremembering Romeo and Juliet
I’m thinking some of my former students may have been involved in this production…
A new off-Broadway production tells the story of the star-crossed lovers without bothering with any of Shakespeare’s hallowed words or intricate plot twists. Instead, it relies on the fuzzy recollections of people who read it in high school.The show’s creators called unsuspecting people on...
Pelicans Delisted →
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that the brown pelican is being removed from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The…
Year-End Book Deals →
Year-End Deals on Books from Amazon including books under $5, $10 and $20.
Homes For Our Troops →
At the end of year, like many of you, I look for good causes. Part of that search is no doubt connected to the end of the tax year (charitable deductions), and part of it is the holiday season, but…
Roads Less Traveled
“A man of my acquaintance once wrote a poem called “The Road Less Traveled”, describing a journey he took through the woods along a path most travelers never used. The poet found that the road less traveled was peaceful but quite lonely, and he was probably a bit nervous as he went along, because if anything happened on the road less traveled, the other travelers would be on the...
What Motivates Us? →
We’ve been conditioned to think that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is through external rewards like money-the carrot-and-the-stick approach. That’s a mistake,…
A Blue Moon To End 2009 →
There is a full moon to end 2009. (December 31, 2009, 19:13 GMT, 2:13 PM EST, 1:13 PM CST, 12:13 PM MST, 11:30 AM PST – don’t be shocked that the moon doesn’t become full based on your particular…
Suggest Readings On Designing For Social Media →
I asked on an earlier post for
readers to contribute to a presentation that I was prepping for a conference and I
created a web page at disposablewebpage.com which was set to expire…
5 Things I Would Tell a Social Media Professor →
thanks @mzedeck
The Quest For The God Particle →
The Higgs boson particle is sometimes referred to as “the God particle.” That comes from Leon Lederman’s book, The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? (Though other…
From An Advertising World To A Marketing World
Mitch Joel:
When most people think of “marketing,” they’re actually thinking of “advertising.” That’s all going to change. In the grand scheme of things, advertising is a segment of marketing. That’s the official structure of it all. That’s what they’ll teach you in any Marketing 101 course. Within the sphere of everything that is marketing,...
Find a Wildlife Refuge Near You →
The National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the world’s premier system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife…
Weekend Mind →
This blog is called Weekends in Paradelle and Paradelle is an imaginary place that I go to on weekends. Of course, just because it is imaginary doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. It does.
I thought…
Seasonal Affective Disorder →
I was writing about the book Weekends at Bellevue yesterday and I wrote a bit about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but it didn’t really fit into that post. So, I am going to use the notes I had…
Make One Last Charitable Contribution for 2009 →
Google is giving $20 million to charities for the holidays and you can see
their list of charities. I wish they had made them links so that some of you might visit the charities and make…
Merry Christmas From Serendipity35 →
Merry Christmas from
Serendipity35 Ken and Tim
Bald Eagle Rescued in Essex County →
According to nj.com, a juvenile bald eagle was discovered trapped in a tall grass embankment at a Short Hills reservoir on the property of New Jersey American Water. The eagle had entered the…
What Would Google Do? →
What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have been listening to Jeff Jarvis
on the This Week in Google podcast http://twit.tv/twig and reading his…
Track Santa on NORAD Radar →
Santa over Paris - 2008
You can track Santa at
www.noradsanta.org starting
at 2am ET on December 24. You’ll see a Google Map that will display Santa’s location over the…
Community colleges may offer bachelor's degrees →
With tens of thousands being turned away from state universities, California lawmakers likely will consider granting community colleges the right to offer a limited number of bachelor’s degrees. The shift, which has occurred in 17 other states in the past decade or so, would represent a major philosophical change in California, where the three state higher-education systems have clearly...
Ghost Of Christmas Future Taunts Children With... →
I hate it when he does that kind of thing.
2009 NJ Raptor Reports Available →
An osprey returns to its nest - Photo by Gary Lehman
The 2009 reports for three raptor species actively managed by the NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame…
Blogger Includes Amazon Link To Funny Book From... →
I always pick up a copy of the satirical newspaper, The Onion, when I see it. Unfortunately, I don’t live in a hip enough area to find it very often, so I usually read the stories online. …
A simple definition: Web 2.0 →
Web 1.0 = me
Web 2.0 = me + you
Web 1.0 = read
Web 2.0 = read + write
Web 1.0 = connecting ideas
Web 2.0 = connecting ideas + connecting people
Web 1.0 = search
Web 2.0 = recommendations of friends/others
Web 1.0 = find
Web 2.0 = share
Web 1.0 = techies rule
Web 2.0 = everybody rules
No Impact Man →
Blog, book, movie…
Blogoworld — What's the Crowd Reading? →
Blogoworld is about discovering blogs where the crowd of readers are. The crowd may be anywhere from a few tens of thousands to a few millons readers.
Building Your Getaway Cabin (or reading about it) →
I went a bit crazy today with books I found on Amazon about planning to build that getaway cabin in Paradelle.
If cabin fever sets in this winter, I am ready.
If you’re dreaming in the same direction…
Visual Search With Google Goggles, So Good That... →
This will either give you a technology thrill, or scare you. There’s a new technology out there that
allows you in your travels to do some amazing things. Let’s say you see a logo but can’t…
What YouTube Says About Us →
In Serendipity35’s quest to find meaning from the end-of-the-year lists on technology, we come to online video. The
usage of that medium was at an all time high this past year. I expect it will be…
Omnivoracious: a blog run by the books →
Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Internet Archaeologist Finds Ruins of "Friendster"... →
An Internet archaeologist has found the ruins of a lost civilization known as “Friendster.”
Check ou this video report. Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of…
2010 Women & Wildlife Awards Nominations →
Do you have a friend or colleague in wildlife conservation whose dedication makes her stand out from the rest? Is her passion for wildlife contagious? Does she inspire other young women in her field…
Surveying The Landscape →
I was writing about a new edition of Henry David Thoreau’s Journal and it led me to start thinking about Thoreau’s writing and also about his other profession.
Thoreau earned a living as a land…
Sleep On It →
Researchers have thought since te early 1800s that sleep plays an important role in learning and memory. In the last decade, neuroscientists have actually found evidence that memory requires…
The Age of Wonder →
Amazon.com has Oliver Sacks giving a guest review for The Age of Wonder, which makes me want to read it. I am a Richard Holmes addict. He is an incomparable biographer, but in The…
Winter Solstice →
Monday, the 21st, is the Winter Solstice.
The word solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The sun won’t stand still on December 21st, but the winter solstice occurs at…
Who knew? Marilyn Monroe got her start making... →
