June 2009
Into The Dark Flow →
Centaurus
First dark matter and dark energy. Now, we find parts of our universe moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can’t be explained by any of the known…
Invasive Flathead Catfish Found in NJ →
Flathead Catfish Pylodictus olivaris Photo: Eric Engbretson, DOI, Fish and Wildlife Service, Invasive.org
The NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife has verified a 5.5 pound,…
NJ Wildlife Conservation Corps Volunteers →
The Wildlife Conservation Corps (WCC), with more than 1700 members, is the largest natural resource management volunteer group in the state. I have been a member for more than 20 years. WCC members…
Report: The Future of Learning Institutions in a... →
A new report from HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) has been released called,
“The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital
Age”(available free online…
Mix Tapes →
A while back I came across this website that is edited by Jason Bittner called CassetteFromMyEx.com. On the site people share their stories of lost (or everlasting) love that center around a mix…
An Algorithim For Happiness →
I don’t write about my work life on this blog. I have a blog about my work (which is actually school) just for that. But this post started with an article about work that I read in The Wall Street…
The Longest Poem in the World? →
“The Longest Poem in the World” - some of you may question its claim to be a poem - is a kind of found poem made by aggregating real-time public Twitter updates and selecting those that rhyme. It…
Time Wastes Too Fast - And the Pursuit of... →
such a cool visual blog. this post about Thomas Jefferson. and, yes, Monticello is great place to visit.
Call For Proposals NJEDge.Net →
The call for proposals for the NJEDge 2009 Annual Conference is still open. They are particularly
interested now in proposals for the areas of: Policy Issues & Institutional Strategic…
Among School Children →
“How can we know the dancer from the dance?” W.B. Yeats I have
spent this week back with “school children” again after being away from K-12 for some years. Well,
“school children” doesn’t sound…
Public By Default →
Facebook announced
today that it has begun making status messages, photos and videos visible to the public by default instead
of being visible only to a user’s approved friends. Private was…
A Swallow Tale →
Swallow mud nests on a home under the roof soffit.
A story of good coming from bad from Patagonia’s blog The Cleanest Line: One of their Ventura, CA employees, Kim Stroud, is also…
Wiki-Conference New York →
The first Wiki-Conference New York will be held over
the weekend of July 25/26 at New York University. The event is hosted by Free Culture @
NYU and Wikimedia New York City.
…
Twitter Creator On Iran: 'I Never Intended For... →
Creator Jack Dorsey was shocked and saddened this week after learning that his social networking device, Twitter, was being used to disseminate pertinent and timely information during the recent civil unrest in Iran.
“Twitter was intended to be a way for vacant, self-absorbed egotists to share their most banal and idiotic thoughts with anyone pathetic enough to read them,” said a...
Hello World →
Not that I get to travel outside the United States very much, but - I came across this list from an 1881 etiquette manual titled Our Deportment by John H. Young. Looking at it now is an…
Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Mangement Area →
The Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Mangement Area, located off Rt. 513 in northern Morris County, features an official Hawk Migration Association of North America “hawkwatch” at the top of…
Riding the Google Wave →
Lars Rasmussen, a software engineering manager at Google, first connected with the company when, in 2004,
Google took an interest in a mapping startup called Where 2 Tech that he founded with his…
Mommy, What Was A Newsweekly? →
Newsweek and Time magazines have both
decided to stop trying to compete with “new media” to be the first with news, and to focus on being where you
turn for in-depth commentary and…
Another Prompt To Start The Summer →
Here’s another prompt suggestion that was sent to me by Shaindel Beers. (Our June prompt using one of her poems is open for submissions until July 5.) She used the “20 Little Poetry Projects” by Jim…
Organic Spirits Step Up →
Regardless of your choice of liquor, there is an eco-friendly option. We separate the wheat from the greenwashed chaff.
I Love Your Book. Will You Sign My Kindle? →
A recent New York Times article talks about a Kindle reader who asked David Sedaris at a reading to sign his Kindle (where he had Sedaris’ book downloaded). Sedaris wrote “This…
Decoding the (United Kingdom) Lottery →
Ok, so we all don’t live in Great Britain, but
the available space to get an iPhone App reviewed is so limited that Ian Bruce of The Lottery Company sent his iPhone app information…
Search For Self Called Off After 38 Years →
He gave up way too early.
“I always thought that if I kept searching and exploring, I’d discover who I truly was,” said Speth from his Wrigleyville efficiency. “Well, I looked deep into the innermost recesses of my soul, I plumbed the depths of my subconscious, and you know what I found? An empty, windowless room the size of an aircraft hangar. From now on, if anybody...
Sumer Is Icumen In Today →
“Sumer Is Icumen In” is a traditional English round, and possibly the oldest such example of counterpoint in existence. The song’s title might is usually translated as “Summer has come in” or “Summer…
The Butterfly Effect →
Albert Einstein said that “God does not play dice with the universe.”
Another physicist, Joseph Ford, said “God plays dice with the universe, but they’re loaded dice. And the main objective is to…
Social Network Iran →
The Iranian election protests have brought greater attention to Twitter, Facebook and some other social media sites.
Those sites are being used by Iranians to bypass local censorship. Firsthand…
Full Moons →
There is something about the moon. I have been posting this year about each of the full moons – the Native American names for each one and other European names for them too.
We are halfway through…
Laughing With God →
I had not been a real fan of Regina Spektor’s music before, though I had listened to some tracks. Then, I listened (for free) to the new album via NPR’s excellent FIRST LISTEN site. I…
Why Did the Amphibian Cross the Road? →
Eastern Tiger Salamander (endangered in NJ)
Not only can you ask “Why Did the Amphibian Cross the Road?” but why would it try to cross a Jersey road? In the article “Death by…
Super Hero →
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. As a superhero, all I would have wanted was to be able to fly. Batman + flying would have worked for me. In my teen years, I would have gone with…
Serious Twittering →
This post’s title may sound like an oxymoron to you. I have not been a fan of Twitter as a social tool, and even less
enthusiastic about its use in educational settings. But it has been difficult to…
Regina Spektor's FAR - give a free listen →
Regina Spektor has a new album out called Far - and you can listen to the whole album online (streaming, not a download). Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Poetry Everywhere | PBS →
WGBH and David Grubin Productions, in association with the Poetry Foundation, undertook this project in order to expose a diverse audience to a broad spectrum of poetic voices, build an appreciation and an audience for poetry, and increase the presence of poets and poetry within the two most ubiquitous media in American popular culture–the Web and TV. In addition to presentation on this Web site,...
The First Blogger →
Philip Greenspun suggested online that perhaps Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 160 AD to 180 AD, might have been the first blogger. Marc kept a journal during a military campaign in central…
NJ Wildlife Management Areas →
New Jersey’s Wildlife Management Area System, administered by the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Bureau of Land Management, preserves a diversity of fish and wildlife habitats from…
The American Voice in Poetry: the Legacy of... →
The Poetry Center at my college, Passaic County Community College, has put out a call for submissions of poems for a contest to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its founding. The…
Open Software For Your Conference →
There are more options all the time for free and open source tools to design websites and online applications. OpenConferenceWare is a pretty sophisticated
free package for processing event…
We Tell Stories Digitally →
Photo via Flick by tcmhitchhiker
I came across a site on digital fiction from Penguin books in the UK called WE TELL STORIES. The project took some classic stories and asked…
Endangered Piping Plovers in Sea Girt →
The Sea Girt Borough Council voted this month to amend a beach use ordinance to ban kite flying and dog walking on the borough beach to protect endangered piping plovers who use the beach…
Top Challenges in Teaching and Learning With... →
I am spreading the word here about what some
members of the EDUCAUSE Teaching and Learning community are doing online that you might find of interest. They started asking last summer about…
Name Checking →
People were making
a big deal last week about Facebook allowing people to own their name as a URL for their profile. That means that I
could grab http://www.fbook.me/ronkowitz. It doesn’t…
What is New Jersey's State Fruit? →
Did you know that there are only three Native American fruits? They are the grape, bluebery and cranberry. All three grow in New Jersey. New Jersey designated highbush blueberry (Vaccinium…
“War is God’s way of teaching Americans some geography.”
John...”
– Ronkville (a small online community)
Robert Frost: Online Resources - Library of... →
I Want A Do-Over →
When I was a kid, we had “do-over” as part of most games we played. The football hit a wire from the telephone poll – do-over. The bike jump ramp falls over before you hit it – do-over.
On a…
English Companion (on Ning) →
where English teachers help each other
