June 2010
Street Names and First Names →
I stumbled upon this very cool mashup of data and maps on http://www.weathersealed.com that has aggregated data on street names that are actually people’s first names. It seemed like a…
Google Me: Google To Launch A 'Facebook Killer'? →
Facebook’s recently-announced Open Graph search feature has been likened to a “Google killer.” But Google may be bringing the fight to Facebook, too. According to a tweet from Digg founder Kevin Rose, Google is preparing to launch a rival social networking service called “Google Me.” Rose wrote in a tweet: Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very...
Maybe a Madrigal →
Our June prompt used a poem by Vera Pavlova that was in a “form” that I couldn’t identify. It’s a poem in one stanza with the same opening and closing word/rhyme and three couplets…
June 30 Is Social Media Day →
Where’s the party?
Devils, Rangers and Islanders →
Here are the name origins of three NY/NJ Metro area hockey teams. The New Jersey Devils took their name from a NJ legend. A witch allegedly…
Ning Mini for Educators →
A lot of educators - myself included - were disappointed when Ning announced the end of free accounts that allowed you
to create your own social network site. It was one of the easier ways to get…
World Cup →
Not too late to get World Cup gear! Read and post comments | Send to a friend
John Updike’s Archive →
When John Updike died of lung cancer in January 2009, at 76, there seemed little left to learn about him. Not only was he among the most prolific writers of his time, but he was also among the most autobiographical, recasting the details of his life in an outpouring of fiction, poetry, essays and criticism that appeared with metronomic regularity in the pages of The New Yorker and in books...
The Deep End and The Shallows →
As a kid, you learned to swim in the shallows and eventually took a dive into the deep end of the pool, lake or ocean. School and life taught you that some things are “deep” and that some people can…
New Jersey Is Monitoring the Gulf Oil Spill But... →
Via Brian T. Murray / The Star-Ledger New Jersey is forming a team of specialists to monitor the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana in the unlikely, but worrisome event the slick reaches…
What's your favorite summer memory?
The summer I was 9. The summer before everything went sour. Long days that started early and ended late. Into the woods, playing at the creek, picnic lunches with friends, ball games, riding my bike for miles and miles, sleeping with the window open…
Sure, I could live without a car for a year
I’d love to live somewhere (I’m thinking island or little village in another country) where a car was unnecessary. Maybe a place where they don’t even exist. Walking distance to whatever you need. Not even bikes. Maybe a horse.
Plinky - inspiration delivered daily →
Every day this site gives a new prompt (like a question, or a challenge), and gives you the chance to answer.
You can add photos, maps, playlists… You can easily share your Plinky answers on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and most major blogging services.
Spandau Ballet →
Spandau Ballet is a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by the New Romantic fashion, their music features a mixture of funk, jazz, soul…
Audiobooks →
Limited Time Offer - Get Your First 3 Months at Audible.com for $7.49/month! Download an audiobook for only $7.49. Choose from over 75,000 titles!
The Endangered Species Act Works →
The Endangered Species Act works. Another example of that is the growing population of gray wolves in northern Wisconsin. State officials estimate the population is 700 to 750, the…
The June Full Moon →
This month’s full Moon occurs Saturday, June 26th. Last year, I wrote about the popular North American nickname for this month as the Strawberry Moon. The widespread harvesting of strawberries in…
Rolls Royce →
Another product eponym is found in the famed automotive manufacturer Rolls-Royce. Stuart Rolls and Henry Royce, one a motor enthusiast and the other an engineering…
Pine Barrens Whitesbog Blueberry Festival This... →
The 27th annual Whitesbog Blueberry Festival will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. June 26, rain or shine, at Whitesbog Village in Browns Mills, N.J. “Admission to the festival is only $8 per carload, and…
High School Poetry Workshops in NYC - Last Call →
Every year, since the 1970s, the Academy of American Poets has held a summer creative writing workshop for high school students in New York City. Students attend six seminars on the…
Sergey Brin’s Search for a Parkinson’s Cure (WIRED... →
Buried deep within each cell in Sergey Brin’s body—in a gene called LRRK2, which sits on the 12th chromosome—is a genetic mutation that has been associated with higher rates of Parkinson’s.
As half of the duo that founded Google, he’s worth about $15 billion. That bounty provides additional leverage: Since learning that he carries a LRRK2 mutation, Brin has contributed some $50...
Summer Books That Make The Critics' Cut →
Just what is a summer book, anyway? Does it have to be a big, fat, juicy page turner to earn the right to be packed away in the luggage (or downloaded on the e-reader) and taken along on vacation? We put that question to several book reviewers. After all, they make make their living reading books, so what do they take with them when they go on a road trip, fly overseas, or hunker down in the...
Mapping To Prevent Common Species From Becoming... →
Could a new U.S. map of ecosystems help keep healthy species from ending up endangered? Ground and satellite surveys of land cover by the U. S. Geological Survey’s Gap Analysis Program…
Nfomedia →
“Nfomedia is the easiest way to establish higher education courses on the Web. Nfomedia makes it effortless to manage courses online and enables interaction outside of the classroom using a social networking platform.”
Features include: * Wiki-style editing * Course blogs * Video lectures * Online exams * Student journals * Announcements * Online gradebook * Message boards * Personal...
‘Star Trek’ and Critical Thinking - NYTimes.com →
In this week’s New York Times Tech Talk podcast, J.D. Biersdorfer talks to Nancy Hill of the University of Texas at El Paso about lessons from “Star Trek.” Ms. Hill’s course for incoming freshmen – “Thinking Boldly With Star Trek” – aims to teach critical thinking, while exploring classic themes of science fiction. She says students respond to the course because the “Star Trek” theme is familiar...
Students, go now into summer →
For all of you who toil in the classrooms and are wrapping up another year - here’s a poem to send you (and maybe your students) out into summer. First Year Teacher to His Students Go now into…
Is Professional Development Paying Off? →
Every K-12 teacher in New Jersey
needs to create a professional development plan each year. Teachers pick the types of professional development
opportunities they want to take part…
The B-52s →
The B-52s (originally formatted as The B-52’s) are an American New Wave band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. From 1976, the group consisted of Fred Schneider…
Farewell to the Phoenix →
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has ended operations after repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful.
A new image transmitted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows signs of…
The Longest Day →
Today is the Summer Solstice. It’s the longest day (as in daylight) of the year, so I had to take a personal day to get my money’s worth here in the Northern Hemisphere. (You did notice those winter…
States Schedule Hearings on Horseshoe Crab →
The following is from a news release from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: States Schedule Hearings on Horseshoe Crab Draft Addendum VI Draft Addendum Explores Management…
High School Connections →
Next week I will be involved in doing our first High School Connections seminar as part of Passaic County
Community College’s Writing Initiative. We are in year three of this five-year grant…
Animal Sense →
Do you remember back in December 2004 when giant waves slammed into Sri Lanka and the India coastlines? One story that kept getting retold was that wild and domestic animals seemed to know what was about to happen and…
Jersey Shore Shark Attacks 1916 →
The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 were a series of shark attacks along the coast of New Jersey between July 1 and July 12, 1916, in which four people were killed and one injured. Scientists have…
Still Afraid To Go In The Water →
It has been 36 years since the summer I read a novel by Peter Benchley that tells the story of a great white shark that preys upon a tourist resort, and the voyage of three men who go out to to kill…
Public Libraries as OER →
EdTechPost asked the question What is the most
successful formal OER (open educational resource) project?. Of course, it’s a question without a definitive answer,
but I like one possibility: the…
Wild Turkeys →
In the 1950’s, there were only 100,000 turkeys in the wild, today there are an estimated 3 million of them in the wild. Turkeys have been on this planet in one form or another for 10…
Blue Öyster Cult →
Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed in New York in 1967 and still active in 2010. The group is best known for their songs “(Don’t…
The Spirituality of Parenting →
From the great program Speaking of Faith which continually redefines what faith can mean…
More and more people in our time are disconnected from religious institutions, at least for part of their lives. Others are religious and find themselves creating a family with a spouse from another tradition or no tradition at all. And the experience of parenting tends to raise spiritual questions...
Blackboard's Next Generation →
According to a piece titled “Blackboard’s ‘Next Generation’ Software Gets Mixed Reviews” by Sophia Li on The Chronicle
website, the most recent release of Blackboard’s course-management system…
How COPPA Fails →
Interesting post by Danah Boyd on
“How COPPA Fails Parents, Educators, Youth that begins by saying: Ever wonder why youth have to be over 13 to create an account on Facebook or Gmail or Skype?…
Peregrine Falcon Webcam Views →
Many visitors to the NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife web site are familiar with the Peregrine Webcam which streams video from Jersey City. Fortunately there are another estimated 20 nests found…
'iCollege' Idea Gets Chuckle on 'Daily Show,' but... →
from Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education
iCollege?
I don’t think so.
That’s the online reaction to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s rant against traditional higher education this week on The Daily Show. In case you missed it, the Minnesota Republican suggested students would stop hauling their “keisters” to class and start paying $199 to download...
Vera Pavlova →
Vera Pavlova was born in 1963, in Moscow. She graduated from the Schnittke College of Music and the Gnessin Academy, where she specialized in history of music. She began writing…
