It seems so ridiculous, but true.

the enemy of productivity

New Rules for Blogging

I know the extra credit season is over but I thought this was relevant.

Internetic

A recreation of Daft Punks Technologic, but based on all the things we do on the internet.

Parents, Not Kids, Are the Biggest Abusers of Technology

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2011/02/09/parents-not-kids-are-the-biggest-abusers-of-technology

Eye-opening article. Alone Together may be a future read for me.

A Contribution by Dr. Staffel

LIFE AND LILACS

Time waits for no one to stop and smell the flowers

Ellen Goodman

The lilacs have gone by.  I take note of  this with an unexpected snap of sad regret as I take my morning commute from the kitchen to the driveway.

The flowers had made their annual appearance on the bushes that stand beside my back door.  For two weeks, they had permeated the air with a seductive promise the way a perfume wafts into the atmosphere of a department store.

I had planned to take up their offer, to spend time in their company.  But now the last of the blooms has turned a crusty deadhead shade of beige.  And I had paid only the most transient of visits, enjoyed only a contact high, a small whiff of their possibilities.

This morning, it is the absence of lilacs that finally stops me in my tracks.  I brake belatedly to pay the toll of attention to what is now missing.  A year’s worth of lilacs, an entire life span of flowers.

I repeat the phrase in my mind:  The lilacs have gone by.  It is what gardeners say.  But, in fact, the lilacs stayed in one place and I had gone by them, hurrying, on the way, on the move.

…………………………………

Behind me in this small city garden there are irises in bloom now.  The peonies are on the way, the ants already feasting the sweet sap off their buds.  They will be followed by day lilies and black-eyed Susans, by asters and fall.  I run down the perennial calendar and become nostalgic for the summer that, at this writing, has yet to officially begin.

The days are long, but lately my friends have been wistful about time, the common currency of their lives.  They talk of spending too much time on what are dubbed essentials.  Too many hours seem to be taken out of their week, as if the week were a paycheck, too much withheld before they get to some small luxury, a moment of discretionary spending.

At lunch last week, a woman not given to maudlin cost accounting had figured out on her actuarial table that she has probably 30 more chances to see the pink lady slippers in the woods.  Thirty is a lot said the woman who is approaching 50 herself.  But it is also, suddenly, finite.

………………………………

The other day, an economist who jet lags between cities and seasons, stopped to talk about the lupine he was leaving behind on his way to Singapore.  Why couldn’t the geneticists manipulate the bloom dates for our convenience the way politicians move presidents’ birthdays around for the benefit of a long weekend?  In his mockery, there was longing.

This morning, dangling out of my briefcase is a plastic bag of excess black-eyed Susans that I dug up in a rush last night.  Flowers for a friend.  On the phone last week, we talked about the sense of channel-surfing through life.  Work, click, kids, click, parents, click, errands, click.  With split-second timing it was possible to cover everything—but only if we stay on the surface.

What times we are living in, time deficient times in an era of high productivity and low sensibility.

What happens when life becomes a list, we asked each other?  When even the pleasurable things become items to check off?  What happens when we are getting through the days? What are we getting through and to?  But, our thoughts were interrupted by cell phones.

Maybe this speed trap is not so clear in the taupe sameness of winter when one day stretches endlessly like another.  But sometimes, standing in a garden, a season can seem as short as the lifespan of a day lily.  Sometimes, you catch a glimpse of something in human nature that longs to spend time lavishly.  To relish as well as to produce.

On a late spring morning, there is a wistful reminder in this natural datebook.  How quickly things “go by.”  Life and lilacs.

Ignite 11NTC: Steve Heye - Technology Is Killing Our Community

Goes along with Technology and Community. Just reminds me again of what Ashley said...

Pregnant at 70

I have mixed feelings about this one.... Is this bad in all cases? and Is there an age to be too old? I can't decide!

Did you know? Technology.

Some good cartoons...

My Phone is Off For You.

Grown Man Cries Over Not Having Blackberry

I love The Enabler. We all have done this and will probably do it some more in the near future

It's my last one for now! Promise! I'm just finding all sorts of great pictrues and articles today!

http://www.wizardjournal.com/social-networking/five-most-deadly-side-effects-of-facebook.html

When I thought about it, this is probably true...

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/not-texting-in-class-youd-better-get-started-118066084.html

This article blew my mind!! I think they need to read the "Shallows" book!! This school had gone almost completely digital!!

Thought this described our class perfectly!

These are just a few images I found interesting....

Music Through the Ages

1990 Sounds like more fun.

Social Media Yearbook

If it's too small, here's the link.

http://i.imgur.com/naij3.png

If you click on the picture, it will enlarge. At least in Firefox it did.

Link for Previous Post

I don't know why those pictures always show up so small, but here's the link to a larger one.
http://failbook.failblog.org/2011/02/17/your-facebook-photos-an-infographic/

I know we talk a lot about how we are losing part of our identity online. Is stuff like this helping regain our identity? It is making the email more personalized but is it worth it?

Dorm Plant Ideas

I stumbled upon this and I think I might be trying one of these plants out. I already have paperwhites growing in my room. They're so tall, they're falling over!

[They are sadly starting to brown, but they're pretty when blooming.]

Link for 15 houseplants that help improve indoor air quality:

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/photos/15-houseplants-for-improving-indoor-air-quality/a-breath-of-fresh

What Facebook is Doing to Our Literacy

Just another commercial

A terribly awkward family dinner.

Five Generations

As I mentioned in class Tuesday, I've been reading "Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future" by author Time Elmore. Included in Elmore's book was a multi-generational chart identifying unique characteristics of each generation. I found it to be quite interesting.

Your phone is about to become your wallet!

I dread this. But I am afraid it is our future.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/24/pf/end_of_credit_cards/index.htm

Really?

Watching the Super Bowl tonight, this ad stood out to me as relevant to our discussions about constantly being connected.

Evolution of Man

Solves all our Tech addiction

This site acts as watch dog to keep us off of certain sites. Just make it a book mark and it will regulate how often you can visit the site, as per your specifications.

http://keepmeout.com/

Potatoes?

Grow 100 lbs of potatoes in 4 square feet!

End

Just a little thought

Artist: Amanda Rush

Is the Facebook Fad Ending at Last?

Ah ha... somebody else is thinking the same things...

Read the article by clicking here.

At the Berkeley Free Speech Cafe

Dr. Staffel sent me this poem to share with the group. It is a good one.


At the Berkeley Free Speech Cafe
by Thomas Moore


The students are seated,
one to a table,
at tables for two,
ears wired,
laptops humming,
cell phones buzzing,
fingers texting,
iPods thumping,
toes drumming,
email flashing,
lattés cooling,
textbooks open,
reading for an exam
in Issues in Contemporary Culture 102.

Evolution

This is a real great video showing how technology has had an impact on appearance.

http://www.dove.us/?dl=/features/videos/default.aspx%7Ccp-documentid=7049579%7Cvideo-id=1&source=shareBlogger

Amy

Wrong Link. Sorry Guys! I'll post the right one above.

Don't Be Evil!

I feel like this is all too true..

Are we on the cutting edge or what?

This story reinforces my earlier ideas that we could eventually get some national coverage for this class. We'll start with the Trumpet and end up getting a free trip to NYC!

Take a look...

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4507302/winter-of-disconnect-/

Caution! Technology Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

 

 We live in a society that exalts youth and youthful appearances. This, coupled with the advances in the development of technology and the marketing of cosmetic surgery, has proven to be injurious to many and the demise of some. These results have led to many questioning the practices of certain technical procedures, such as facial laser surgery. I thought everyone might be interested in seeing this video and reviewing the pictures of the woman below, before and after her facial laser surgery.

These are Angela's pictures:

Angela, the day before her treatment:

Angela, before her treatment that was done later that day:

Angela, one year after her procedure:

Angela twenty months after procedure:

Angela two years after her procedure:

Angela was brave to post these pictures, it was not easy. She told her story to warn others and hopefully save them from the fate that befell her.

Angela passed away last October after spending nearly two years hidden away from the world because of the depression and her self-perceived disfigurement from the Fraxel treatment.

New Windows Phone Commercial

Some of you may have seen parts of this on TV already, but there are lots more funny scenes in this clip. I was accused of this being made after my life, and it's true, I've done some of these things!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHIN21ebeak

Your Blackberry or Your Wife?

A friend posted this article on Facebook a couple nights ago and I was going to share it with the class anyway! I thought it was very interesting.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111802/your-blackberry-or-your-wife?mod=family-love_money

Facebook is Becoming the Internet

I found this and was amazed at some of the statistics, though some don't surprise me at all.

Here is the link since it's kind of hard to read some of it...

http://failbook.failblog.org/2011/01/13/funny-facebook-fails-facebook-is-becoming-the-internet/#more-23923

Priorities

Just an image I stumbled upon today. Makes you rethink what our priorities may come to at some point.

A challenge of sorts. Just relax and listen, do not touch your mouse or keyboard and enjoy the sounds for just 2 minutes.

www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

Also felt like this is far too accurate.

I saw these and they reminded me of Ben's original image and I thought they were interesting art pieces.

This little comic strip is so true to my life it's upsetting! I just hope I'm not the only one on here like this!

A great trailer for a great movie - King Corn!

Take a look at this fun 3 minute trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr5HQrgg9mM

Another point for me!

Interesting article

Here is an interesting article about a family that unplugged for 6 months.

http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=6397"

Hey... does this mean I get an extra credit point? Well, I guess it does!

Ohhh... the irony.....

Yes, I realize how terribly ironic it is for me to create a blog about unplugging from digital devices as the result of viewing an image about reading books instead of blogs, sent by a student who is attending a class about unplugging from digital devices. It doesn't make any sense and I can't explain it.

By the way... feel free to add your own writings, photos, drawings, etc. I'll give you a point for each entry.

Don't tell my daughter! Or at least blame Ben... Its his fault.

Hi everyone,

You can't let my daughter Ellie know about this blog. Or, at least blame it on Ben. You see, he sent me a great image that I thought the rest of you would like. So, this being a snow day... and snow days being a dangerous thing for a professor stuck on a hilltop surrounded by daughters, chickens, and swirling snowflakes, I had time to think about the best way to share Ben's image with the rest of you. Which led me to create this blog. First of all, here is the image:

Secondly, I am going to give Ben an extra credit point for finding this image and sharing it with the group.

I am also going to leave this blog wide open for each of you to edit, so you can submit photos, illustrations, articles, videos, etc., dealing with subject matter related to the class. You will get 1 point for each item you upload to this blog. Hopefully we will have a nice collection of cool things by the end of the semester. I'll tally each of your entries and credit you with your points before I submit your final grades.

How about if everyone takes a few minutes before the next class to upload at least one thing.

Now, get off of your computer and go outside! Its a winter wonderland out there!