now, when did that happen?

I saw a link to this great tool today: xtimeline. (See Kevin, I do read the minutes sometimes : ) )

And for your time-travelling pleasure, here is a particularly useful timeline for this week:

I am having trouble getting their embedding code to play nice with my current WP theme. You can see it better at this link

http://www.xtimeline.com/culture/Timeline-of-Harry-Potter-Series

Read Full Post »

A Little Summertime Game of Tag

Libby tagged me with a meme! Who am I to stand in the way of propogation?

First, the rules:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So, here goes my 8:

1. I grew up with 3 younger brothers and now I have 3 sons.

2. I survived 11.5 years of Catholic school. “Survived” is a relative term.

3. I was suspended from school once (St. John the Evangelist) because I wouldn’t rat out a friend who had started a “slam book” (Debbie Licameli–you still owe me!) Come to think of it, this meme is pretty similar to a slam book and I am already feeling nervous I am going to get in trouble for this somehow…

4. I sprained my back the day before my wedding, waterskiing. The wedding went on, as those things must…

5. I overuse elipses…

6. I never had a class in World History and Geography and am constantly embarrassed by not knowing where countries are and what happened there!

7. My first trip out of the US was the summer I turned 40. We went on an incredible Vagabond tour in Ireland. I plan to travel as much as I can, in an attempt to remedy #6.

8. I have a thing for big, old bathtubs.

I’m tagging the following folks, and then I’m off to catch fireflies…
Lee

Kevin

Gardner

Hil

Dora

Yes, And…

Read Full Post »

Anything you can think of, and more!

That’s what you can find on the internet.  Just a few choice, wacky things I have learned today:

there are wild parrots in North America, and you can go on a safari to see them:

http://www.brooklynparrots.com/2007/01/special-double-header-wild-brooklyn.html 

next safari: July 14.  Since these are parrots who somehow escaped cage living,wouldn’t that be a cool thing to do on Bastille Day?

http://www.metaphorm.org/pages/portfolio/defenestration/defen.html 

“defenestration” is one of my favorite words. I wasn’t sure why until now.

“The simple, unpretentious beauty and humanity of these downtrodden objects is reawakened through the action of the piece. The act of “throwing out” becomes an uplifting gesture of release, inviting reflection on the spirit of the people we live with, the objects we encounter, and the places in which we live.”

I don’t know, maybe it is because of Independence Day and Bastille Day that I am fixated on escape.  Maybe also because the writing I am working on is also about escape.  And summer time is such an escape for me–I am fixated on Nimrod Hall and the Cowpasture River, screens in open windows, fans pulling in the cool night air… the countdown has begun for the writer weeks!

Read Full Post »

Answer People and Networks

Who are the Answer People? Following a link from Kevin’s post on Social Networks, I came to this post with visual aids (always helpful) about communication patterns, and then to this discussion on slashdot where people try to visualize the “Answer People.” The beauty of the discussion is that the discuss-ers are actual Answer People. One pokes fun at the stereotype (” imagine a guy in his late 20s sitting in his parents basement sucking down Mountain Dew and inhaling cheetos…..
Oh wait, thats not what you meant by “visualizing” them, is it?”) while others represent pretty much the range of people I have experienced on the internet–from incredibly generous to incredibly condescending. (Think: Saturday Night Live skit with the Computer Guy). The NYT Sunday Magaizine this week had an interesting piece on Wikipedians, and I am wondering about the connection: I wonder if there is a connection? My guess is that there may be some overlap between the two groups (Answer People and Wikipedians) but not a lot. Answer People seem to be technical experts, programmers and others who enjoy playing with the machinery and code, while the Wikipedians were news junkies and word people who are devoted to the idea of the free information commons. What they have in common is that they do their work (answering or editing) because they love it, and aren’t paid for it!

As a writer, I identify : )

When working with faculty, we have to be so careful to not be like “The Computer Guy.” How do we create, instead, a community like the best of these internet communities, where people respect and draw on each others’ expertise? It seems, in the best situations, everyone is the Answer Person in the area of their own expertise or passion, and  everyone shares and everyone listens.  It is a lot like the way a really successful classroom looks.

Read Full Post »