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Where’s Neil Postman when you need him?

By ~LS~ On January 22, 2011 · 2 Comments · In Pedagogy, Rhetoric, Technology, The Web and tagged Tagged With: Books, Computer, Generations, Media Ecology, Pedagogy, Rhetoric, Technoculture, Technology

I’m contemplating teaching Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death in my Introduction to Humanities class this semester, particularly Chapter 4 (“The Typographic Mind”). I don’t feel like scanning the chapter and I couldn’t find a pdf or doc online to use. Then it occurred to me that my students in all likelihood won’t read anything anyway, so why waste time scanning a document in the first place. I began to look for Sparknotes. I know, I’m bankrupt as an educator. At least I opted not to show the seventh grade history teacher’s youtube version of the Renaissance. I should get props for that.

Anyway, in my surfing, I ran into an amusing exchange on a forum. I don’t think the people involved were amused. I was, though, but in a depressing and ironic way. The exchange is started by a desperate student trying to locate a free copy of the [...]

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Ben Franklin’s Facebook Status

By ~LS~ On July 4, 2010 · Add Comment · In Fun Facts, Humor, Random Musings and tagged Tagged With: Al Franken, Books, Facebook, For Wordies, Humor, Silliness

Today’s Times Book Review section has a nicely written, humorous article on Ben Franklin and his Almanac: Ben Franklin is a Big Fat Idiot. The title made it mandatory reading for me given my utter adulation of Al Franken. In fact, the author, Joe Queenan, seems to have as much of a crush on Franklin as I have on Franken.

To his disappointment, Queenan discovered that the Almanac was not nearly as inspirational as he remembered it to be and so he laments the resultant bit of tarnish on Franklin’s halo. His claims that Franklin’s aphorisms failed “the acid test of validity and usefulness.” Take this one, for example: “Keep your mouth wet, feet dry.” Ok, I agree, teh stoopid.

The first thing that came to mind as I read the article was Facebook. Ben Franklin seems to have written down whatever [...]

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Allie Beckstrom is my hero

By ~LS~ On May 26, 2010 · Add Comment · In Feminism, Generations, Pop Culture and tagged Tagged With: Books, Feminism, Geek, Gender, Pop Culture

Paranormal fiction and urban fantasy books are plentiful these days and a large portion of them are vapid. There are exceptions, of course, as with any genre, but on the whole, the works of Laurell K. Hamilton and Stephanie Meyers are representative of “teh stupid” that is paranormal fiction.

Shows such as Buffy, Charmed, and So Weird made common the kick-ass female main character in paranormal or urban fantasy and opened the door for this genre’s expanding popularity. The burgeoning teen fiction/young adult market, born with the huge demographic hump of Gen Y, cemented gothy vampy werewolfy witchy faery stories as a permanent fixture at Barnes and Nobles. So despite the stupidity of paranormal fiction’s lowest common denominator, its frequent strength is an empowerment of females. Well, except for Twilight, which reduces girls to 19th century passive, pining virgins awaiting their one true love. But let’s [...]

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DK Travel Guide for Rome

By ~LS~ On December 24, 2009 · 1 Comment · In Travel and tagged Tagged With: Books, Rome Trip, Travel

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DK Eyewitness Travel Guides

By ~LS~ On December 10, 2009 · Add Comment · In Travel and tagged Tagged With: Amsterdam Trip, Books, Rome Trip, Travel

The first time I bought a DK travel guide was our trip to Amsterdam a few years ago. I looked at several books and I bought only two, DK’s Amsterdam and Holland books, and I felt quite fortunate for my selection. Unlike many of the guides I’ve seen, the DK travel guides are very pictorial. They have breakout images of key sights so that you know exactly where to look. This works for me because I’m visually oriented.

What I loved so much about the Amsterdam and Holland books was the canal walk. A long glossy page folds out from the book and it depicts detailed images of the buildings along the canal with tidbits about the history and architecture of each building. The houses along the canal are very narrow. They were built with a tilt to them and with a winch mechanism on the roof as [...]

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The Kindle and “Picard’s Syndrome”

By ~LS~ On December 6, 2009 · Add Comment · In Technology, The Web and tagged Tagged With: Books, Droid, Geek, Interface Value, Media Ecology, Tech Toys, Technoculture

Due to my recent tech splurge, I’m now the owner of a brand new Amazon Kindle, acquired just before Thanksgiving. I’m quite happy with it. Reviews all over the net are fairly accurate. I like the weight, the screen’s readability, the size, the forward and backward buttons. I don’t like the five-way toggle button and the lack of lighting to read in the dark. I don’t care about not having a touch screen since I despise fingerprints and smudges in almost OCD proportions. I found a cute Vera Bradley bag that fits the Kindle perfectly. I’m happy. The drawbacks and the politics of DRM management and not actually “owning” the intellectual property found in books have been discussed extensively elsewhere; there’s no point in reiterating them here. What I would like to talk about, however, is the utterly tactile experience of the Kindle.

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Where’s Neil Postman when you need him?

Ben Franklin’s Facebook Status

Allie Beckstrom is my hero

DK Travel Guide for Rome

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides

The Kindle and “Picard’s Syndrome”

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Where’s Neil Postman when you need him?

Ben Franklin’s Facebook Status

Allie Beckstrom is my hero

DK Travel Guide for Rome

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides

The Kindle and “Picard’s Syndrome”

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