My brain is not working at all at the moment, but allow me to point you to this web page, where Denny O’Neill – who wrote the socially conscious Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories Robn mentioned a while back – responds to the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics, which I still think is my favorite thing to come out of the political blogosophere in the last year. (Here’s the original post laying out the theory.)
Once upon a time, as I was trying to figure out the whole being-a-grownup thing, I spent a fair amount of time reading about investing and the financial markets. I particularly enjoyed the message boards at the Motley Fool website, which were a very interesting mix. The Amazon forum in particular was a fascinating conversation between bears and bulls, but I eventually stoppped reading the forums and the site as they went to a subscription model – I wasn’t sure I was really cut out to be doing a lot of heavy duty investing, so there wasn’t enough value in the site for me to pay for it. (If you were to go there and read the archives, you’d see me expressing skepticism a lot of the time, but then sometimes getting caught up in the same euphoria that drove the tech stock bubble. It’s one of those humbling things I like to remind myself of from time to time.)
At any rate, I bring this story up because one of my all time favorite posters at the Fool was RJ Mason, who had a tremendous ability to blend analysis, clear writing, and humor. And as I was checking out my WordPress dashboard yesterday, I discovered a link from a site I didn’t recognize, which turns out to be RJ’s blog. These days RJ’s a roboticist, but he still has time to put the occasional witty cartoon and/or comment on his blog or his website. So go take a look.
I am tapped out tonight, and can’t think of a whole lot to say. I did spend some time over at Hyper-Textual Ontology talking with Robn about the Edwards blogger snafu.
Then, as I was continuing to make my blog rounds, I noticed that Mark at Educational Technology and Life has a post on the Obama campaign website and its use of social-networking elements. I’m not completely upto date on the whole Web 2.0 idea, so you should probably just go check out Mark’s thoughts on the subject. I am going to need to ask him how he thinks Obama’s site compares to John Edwards’ OneCorps concept.
I’d say it’s interesting that I ran across both of these posts on the same day, since they both touch on the current presidential campaign and the posters’ previous periods of political disinterest, but that’s a linking device created mostly by the fact that I didn’t get around to checking blogs as much this week.
I’ve noticed more and more TV weather forecasters in the Philly area have been starting blogs on their station web sites, going behind the scenes on the various computer models and factors that influence their forecasts. I admit I have a hard time understanding some of the technical details, but it kind of surprises me that you sometimes see an unabashed rooting for large snowfalls. Now, I admit, I’m gonna be checking out school closings tomorrow morning with the rest of the city, but snow isn’t just a hassle, it’s a health risk. It doesn’t seem like something to get happily enthused about.
But maybe I’m just overreacting ’cause I don’t want to shovel.
There are so many topics running around in my head, and I’m staring at my screen trying to put together a coherent thought on any of them. Part of that’s fatigue, and part of that is watching the online train wreck that is the kerfluffle over John Edwards’ campaign bloggers. I’m waiting to see how it all turns out, and I’m stunned that there hasn’t been a more definitive resolution.
Then in local politics you have the mayoral campaign finance controversy, and in the state there’s the governor’s proposal to use an increased sales tax in part to fund a reduction on property taxes. I almost welcome the idea of having an 8% sales tax in Philadelphia, because then New Yorkers who come down here and compute their tip by doubling the tax on their check will come closer to leaving a good-sized tip.
And with that thought rattling through my head, I think I need to step away from the ol’ PC for a bit.
Given the complaining I did the other day, I figure I ought to share this link to a story that ran in today’s Inquirer, in the Health and Science section. It’s a feature piece, where you’d expect some more in-depth reporting, and for the most part the story delivers – it tells the story of a woman who’s been taking care of her paralyzed husband since he had a stroke 11 years ago, and whose own health is getting steadily worse – she’s in a wheelchair herself.
On the one hand, the story is a human interest story. On the other hand, it raises questions about our insurance and safety-net programs, our reliance on family and friends to care for the sick, and the support we provide – or don’t – to those caregivers. Those questions don’t get much exploration, but then I don’t take that as the main purpose of the piece. Still, the wonk in me wonders how we could do better.
On the third hand, I found myself wondering about the guy, and what he’s doing to try and make his wife’s burden a little easier. The story says she’s resisted putting him in a facility, even for a few days so that she could get a break, but it doesn’t mention whether he’s urged her to take a break or not. I guess, even from the human interest side, that’s one side of the dynamic I would have liked to see more about. It gets me thinking about the question of how much of a burden we can realistically ask our loved ones to take on on our behalf, and at the same time it gets me thinking that it’s important to know our own limits and ask for help every once in a while.
I don’t know if they want me rooting for them, seeing as how that was little help against the Bears’ defense today for the Saints. But I gotta admit, I gave up on the Colts today. I even said to Pattie, “You know what ticks me off? I wanted a good game most of all, and it doesn’t even look like I’m gonna get that.” And then, lo and behold, tie game, back-and-forth scores, Peyton Manning leads a last-minute drive to take the lead and Tom Brady throws a game-ending interception.
Man, it’s like I walked into the Twilight Zone.
But a Super Bowl win would take the monkeys off the backs of Manning and Tony Dungy, and they’re two guys that, from everything I know of them, deserve to be seen as winners.
And I gotta admit, I love that Mastercard commercial where Manning cheers on the everyday folks after they goof.
So I had my first week back in grad school, this time working on a Master’s in Education. Right now I’m writing this blog entry because I have writer’s block on a short reflection paper I’m supposed to write about who I am and why I want to teach. I’m staring at the blank screen and thinking to myself, “Who am I? In 2-3 pages? That’s not nearly enough time for me to frame a satisfactory theory of personal identity, let alone try and apply that theory to myself!”
Yes, I know I have problems. Twelve years of philosophy you study, think as straight you will not, eh?
But this certainly isn’t the way I remember beginning grad school the last time. There, it was very much a thrown-into-the-deep-end-of-the-pool sort of thing, with no time for any kind of touchy feely stuff. We were being Serious Thinkers, don’t you know. I had a tendency to slip autobiographical material into my papers – I thought it might make them more interesting to read, and connect the material to life. But most of my instructors disapproved of that. (And in fairness, there were times I was certainly self-indulgent. And the less said about the time I slipped autobiographical detail into what was supposed to be an anonymous examination essay, the better.)
In this program, though, it seems like it’s not so focused on the theoretical stuff. Not to say that I don’t think it’s rigorous, or that I’m not taking it seriously. But reflection papers and introductory icebreakers have a role to play, because there’s a different end goal – rather than develop theoretical thinkers who might also be able to teach, the goal here is to become a better teacher, one who might possibly understand some theories better than before. And we have to have a level of self-awareness because it’s our job as teachers to get up in front of a room and essentially commit an act of performance art every day, engaging an audience and drawing out their involvement. So the social interactions, the understanding of your own thoughts and goals at the start of the process — all of that is key to the learning process.
Heck, you could probably say it’s a Deweyan learn-by-doing kind of thing. Sneaky professors.
I don’t think I’ve ever been less disappointed by an Eagles playoff loss than I was tonight. They played a good game. They had a couple of opportunities that they didn’t take advantage of, but that’s always the way it goes. (I just hope Stephen A. Smith doesn’t find a way to turn this game into an anti-Jeff-Garcia rant. UPDATE: Whew. He didn’t, although even his “Let’s give him credit” column might set a new record for backhanded compliments.)
If the Saints are making life even a little bit easier for the folks in New Orleans, more power to ’em. I just hope that the national attention helps remind us what still needs to be done down there. Especially since certain independent Senators have decided not to aggressively investigate said situation, but that’s a rant for another day.
Congratulations to both teams on good seasons.