Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Month: February 2012

  • Collected Quotes January/February 2012

    My main page on quotes is Quotes to Make You Think. Additional ones can be found under the Quotes tag. Think before you speak. Read before you think. — Fran Lebowitz We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by…

  • TEDxBloomington: The happy secret to better work

    When we are happier, our brains work better. Part of this could be viewing stresses as opportunities. If the above video does not load, then try The happy secret to better work.

  • Solving Internal Communications With Blogs

    Through the grapevine, a coworker heard in another organization a top administrator wants the rank and file to start blogging. My coworker was opposed. I thought it could be a cool way of internally communicating. Though the conditions to make it work very much depend on the organizational culture: Encouragement not forced. Managers are asked…

  • Happy Ayyam-i-ha

    Baha’is around the world are celebrating the intercalendary days starting today. Our calendar of 19 months with 19 days leave a 4-5 day gap.  Rather than make some months longer than others, we have a period to fill the gap. Following Ayyam-i-ha, Baha’is will observe the Fast. We will abstain from eating and drinking between…

  • iPad Helps Kindergarten Literacy

    There is a story circulating that the iPad improves Kindergartners literacy scores. This title implies the hardware device or iOS is responsible for the improvements when much more likely there are specific applications responsible. After all, putting an Mac in a classroom with software designed to help literacy is more likely to improve literacy than…

  • Weekly Roundup Feb 24, 2012

    Acad sounds alarm about fragility of digital prod’n – Sadly I had this conversation with my mother back when I bought my first digital camera in 2002. One of my reservations about going digital is the fragility of formats. Of course, a few years earlier I worked in Government Documents and file formats created a…

  • Check Your Google Web History

    The EFF posted an article with screenshots on how to remove your Google web/search history. This is because their new privacy policy exposes what you have searched for in the past to your connections. They say to use the Remove all Web History button. Instead, I am using this as an opportunity to learn about…

  • Posts From Non-Friends

    Facebook seems hell bent on making itself no longer just a place for interacting with friends. Facebook prefers the Top Stories sorting of the Newsfeed. I prefer the Most Recent sort.  So naturally I end up changing the setting back to Most Recent a few times a week. Lately, even while sorted by Most Recent, I…

  • 50 Years of Americans in Orbit

    Fifty years ago today, John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. For some reason, Alan Shepard, Jr. being the first American in space did not impress me as a kid. Going up and coming back down did not count. Achieving orbit was realer space. Glenn was the American response to Yuri Gagarin being the first human…