One of Protein Wisdom’s guest bloggers, Dan Collins points to an interesting article on “minimally invasive education.” The introduction to the article explains the premise (a fascinating skinner box experiment).
An Indian physicist puts a PC with a high speed internet connection in a wall in the slums and watches what happens. Based on the results, he talks about issues of digital divide, computer education and kids, the dynamics of the third world getting online.
more below the fold.
apologies to Monty Brewster if what Allahpundit is reporting is true, then I may follow the lead of Ace and deity at HotAir. I’ll take a step further, any candidate with an ‘incumbent’ by their name, won’t earn my vote. I’d love to see the faces of hapless pols as they realize that they can be run out of office with the mark on a ballot. Replace the whole House of Representatives, and 1/3 the Senate in November.
| You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie |
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Now that Grey’s Anatomy is on Thursday night (and what a messed up night that has become, one needs like seven DVRs just to make it through the night… its like there isn’t any other night on television, but Thursday. I blame Bill Cosby!
So we did watch the season (I think) premiere of the Sears Workshop Ty’s Roadtrips Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The tear ducts got a good cleansing a few times, irk! But wow, a 3000+ squarefoot house in 53 hours and change. I’m glad I don’t have to compare that to the building of my house… but I know some friends that are gritting their teeth, and trying to smile when they see that number. I do wonder if they’ll show the house in 6 weeks when settling starts in and the cracks start to show. Too cynical? Yep, that’s me… 🙂
Desparately trying to even get a care up for Desparate Housewives. Just not feeling the love. Bree gets married – whoop – de – do. To and axe murderer with a fetish for cleaning supplies *yawn*. Lynette and TOm fighting over the mother of Tom’s oldest daughter, urghle. Carlos and Gabby’s surrogate gives birth to another couples baby, go figger. Mike’s in a coma, leaving Susan to gain the attraction of another guy with his significant wife in a coma. *Strrreetttccchhh*
more blather after the fold…
Since Apple is being persnicity and wants people to not use the word ‘podcast’. I submit that people that offer up audio files over the internet, drop ‘podcast’, and start using the similar sounding ‘pomecast’ (Pome from the french for Apple – since this is a weasley move for Apple to make, using french is apros-po) This is silly on so many levels, serving audiofiles (in MP3 or whatever format) didn’t really get going until the iPod came out and then ‘suddenly’ you could get ‘podcasts’. Whoopdedo. I’d venture to guess that the word ‘podcast’, has sold more actual iPods than the term mp3.
But I could be wrong.
What… you’ve never heard of a Gravatar? For shame… with Gravatar’s you can link your email address (any of em) to a ‘globably recognized avatar’ (or image) so that when you comment on a blog, it will recognize your gravatar linked email address and show your avatar next to your post. How keenoneat! So go git yourself one, and spice up the comments more with your freakishly cool avatars!
Wizbang Pop has an article that says Robert Downey Jr. will play Ironman in the upcoming film. Apt casting, since one of the first comics I remember reading as a boy had Tony Stark living in a bottle because his business was going south. As recounted by this article at the Marvel Database:
In recent years Tony Stark’s greatest nemesis has been alcoholism. As a wealthy socialite, alcohol had been a constant part of his life. When his company, which had changed its name from Stark Industries to Stark international, was threatened with the takeover at the same time he was experiencing oppressive personal problems, Stark began to abuse alcohol. Although he managed to recover quickly from his first serious bout, the compulsion to drink remained a constant temptation. The second time he succumbed to alcoholism, due to even more devastating personal problems than the first time, Tony Stark went on a several month binge during which he was cheated out of Stark international, had all Iron Man suits destroyed (except one), lost the leases on his various apartments, and had his personal assets frozen so that he could not touch his fortune. All of this was the result of the machinations of the mysterious European entrepreneur Obadiah Stane, who took over Stark’s company, renaming it Stane International.
On that note, Marvel comics has done an ok job of getting their mainstream books onto the screen. We’ve had Spiderman (spidey-riffic all of ’em), X-men (great), Fantastic Four (eh), Hulk (lol!), Daredevil (eh+), and Elektra (didn’t see.. but c’mon Jennifer Gardner was THE reason you saw Daredevil…. don’t lie!!) . Coming are Ghost Rider and Ironman. Meanwhile DC Comics just relies on Supes and the Dark Knight (would love to see Dark Knight Returns made into a movie) though Joss Whedon is supposed to bring Wonder Woman to the screen sometimes… In the end the Marvel Universe has a bigger bag to pick from, so they can go deeper into the genre. Will there be a Flash major motion picture, that I’d see.
Update: Jack M. @ Ace of Spades has a pic of the issue that popped into my brain as well. (geeks unite!)
I know because it totally nailed my lovely bride.
And, by gum, its pretty spot on for me too.
| Jon — [noun]: A person of questionable sanity who starts their own cult ‘How will you be defined in the dictionary?’ at QuizGalaxy.com |
Its been a while since I’ve gone over my shows… so I’ll do this off the top of me head.
House continues to rock, though the formula hasn’t changed much. I did like last night’s episode, especially when he realized (or DID he) that his young fan was attracted to him because of some kind of spore. Or maybe he made it up, because he knew that would be a ‘bad-thing’. Still think he has the hots for Cameron.
The Heroes pilot was good on Monday night. I like that this will be an ensemble show, and enjoy the different flavors of characters. The mystical scientist-now-taxi-driver will slowly put the peices together. The freaky cheerleader that can’t kill herself is an intriguing story-line, and nice to make the ‘wolverine’ character nice and cute. Scary mother/father pair for that one, though the mother didn’t act quite as horrid when she didn’t have the dog in her lap… maybe the dog has some kind of force-field it emits that causes brain malfunction. Ali Larder’s character is interesting, I think she’ll end up being Hulk-like where if you make her mad, you won’t like her so much, as the thugs found out. The Japanese teleporter… hilarious, with the Star-Trek references.. HA!
Jericho gets its second watching tonight (the a LOST review *woooooo*) and we’ll see if this ends up being just a drag or we start answering some questions and asking others. The story left quite a few loose ends, and if they want to keep their audience, they need to provide some answers along the path. That is the genius of Lost is the answer one or two and ask two or three more in their story line. Jericho needs to move along that path, or it won’t last the season, at least not on my DVR.
Brothers & Sisters wasn’t on my A-list, but I ended up watching it my last night in KC. Not bad, some very familar faces, and some great talent. Though I wouldn’t trust Slone with my money, though it is smart to put Tom Grace right there to keep an eye on him. Interesting casting of Flockhart as a conservative radio talk-show host, who has an even more conservative neanderthal husband who wants to keep his wimmin-folk barefoot and pregnant… *sigh* so much for stereotype busting. And the loyal husband that is sneaking around with a woman… predicatable, and someone has to see the Caleb Nichols line with the patriarch falling into the pool after a heart attack. This show will be the snarkfest, as it goes on.
Grey’s Anatomy best written show on television. Bar none. Doesn’t have the mystery of Lost, but the dialog and characters are top notch. Using dark and twisty to describe the title character of Meredith Grey, the relationships of all the young doctors in love, the tying the past (Meredith’s mom and the chief) to the present (Derek and Addison, and the problems the Chief has with his marriage…) just all together great stuff to watch, and laugh and morn. Steven Harris’s breakdown at the loss of his wife was terrific.
Six Degrees was a good pilot, there was a good thread that wound through the episode that came to a nice close, several questions asked, some kinda answered. A typical J.J. Abrams type of plot, that is a good mix of dialog and action. Interesting characters, and some predictable moments. The boyfriend that cheats for instance, at the end we get the confirmation we ALL knew was going to happen. The rest is all watching the train-hit-the-car. The mystery girl who is running from something, and the connection with the disillusioned assistant DA. The lost photographer that re-finds his eye. The little brother trying to the the right thing, while being drug down by his own problems. Lots of stuff to keep an eye on.
On the reality set, mild interest in Dancing with the Stars its gonna come down to Joey vs. Mario (who was EXCELLENT in his Nip/Tuck guest spot, which is another guilty pleasure show that is rocking this year… and by rocking I mean… well parental discretion is strongly advised.) So I’ll keep an eye on the standings, but won’t get drug in until the later weeks. Survivor is still strong on the DVR, though the same things happen year after year… I love the formula. The Biggest Loser is another family favorite, don’t we all wish we could do nothing but workout and eat veggies for a few weeks? TAR is a watcher too… mostly because all the cool kids watch it.
Gripe: Why do the telephone voting shows get so much TIME. We really don’t need a 30-60 minute wrap up show to discover the vote, that irritates me to no end. DwtS does it, and so does AI. I’d rather they have like a 3-minute lottery spot, and tell you what the result was, and see you next week. Then we don’t have to reserve 30 minutes of valuable DVR time for what boils down to a 2 minute payoff.
Okay, no tell me what I’m missing.