Britannica blog featured this video on the less well known potential of blogging.
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Tag Archives: humour
Banned books, yes, but banned fonts …?
Banned books we know about, but what’s the deal with censored fonts?
Jan Tschichold was born in 1902 and later was known for his support of the “new typography”, a design style inspired by the Bauhaus school and Russian Constructivists. Now, we’re talking about font here – letters on a page. Can you believe that this man, due to his passionate advocacy of this new typography, was actually arrested in 1933, and he and his wife were imprisoned by the Nazis for creating “un-German” typography. They later emigrated to Switzerland, and Tschichold couldn’t stand the new typography any more because of its Nazi associations, so he switched to classical design. Tschichold became design director for Penguin Books.
This story appealed to my love of the absurd.
Here’s a Short biography of Tschichold (requires Flash)
Jason Santa Maria blogs about Tschichold.
Here’s a facetious summary of Tschichold in Twenty Faces.
If you’re interested, you can read more about Tschichold’s life here
Charlie bit me
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This is so cute. I love 4-year old’s lack of resentment towards his little brother; watch his face after the pain dies down. And Charlie chuckling.
Here’s an interview with the boys and their parents some time later, showing copycat videos.
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Book Week
Reading book…
How can we define Book Week? Frankly, I think we need to rename it, broaden it a little. Maybe brainstorm the implications of ‘books’. Let me see: reading; writing; responding; discussing; thinking; analysing; imagining; challenging. Then there’s: using stories and themes as a springboard; using imagery as an inspiration for further creativity; pondering the importance of free expression in our lives; appreciating depth and difference in culturally differentiated texts; forgetting your worries through humour; finding soul mates in shared responses. I think it could be called ‘sharing responses to people’s stories’ week – but that’s too long. Why don’t we just leave it as ‘Book Week’?
Originally uploaded by Tapio Hurme
Animation
Although this looks like something more akin to primary level, a little bit of fun never hurt anybody in secondary school either. Fodey.com also offers talking squirrels, cats, owls and flowers. You can custom-make a newspaper, wizard text and movie clapper board. I followed the link to the generator blog – have a look; some fun applications. Just apply and add imagination.
Getting dressed in 1805
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When muttering profanities under my breath whilst trying to remember usernames and passwords for various Web 2.0 applications, I like to remind myself that, while many things have become complicated by technology of our times, there are some things that have been simplified - thankfully.
#15 Is this Second Life?
Originally uploaded by tsheko
I’ve watched the film Working for Google before and it made me blink in disbelief. Was I watching a science fiction film? Had I ended up in Second Life? Something definitely surreal about this… The fact that a workplace would provide employees things like on-site doctors, dentists, massage and yoga, day care, SHORELINE RUNNING TRAILS!, snacks, stock options, maternity and paternity leave, free lunch!! What’s the catch? Do you have to sell your soul to Google? Actually, if you look at ‘Top 10 reasons to work at Google’ some of the descriptions of the Google workplace could easily be mistaken for that of the school library. I’ve selected and slightly modified 3 points to apply to school libraries and staff:
1. With hundreds of visitors every month, the school library has become an essential part of everyday life – like a good friend – connecting people with the information they need to live great lives.
6. Innovation is our bloodline. Even the best technology can be improved. We see endless opportunity to create even more relevant, more useful, and better products for our users. The school library is the information and communication technology leader in organizing the world’s information.
9. Boldly go where no one has gone before. There are hundreds of challenges yet to solve. Your creative ideas matter here and are worth exploring. You’ll have the opportunity to develop innovative new products that millions of people will find useful.
What I’d really like to be able to say is that, like Googlers, library staff ‘range from former neurosurgeons, CEOs, and puzzle champions to alligator wrestlers and former-Marines’. That would be something. Alligator wrestlers in particular would come in handy when our boys come into the library at lunchtimes.
a small matter of perspective
Here’s an example of the way Facebook can broaden local perspective.
My older son is currently doing Year 12 IB (International Baccalaureate). He joined an IB related Facebook group (You Know When You’re in IB When …) , and read that northern hemisphere IB students had already finished. Thinking that he could attract some pity, he wrote that his end of the world had 6 months of IB to go. Here’s his post:
Sasha Sheko (Ivanhoe Grammar School) wroteon May 15, 2008 at 9:29 PM
That’s right… You guys are done but us people in the Southern Hemisphere (i.e. Australia) have six months to go.
The response from an IB student in Lebanon took him by surprise:
(I had to conceal some language)
Post #3
Omar ‘Boobass’ Boubess (American Community School Beirut) wroteon May 18, 2008 at 9:50 AM
holyy sh* so u guys take the november tests?? goodluck with that…if this could make u feel better there was a civil war here in Lebanon and we still had to make our way thru all the shellings and rpg’s (<< yes f*ing RPG’s) and get to school to take the test.. god bless IB 🙂
Yes, Omar, you win….
10 habits of bloggers that win
Originally uploaded by LuChOeDu
I thought I’d share with you some tips for a good blog which are posted on the Cool Cat Teacher blog: Ten habits of bloggers that win
Which of these do you think are most important?
By the way, I’d love to hear from all of you out there – do you find blogging addictive/frustrating/waste of time/superficial/informative/social/all of the above? I’m looking forward to hearing from you…
Things haven’t changed (much)#21
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Watch this government career film from 1946. Yes, the librarian's world has become a different place, but some things never change. Do you recognise the young man with the wide-eyed, hopeful face, confident that the librarian will make his book magically appear.
Notice that all the librarians are women but the administrator is a man.
Have a look at 11 other library YouTube videos
