sunday, november 28, 2004
Too much orange already
We had a beach picnic for Thanksgiving.
Next Halloween, I’m going to be a mermaid in my $6 thrift-store dress.
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monday, november 22, 2004
Orangey-orange and something else
I want to change our school colors from the red and gold of our useless sponsor to the ubiquitous orange.
the echo has no sign. scout niblett is neat. devendra banhart has long hair. the power went out for a few minutes. somebody sang a song. wacky moses made me giggle. there were christmas lights, a bare floor, and rafters. the toilet screeched. the lines were long and smelly. our backs hurt from standing; the only cure was dancing. we wished i’d brought my camera. thank you, lizzy.
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thursday, november 18, 2004
Seven hours a week in there
Things in my Web Design teacher’s classroom:
- Many quotations, each on its own piece of paper and decorated with a pink or yellow die-cut flower and two hearts, including a quote from the Bible attributed to “Your Creator”.
- “EXCELLENCE”, missing the X, in construction-paper block letters over the door.
- “Don’t waste your time looking at me!” in similar block letters over the clock.
- Fifteen AOL CDs illustrated with green apples and promotional text, decoratively arranged along the top of the whiteboard.
- A little box that says “God Is Good” on her desk. Also, a long-empty candy jar with the logo of the yearbook publisher (she teaches Yearbook).
- A huge fan that hasn’t worked for the past year or so.
- Two M&M’s-Nascar posters.
- An “Emergency Exit” sign posted on barred windows.
She’s also my Economics teacher. Q: How can one be qualified to teach both web design and economics? A: Fish.
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tuesday, november 16, 2004
Index-card project #2
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monday, november 15, 2004
Felix the…sign
South of downtown Los Angeles, Figueroa Boulevard is the Staples Center, fast food, strip malls, more fast food, and a car dealership. And then, a university and a ghetto. Felix the car-dealership cat watches over it all, like only a creepy 1920’s cartoon can.
Update 11/15/04 21:04: You’d like to learn more about the sign.
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Stock market silliness
The Stock Market Game gives students the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in a real-time portfolio. They think they’re playing a game. You know they’re learning economic and financial concepts they’ll use for the rest of their lives.
Hey, that’s a good idea: put the secret on the front page that the students see every time they log in.
My class “invested” heavily in Google, Pixar, Starbucks, and Sony. Why? They make things we like, and they seem successful to us.
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sunday, november 14, 2004
Ideas and calling cards
I have 19 index cards stacked on my desk, a catalog of silly web ideas and reminders to get new plants for my room. It is a bugtracker (fix hallway door
) and the lazymind aggregator (alarm clock menu item
). I write things down and the future me might do them. Currently:
- Document the Shrine in photos
- Crochet and sew an amoeba man
- Podcast numbers
- Make an iBook sticker-swapping site
- Revive/recreate Disappointed Idealist
- Finish super OS X menu items
The weblogs I worship sometimes mention index cards as an integral part of everyday life. A month or so ago, I finally went and got myself some. Yeah, I’ve already fallen into index card-dependence.
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monday, november 08, 2004
Six stale links
Here are some things that have been sitting in my bookmarks bar for a long, long time. Too big for delicious, too small to discard, I can finally free them now.
Reflections on Trusting Trust, in which Ken Thompson presents “the cutest program [he] ever wrote.” I don’t quite follow it — something about a quine, a C compiler, and a clever trojan horse — but it’s cool.
Motorcyclist can’t drive 205, experts say, from the Duluth News Tribune. This guy got a speeding ticket for going faster than his motorcycle can go, possibly due to a half-second timer error. The neat thing, if you’re a Bob Dylan nerd, is that it was on Highway 61.
“The high-class, wild animal version of [that] classic kitten image…”
Scientists calculate how high heels can go. Apparently, it depends on your shoe size, how sexy the shoes are, how much they cost, and the amount of alcohol consumed. Assuming my shoes cost $50 and are fairly fashionable, I can wear two-inch heels. Maybe they need another variable for how much you like heels. I’ll stick to my saddle shoes.
Students disciplined for award campaign: “Officials disciplined students who papered their nearly all-white high school with posters advocating a white student from South Africa for the school’s ‘Distinguished African American Student Award.’” I still can’t decide what to think about this.
Dudley’s Dungeon meditates on a boy named @. Those crazy Nethack people.
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wednesday, november 03, 2004
Arrivals dumpster
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monday, november 01, 2004
Cafetorium monsters
A dancing mummy, Thom Yorke, Audrey Hepburn, a witch, a dark angel, Winnie the Pooh, and very loud music.
