The Writer's Poke

It took me a while to figure it all out, but I now know why my wife decided to get herself pregnant. She hates with a passion having to clean out the kitty litter box. Now that she's pregnant, guess who gets to do that for at least the next six months? Moi.

What is the next generation called? Some call it Generation Y, but other names include: Gamer Generation, Net Generation, Millennials... But the name isn't so important as the characteristics. Here are a couple of good articles to skim if you have the chance. http://www.biz.colostate.edu/masterteacher/tiparchive/firststeps.htm http://www.mff.org/edtech/article.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=109

Yep, colleges are using Youtube, too. What a great potential way to market: http://mashable.com/2006/08/31/youtube-launches-youtube-colleges-follows-facebook/ http://youtube.com/school_main

Colleges are using Myspace to reach students: http://www.myspace.com/edgewoodcollege http://www.myspace.com/harcumcollege http://www.myspace.com/marshillcollege http://www.myspace.com/edisoncommunitycollege At the same time, colleges are blocking Myspace: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1212/more-colleges-move-to-block-myspace Why try to fight something that's so popular?

Ever wonder where people "go" on the Internet? Here's a site that keeps track. http://www.alexa.com You can search popularity by country, by language, etc. Pretty cool. Where are your students going? Based on the top sites listed for the United States, here's my guess: 3. Myspace -- http://myspace.com 6. Youtube -- http://youtube.com 7. Facebook -- http://facebook.com 8. Wikipedia -- http://wikipedia.org Knowing that these sites are among the most popular on the Internet is one thing; figuring out how to tap into that popularity for an educational purpose is quite another. Thoughts on how to do that?

Have you seen this clip? Does a better job than just stating a policy in the syllabus, don'tcha think? :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYwpxU_G4Z0

What are some good names for a new kid? Here's what's at the top of my list right now: If a boy: First name Ziggy or Dante Middle name Xavier If a girl: First name Portia or Octavia Middle name ???

We made a trip to Illinois this weekend, and we helped a friend of ours unload about 150 of her books. It seems that she had so many books that her house was literally collapsing. Anyway, she was getting rid of most of her collection so that she wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of putting everything in storage while her house gets repaired. As a result, my library has just jumped past the 1400 book mark. In the past, I've always tried my best to keep it at a maximum of 1000. But what's a booklover to do? Remember that you can go through my personal library, if you're at all curious... and if I know you and you live close by, you can even borrow a book from me. :)