Footenotes

I mean, ok, that’s hyperbole – but did you see the sidebar this week?  It’s full of blog posts!

The week kicked off with our very own Sarah Morgano over at ‘Random Interweb Findings‘ more than a little annoyed with the governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell.  Turns out April in Virginia is Confederate History Month!  Why so glum Sarah, sounds fabulous…Civil War reenactments, spirited and reasonable debates about the inherent dignity of an entire ethnicity, and solemn reflection on those lost comrades…er…brothers…er…patriots who died to make this country…er…what would have been this country great.  Just the thought of it is enough to make me want to put on some boots and drive down to Dixie.

But that wasn’t all.  A little further down the week Sarah discovered that the only way for her to get a phone signal was to buy a phone tower for her apartment.  By time you buy the phone and the tower you might as well plug a cord into the wall and re-learn how to use a rotary.  Having all that gear in your house means you’re just a drum machine and some speaker cable away from being a Radioshack.   I talk a big game but honestly I really want a Sprint MiFi because my wi-fi service is terrible.  Good ole lead paint and asbestos walls.

Joseph Ugoretz from ‘Prestidigitation‘ dropped in twice this week to give us his thoughts on the iPad and some thoughts on his trip to Googleplex for the Google Apps for Education Summit.  Basically the iPad is mega-awesome and either you already own one or you’re at your front door now pacing back and forth till the UPS guy shows up.

*ahem*

At the risk of setting off Michael Oman-Reagan of ‘My God, it’s full of Macs‘  I gotta say – I hate Macs.  I know, I know…I was seduced by the touch screen.  My heart melted at the beer drinking app on the iPhone.  Everyone loves Shazam because it really is annoying when you’re at a bar and some great song comes on and you get home and can’t remember a snippet of the lyrics to Google.

But there’s something so……..judge-y……about Macs.  Something kinda Sarah Palin-y about how they know everything and have this utter lack of shame and humility.

“I’m an iPad, ain’t I cutesy patatoosie?”

I just think of a murder of iPads out together taking stupid pictures of themselves in front of landmarks.

Ok, I’m done.  Googleplex sounds awesome though and I’m looking forward to seeing what Google will do to education as technology advances further into the classroom.

While we’re talking about technology and education, Adam Wandt at ‘Academic Technology in Higher Education‘ checked in with us to go over the relative merits of various online classrooms.  His insights are indispensable  for anyone who wants to know what their options are for online meeting tools and we learned that if you’re super-lucky the ‘Goddess of Communications’ for Elluminate will visit your blog and comment.  We didn’t even have to sacrifice an iPad.

Anthony Picciano and his blog ‘Tony’s Thoughts‘ return to the blog roll this week.  This week Tony pulled out a great NY Times article about cyberbullying and the rarely considered longevity of all things left to float out in cyberspace by today’s capricious young people.  Yes, I just wrote cyberspace.  It fit in with my mention of ‘floating’.  I know, I know – I don’t even deserve a Mac.   Tony pulls out the best from the Times so take a bit and go have a read.

Finally on the week that was, the Commons own Scott Voth at ‘Wiki Wrangler‘ put up a piece about  WiliLeaks, a Swiss run wiki that gives people of all stripes a safe space to leak documents and information.  It’s funny that Scott put this up because I just learned about it a couple of days ago from a colleague of mine who shared some video footage Scott also mentions in his post.  the footeage incriminates some US soldiers in violating rules of engagement and beyond that I’m not sure what to tell you.  Part of me wants to say don’t watch it because it’s awful, and the other part of me feels like we’re all obligated to make ourselves sit down and watch it because it’s irresponsible not to.  No jokes here, do what you think is right.

See ya next week!