NY Times Video: Animators of Life

Excellent video highlighting advancements in biological animation.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/11/15/science/1248069334032/the-animators-of-life.html

Tony Horwitz: The 150-Year War

"But as we approach the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s election, on Nov. 6, and the long conflict that followed, it’s worth recalling other reasons that era endures. The Civil War isn’t just an adjunct to current events. It’s a national reserve of words, images and landscapes, a storehouse we can tap in lean times like these, when many Americans feel diminished, divided and starved for discourse more nourishing than cable rants and Twitter feeds."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/opinion/31Horwitz.html?_r=1

Now to post it on twitter...

Bristlecone Pines Trees in Trouble...After 4500 years.

Seeing Bristlecone Pines on a cross-country trip about 10 years ago was one of the most amazing things I have ever done.  Students are fascinated by them.  

Here is an article from the Times about a alien fungus that may kill them, after nearly four and half millenia:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28pines.html?_r=1

Today, I used this article to compliment a book we are reading called "To Spoil the Sun".  In it, Europeans indirectly bring disease to a group of Cherokee living in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1500's.  Obviously, the majority of the Cherokee attribute the disease to an imbalance in the natural world and the result of several omens early in the book.

We discussed the plight of the Bristlecones as an example of an invasive species taking hold and upsetting the balance of nature.  The conversation got pretty deep (for 7th grade) as we agreed that there are spiritual, moral, and natural consequences/implications of cultures merging throughout the world.

Suggested Reading: "Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits"

I will be sharing this article with my students as we begin to talk about different ways to study!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=brain%20studying&st=cse

Oysters in the Chesapeake

The story features an intro that quoted from Captain John Smith's journal from the early 1600's.

Could be a good reference point to connect modern and historic Maryland/Virginia...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129452345

NYT: New Life No Longer Means New Name

Great article for those studying immigration in the Times today:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/nyregion/26names.html?_r=1&hp

I have known a few people in the last decade or so who have changed their names back to the original names given up by their families at Ellis Island.

Arcade Fire Lyrics - Brain on Computers: Part Two

Here are the lyrics to two songs on Arcade Fire's new record, The Suburbs.  I think that they both parallel the sentiments of the articles, as well as, the shared experiences we, and our students, are having with our lives.

(Or maybe I just love Arcade Fire,)

The titles are links to videos of the songs played at MSG in New York earlier this month.

We Used To Wait:

I used to write
I used to write letters
I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain
But by the time we met
The times had already changed
So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart
I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was left standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last

It seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive
We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walkin around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Still moving through the pain

I'm gonna write a letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name
Like a patient on a table
I Wanna walk again
Gonna move through the pain

Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last

Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Still moving through the pain

We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming
Sing the chorus again

I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming
Sing the chorus again

Wait for it

Sprawl II (Mountains Upon Mountains):

They heard me singing and they told me to stop,
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock,
These days, my life, I feel it has no purpose,
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface.
Cause on the surface the city lights shine,
They're calling at me, "come and find your kind."

Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
That we can never get away from the sprawl,
Living in the sprawl,
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,
And there's no end in sight,
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights.

We rode our bikes to the nearest park,
Sat under the swings, we kissed in the dark,
We shield our eyes from the police lights,
We run away, but we don't know why,
And like a mirror these city lights shine,
They're screaming at us, "we don't need your kind."

Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
That we can never get away from the sprawl,
Living in the sprawl,
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,
And there's no end in sight,
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights.

They heard me singing and they told me to stop,
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock.

Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
Can we ever get away from the sprawl?
Living in the sprawl,
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,
And there's no end in sight,
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights.