It's great, I love it, it makes me tired
One problem with the web is once you hit the trail of something interesting, like John Snow's cholera map of London, and that leads you to something else, like The Suck Threshold of Learning, which takes you to the Creating Passionate Users blog, you (well, me anyway) quickly become oversaturated with things to read and look at. What then?
I often bookmark the website/page with every intention of going back and spending more time with it. Someday. But I rarely do. Once in a while I write the URL on a colorful Post-It and stick it to my monitor. Or I'll dash off a quick email to a few friends who may be interested.
But
lately I've been doing this:
Writing about it here, hoping that the friends who are interested will see it, and I'll be able to find it months from now. When the idea crosses my mind again, maybe I'll be able to connect it with the day that school was closed in mid-February. We'll see.
To the right is the argument made by Kathy Sierra that teachers need to become more like marketers. Sure makes sense to me.
And if Snow's cholera map makes sense to you, compare it to this bad infographic.
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Sunny Valentine's Day
After
spending all day inside thanks to a more than a foot of snow that
shut all the schools, Joanne & I both were ready to go for a walk. The
sun decided to cooperate, and as we walked down the street it was sunny
and bright.
There were more people in the streets than cars, which worked out very well for us. About 75% of our neighbors shoveled their walks, but every 3-4 houses there would be a wall of snow two feet tall or higher. We moved into the street most of the time.
We thought we'd try the Monastery, a new tea and pastry shop that opened
recently on W. 25, but they were closed. Near West
Coffee and Tea, right
next door, was dark as well. So we trudged down W. 25, past the ABC
Tavern (open) and the Bier Markt (also open).
We got to Talkies, the coffee shop on Market St., to find a guy on a ladder washing the windows. Good sign, we thought, but no such luck. Closed.
So, astutely picking up on a theme, we figured the Market Ave. Wine Bar might be open, and it was. We sat at a small table in the back, warm and cozy, and drank glasses of red wine before heading back outside for the walk home.
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Don't just recycle, Freecycle
Falling somewhere between Craigslist and the local recycling center, Freecycle is a world-wide network of groups whose goal is to "give and get stuff for free in their own towns." Today they claim nearly 4,000 groups made up of over 3 million members.
You can search for items you want by location or by item. If you find something, you work out pick-up/delivery arrangements with the individual who listed it. Very simple, free, and should help with both reduce and reuse of the reduce/reuse/recycle mantra.