“Imaginary horror movie posters feature aliens, swamp things, mummies and more on this quilt fabric Eerie Alley Halloween collection designed by Pink Light for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The Mummy poster is about 6 inches tall.”
–Product description. “Imaginary Scary Movies, Eerie Alley” by Robert Kaufman Fabrics. Creative Quilt Kits website. July 2012. Web.
Posted in Cool stuff, Reading, Teaching
[Sorry about not quoting for a few weeks. Life.]
“Fiat Lux (‘let there be light’) is not only the motto of the University of California. It is also the name of a vast repository of photographs taken of the entire UC system nearly fifty years ago by Ansel Adams, one of the most famous photographers of the 20th Century. This extraordinary time capsule from the UC’s past has been chosen as the centerpiece for the 2012 On the Same Page program. Through our website (and the network of classes, talks, exhibitions, and databases that it weaves together), we invite you to explore the Fiat Lux collection, to look imaginatively and critically at our university’s history, and to participate actively in making its future. We are all stewards of the University of California.”
–”Fiat Lux: The Project.” On the Same Page. June 2012. University of California. Web.
“What makes you happy?
That was the question more than 400 UC Berkeley students had to consider before they completed Psychology 162 this spring.
This was no ordinary assignment, and it was no ordinary class. The class, called ‘Human Happiness,’ was taught by Greater Good Science Center Faculty Director Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Berkeley. Keltner offered his students an interdisciplinary tour of the new science of happiness, covering topics such as gratitude, awe, humor, and compassion.
Toward the end of the semester, Keltner presented his students with an unusual extra credit assignment: Produce a short video illustrating at least one of the key concepts covered in ‘Human Happiness.’ The videos had to be short (1-3 minutes), draw on the material they covered in class, and answer the question, ‘What makes you happy?’”
–”The Results of Our Human Happiness Video Competition.” The Greater Good. May 17, 2o12. Web.
“For the Class of 2016′s last sweet summer before college, UC Berkeley is offering its annual, eclectic list of reading suggestions suitable for inquiring minds — be they at the beach, taking a break from work or hanging around the house waiting to pack for school.
‘Revolutions’ is the theme of this year’s Summer Reading List for Freshmen, a compilation of recommendations from Berkeley faculty and staff.”
–”Revolutionary Reading List Offered for Summer.” UC Berkeley NewsCenter. May 16, 2012. Web.
“We now live under a kind of extrovert tyranny, Cain [Susan Cain, in her new book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking] writes, and that has led to a culture of shallow thinking, compulsory optimism, and escalating risk-taking in pursuit of success, narrowly defined. In other words, extroverts—amplifying each other’s groundless enthusiasms—could be responsible for the economic crisis because they do not listen to introverts, even when there are some around (and they are not trying to pass as extroverts).
If that’s stretching matters, it seems harder to deny that the routine exclusion and silencing of talented, quiet people has costs just like other forms of arbitrary discrimination. And, Cain argues, the extrovert idea is discriminatory on the basis of ethnicity, particularly against those who share the Asian cultural ideal of speaking less and thinking more.”
–William Pannapacker. “Screening out the Introverts.” The Chronicle of Higher Education April 15, 2012. Web.
“‘Our hypothesis is that teaching analysis can be a way of cracking open a whole set of disappointing issues we see in these papers,’ Ms. Howard said. ‘On the most basic level, it’s reading comprehension: finding claims and finding evidence. Then you get to the much more interesting issues of analysis, which is how the writer is persuading the readers of claims.’”
–Dan Berrett. “Freshman Composition Is Not Teaching Key Skills in Analysis, Researchers Argue.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. March 21, 2012. Web.
“And when students include counter-arguments in their essays, when they consider seriously opinions, facts, or values that contradict their own, they practice the most radical and potentially transformative behavior of all; they sacrifice the consolations of certainty and expose themselves to the doubts and contradictions that adhere to every worthwhile question. In learning to listen to others, students practice the virtues of tolerance and generosity.”
–John Duffy. “Virtuous Arguments.” Inside Higher Ed. March 16, 2012. Web.
“Will You Look Death in the Eye?
An unearthly chill creeps through the air. The Wizard stops reading his ancient tome and gazes cautiously over his shoulder. The Warrior feels an unfamiliar fear as he draws his mighty sword. A shadow has fallen across the countryside. Death himself wanders the land. Can the heroes fulfill their epic quests with the spectre of the Grim Reaper hounding their every move?”
–Product description on the back of the box for Talisman: Reaper Expansion. Fantasy Flight Games. Web.
“That is the greatest challenge of science fiction–taking intellectual premises, be they science extrapolated a hundred years into the future or social issues 1,000 years ahead, and making them seem current. Make them seem important. Make them about now without being blatant about it.
The best science fiction posits a world that’s not recognizable, yet makes it real. The best science fiction is addictive, rich, and lively. The best science fiction invites conversation and thought, as well as an emotion-packed thrill ride.
And as I listened to my non-SF friends wax poetic about the new Battlestar, I realized that the show accomplishes all that and more.”
–Kristine Kathryn Rusch. “Cheez Whiz and the Future: Battlestar Galactica and Me.” So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica. Ed. Richard Hatch, Tee Morris, and Glenn Yeffeth. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2006. Quote on page 202.
