The Curmudgeon Speaks

The curmudgeon is home handing out halloween goodies.

I have decided there is one group of individuals that annoys me. They are not into the spirit of trick or treating. These individuals are likely middle school kids and come to my door without a costume and with a pillow case expecting a handful of snickers bars or tootsie rolls.

I have decided that certain rules show good faith. If you show up at my door, you must:

• be wearing a costume, or
• come with a parent.

I do have a solution – two bowls of goodies. For the kids with costumes or parents – one bowl has candy. For the other group – this bowl has boxes of raisins.

Have a safe halloween. (the curmudgeon)

I understand the concept behind rental companies. Twice in my adult life a tree has blown down in my backyard. I don’t own a chain saw. Experience has taught me that I will use a chain saw only rarely, but there will be a time or two when this might be necessary. Hence, I can see the value of renting something I need only rarely.

Does this fit the situation of textbooks? Here is where my opinion as an instructor and the opinions of my studies may vary. I would think it would be of value to have a required textbook available on multiple occasions. Students might suggest they use a text 3-4 times – the nights before the exams.

Students don’t really purchase textbooks. This is a fabrication they use to explain their college expenses to their parents (see the beer money ploy). The actual question is do they rent books for 4 months or is it less. I am attempting to imagine a situation in which renting a book by the month would be better than buying a book and then selling it back to the bookstore. What sense does a monthly rental fee make? I can see a monthly rental if an instructor required multiple books and a book used in the first half of a course would be unnecessary in the last half. I can guarantee you that none of the books in the B&N ad (see above) fall into this category.

Wouldn’t it really be – rent a book for the semester (or quarter)? I assume the value of advertising a rental would be equivalent to a guaranteed buy – back. All this means is that the book company guarantees something your campus book store may not – we will buy your book back. They just call it a rental rather than a guaranteed buy back.

Now a rent by the week plan may actually be something students would go for. Why pay for a book for the 12 weeks of the semester it will not be used? It is just going to gather dust on your desk.

You do understand that the old curmudgeon is not advocating such an approach. He is just suggesting that a weekly rental would likely make some company some money.

I attended a conference this past weekend and the keynote speaker got me thinking. BTW – this is what they are supposed to do.

Dr. Greenfield spoke on the connections between culture and values – how are changes in one area associated with changes in the other. A particular focus of Dr. Greenfield and the Children’s Digital Media Center with which she is affiliated sees media both as a manifestation of culture and a shaper of personal values. Hence, media represents a more manageable way to study culture and values.

Here is the problem (not all aspects of cultural change are problematic, but this aspect is), there has been a gradual shift over generations to an increase in narcissism and a greater desire for material goods. Over the same period of time, there has been a decline in empathy and respect for tradition. This sounds exactly like the kind of thing a curmudgeon would claim so I offer a citation (at end of post) in case you assume this is just the type of thinking someone who walked to school up hill (both ways) in the snow would say.

One of the studies traced over a period of 50 years the themes present in the most popular programs for tweens (study is linked below). Evidently, there are ways to locate a considerable amount of information on the focus of specific programs going way back (tv.com) – I watch little television, but I can admire the commitment to a web site that provides information in this depth. So, in 1967 the top tween shows were Andy Griffith and Lucy and in 2007 the top shows were American Idol and Hannah Montana. The characteristic showing the greatest change was “fame” – nearly last to first.

I admit I watched Andy (if that is Andy of Mayberry). Barney was my hero. I also watched Happy Days in 1977. After that, I can’t say I have much experience. What happened to MASH – guess that was not a tween show.

Is there anything wrong with seeking “fame”? The authors are concerned with two issues – the desire for fame may be associated with unrealistic goals eventually resulting in dissatisfaction; fame and material wealth are not associated with life satisfaction.

I wonder about one thing. The implication in this work is that our values are manipulated by media. We all know about correlation and causation, but it is so easy to speculate. What if our values are shaped in other ways and we seek entertainment consistent with our values? I wonder – what about all of the “real housewives” and “bachelor/bachelorette” shows my students watch. Are they the victims of the cheap to create pseudo-reality television or do these shows reflect their values?

It is back to CNN for me.

Uhls and Greenfield

My heroes have always been tech guys (with apologies to Willie)

I feel like I should comment on the life and death of Steve Jobs. I guess I am not sure why. I think it is because it is a safe way to frame some comments about mortality. I would not write about the death of my parents because that would have been too personal. Steve, in contrast, represents someone just familiar enough to all of us to offer a more comfortable opportunity to comment on the meaning of a life and have others understand.

My career has been strongly influenced by the products created by Apple (then Apple Computer). I started with Apple about as early as it was possible to start. I wrote a grant back in the day when Apple had grant programs for educators and received several Apple IIs. To put this time in perspective, this was before computers came with displays capable of producing lower case letters and before images on the screen were practical. I learned to program so I could write games to develop reading skills. I really believed the idea that technologies offered a way to change the world – or at least that part of the world called school. I became fascinated with a product called Hypercard because it seemed a way to offer authoring/programming to everyone.  The idea of personal empowerment through technology has always meant a lot to me.

Personal empowerment and possibilities even for children – the potential caught the attention of my wife who more or less redirected her career as a consequence. Together, we began to explore ways in which children could use technology to create in ways that helped them learn. A powerful idea – Children as the authors and the teachers, children with something meaningful to say. The fascination with Apple products has been good to Cindy, too. She has traveled the world and continues to do so because she has a way of relating to educators and explaining what students are capable of given the opportunity.

I have only seen Steve in person one time and I have certainly moved on to use the technology tools produced by other companies. Visionary people fascinate me and I have read most of the books written about Apple. I have learned that Steve was certainly not the nicest person, but he was a true believer and he was a finisher. You encounter lots of people in a life time who are lucky enough to possess some true gifts. Only a few have the determination to make a difference.

I think the death of someone we connect with impacts us mostly because it reminds us of our own mortality. That sounds kind of uncaring and egocentric, but I think it is true. We can certainly feel sorry for the loss of the family and feel that the person has been cheated out of living on, but still we soon begin to think about ourselves. The media have been playing the part of a recent commencement address in which Steve commented on this same thing. I have always thought my wife, a two-time cancer survivor, has a similar sense of things. Once the reality of death becomes clear, you start asking yourself how you really want to spend today.

So, as the ad goes (sort of), “here is to the crazy ones – the ones who really have changed the world.”

I love coffee in the morning. Actually, I pretty much love coffee at any time of the day. I had a really great coffee maker. It was one of those complicated machines with a thermos rather than a glass carafe. Anybody who knows coffee knows you do not make coffee into a glass carafe that sits on top of a heating element. Do you want your coffee to taste like the boiled down Folgers they serve in gas stations?

I had to put my fancy coffee maker down. About once a month or so it would clog up in some way I could never figure out and deposite 8 or so cups of coffee and grounds on the kitchen floor. I would return to the kitchen after my shower and have to clean up a mess. Cindy does not like it when I yell an objects early in the morning and finally told me to throw it way. Evidently yelling at objects seldom results in a solution. I did throw the coffee maker away.

“I want a simple coffee maker”, I said. “Fancy coffee makers have too many things that can go wrong.”

So, she bought me a Black and Decker 12 cup programmable. Black and Decker – I thought they made drills and stuff. Anyway, I will ignore the progammable part. The programming is pretty much used to set the time your coffee maker should start working in the morning. Every good coffee drinker knows you do not grind your beans the night before and just let the poor grounds sit there awaiting their fate. It has a glass carafe. This is OK – I drink my cup and then leave for work (or to the campus bookstore where for $1 before 9 you can get a large cup of Caribou coffee).

I read the manual for my new coffee maker. I understand that reading the manual is not a very manly thing to do and it certainly is not the kind of behavior one would expect from a tech guy. However, I have a reasonable excuse. I was trying to find out what kind of filters I had to purchase for my Black and Decker. My fancy now disposed of coffee maker had one of those fancy gold baskets, but that machine will not be spoken of again. Anyway, I could not find the place where it explained what kind of filters I should buy. I decided on the size 4 malita (the grocery store did not carry the Black and Decker brand). We will have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if the filters work. I have already promised I will not raise my voice if I must purchase a different type of filter.

I did find something quite interesting while reading the manual. There is a section intended to help users solve common coffee brewing problems (I wonder if there was a section in the manual I did not read for my fancy coffee maker – not to be mentioned again).

Here is what I discovered from the manual.

Problem – Coffeemaker (is this really one word) does not turn on.

Possible cause – Coffeemaker is not plugged in.

Solution: Check to be sure appliance is plugged in to a working outlet and turn the on/off switch to “on”.

Problem: Coffeemaker brews clear water.

Possible cause: There may be no grounds in removable filter basket.

Solution: Add sufficient amount of coffee grounds to paper filter in basket.

There you have it – Making coffee for dummies.

I just realized this title is kind of ambiguous. Coffeemakers for dummies. bah…..

My workout alternatives now consist of Dr. Phil and Fox News. I save my energy for the stairmaster not wanting to spend my limited resources trying to generate the majority necessary to change the channel.

I cannot resist watching Fox.I think of it as similar to the fascination people must have with the Maury Povich Show (Maury, Maury – no disrespect intended). Anyway, the Fox pundits today speculated that the President was depressed and had given up hope.

The concept seems to be that the President is an intellectual and not prepared for the reality of the real world.

I just can’t get past the notion that being intelligent and a gifted communicator is a liability. Is that what people without talent want to believe? Historically, people used to believe that geniuses were on the verge of insanity (not true according to the intellectuals who study such things – but you are free to believe it if you must).

I am a Krugman fan and I agree with his recent assertion that the U.S. took actions in response to 9/11 that were politically motivated – we now know that linking 9/11 to Iraq, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and weapons of mass destruction was a stretch at best and possibly out right, purposeful deception. I might have voted for Colin Powell for President at the time, but I can still see his presentation showing the diagrams of the semi trailers converted to serve as manufacturing facilities for the production of WMD – pretty much the end of his credibility.

Still couldn’t Krugman find ways to make the point without using phrases like “fake hero” and “marker of shame”. Is this the way to get attention? When did this “over the top” rhetoric begin and does everyone joining in advance any given cause? It seems so many are now focused on impressing their friends rather than persuading their adversaries.

Pundits are lining up on this topic in predictable ways. It would be interesting to cross reference complaints about the phrase “fake hero” with complaints about the phrase “ponzi scheme”.

A little history for the digital natives among us.

I heard on TWIT today that Byte was been revived. Gina Smith in describing Byte had to make sure that listeners knew the spelling.

So, here is a little question for you. At the time that Byte was on my magazine list I also received a magazine covering the Apple computer of the day. The name of the magazine might appear related in a pun kind of way to Byte. There was a kind of tech joke attached. The competition for Apple of that day made use of a 16 bit CPU (maybe 8088). The Apple used a 8 bit CPU (6502 if I remember). The name of the Apple mag, a half a byte, was ?????

I could not get anyone to come up with an answer on Google + .  Half a byte is a Nibble.

It is almost to easy to make fun of North Dakota and North Dakotans. I usually only resort to this low form of humor when I can think of nothing else. I feel, however, that this post had to be written. It was forced upon me.

From time to time I play with the app Hunch which is supposed to be a place-based recommendation engine. You make recommendations and you receive recommendations. It has categories like – coffee shop, places to eat, etc. and I tend to agree with the recommendations. I must say I have never remembered to try it when I am out of town.

Anyway, yesterday, I noticed that it had a category for “things to do”. I gave it a try and the response from the service is what made me write this post. Evidently, what the college students say is true. There is officially nothing to do in Grand Forks, ND.