1. The Thanksgiving trip to Peru with Krista (who has been busy finishing all sorts of projects you should read about) is canceled for me. I feel bad for flaking out on her, especially when it involves a place that would be so cool to see in advance of the apocalypse. I now have a more vested interest in hoping the Maya are wrong, so that I can live to get another stamp in my shiny new passport with the uncracked spine.
2. There was a big gnarly hurricane on the east coast a few days ago. I find it difficult to blog about the apocalypse with an actual one in progress for some people, while I am personally insulated from it in the mostly-loving embrace of the Mojave Desert, where I lectured today about our ancestral natives and how they used cliffs for their homes. I trust that the photos you'll see here on the Orlando Sentinel site are real, because I found the story from Tom Skilling's weather page.
3. I must keep this post short, as I have a date with the end of Going Bovine (read 2) right now.
She must have known that it was Tuesday, because Miss Gokey sent me the following quote in a text message this morning:
"The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning."
It is that thought with which I leave you on this fine evening, loyal readers.
Showing posts with label Tom Skilling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Skilling. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Can We Talk About the Weather?
Using NLV and Las Vegas's brilliant network of surface roads, I was able to meet up with Krista tonight, because apparently we are planning a trip together! I refuse to tell you anything about it until it happens (unless you already know about it), because it will be really good blog fodder and I want your anticipation to build all the way up through Thanksgiving. I bring this up because at the end of our visit/planning session, we discussed how late our blogs have been posting recently.
On my way home, I stopped at my trusty CVS for provisions and hair dye. They were out of my preferred color, "spiced truffle." They have apparently dropped the truffles in favor of the pralines. I hate fashion. I have met the pralines before. I have a special word for praline. I call it, "orange." Therefore, I'll keep this post short because I have an appointment with something called "medium golden mahogany brown." Seriously!?!? A.k.a. "chocolate carmel." Post-apocalypse I shall use my handy teacher scissors to cut off my hair myself and let my natural gray do its thang with reckless abandon.
Whist trolling the aisles at the CVS, a day late and a dollar short I came upon the September issue of National Geographic. Cover: "What's Up With the Weather?" Photo: Huge tornado that Tom Skilling would call, "ominous."
Apparently, there were 14 extreme weather events in the United States last year, more than there have ever been. Each cost at least a billion dollars in damage, and worldwide the cost of weather-related disasters totaled more than $150 billion.
Signs and omens, kids, signs and omens.
Other news from above-the-fold: avoid armadillos. Apparently they cause leprosy.
I have been put in charge of finding a writing prompt for next week's departmental assessment. There's a video. I used to have a nifty youtube downloader tool, but I no longer have that. You can see the video here, but the children can't. The poor, poor children will have to...ugh!...read. Most students agree that maps will go the way of the dinosaurs. Most students don't believe in the upcoming zombie apocalypse.
To their credit.
We're going to ask them to write about it.
I hope that they do a good job. Wish us luck.
On my way home, I stopped at my trusty CVS for provisions and hair dye. They were out of my preferred color, "spiced truffle." They have apparently dropped the truffles in favor of the pralines. I hate fashion. I have met the pralines before. I have a special word for praline. I call it, "orange." Therefore, I'll keep this post short because I have an appointment with something called "medium golden mahogany brown." Seriously!?!? A.k.a. "chocolate carmel." Post-apocalypse I shall use my handy teacher scissors to cut off my hair myself and let my natural gray do its thang with reckless abandon.
Whist trolling the aisles at the CVS, a day late and a dollar short I came upon the September issue of National Geographic. Cover: "What's Up With the Weather?" Photo: Huge tornado that Tom Skilling would call, "ominous."
Apparently, there were 14 extreme weather events in the United States last year, more than there have ever been. Each cost at least a billion dollars in damage, and worldwide the cost of weather-related disasters totaled more than $150 billion.
Signs and omens, kids, signs and omens.
Other news from above-the-fold: avoid armadillos. Apparently they cause leprosy.
I have been put in charge of finding a writing prompt for next week's departmental assessment. There's a video. I used to have a nifty youtube downloader tool, but I no longer have that. You can see the video here, but the children can't. The poor, poor children will have to...ugh!...read. Most students agree that maps will go the way of the dinosaurs. Most students don't believe in the upcoming zombie apocalypse.
To their credit.
We're going to ask them to write about it.
I hope that they do a good job. Wish us luck.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
It's About Time
What follows is my review of Time magazine's 2012 User's Guide: Essential Info for the Year Ahead.
I was disappointed in the attempts of the writers to make political forecasts, as these forecasts do not help my quest to prepare for the uncertain future. However, there are some gorgeous maps in the issue that you social studies teachers will want to rip out and share with your students, including "Where the 1% Lives," "A Map of Trouble," and "Million-Dollar Disasters."
This last map was located in the middle of my favorite article in the issue, "Weather Beaten." I suspect that my enjoyment of the story is based on my continuing read of Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm and my lifelong love for Tom Skilling. I was devastated to learn that Tom Skilling isn't on Twitter, although I have recently liked him on Facebook.
Quoting "Weather Beaten:" "...the answer for anyone in harm's way is to quit seeing the warnings as a hassle, an inconvenience, a chance to gather for a hurricane party. It takes only one gust of wind, one loose foundation, to change your life forever. That's not sensationalism; it's the hard truth." Now THAT, my friends, is apocalyptic! Kudos to Jim Cantore. Jim Cantore has a Twitter account.
I also enjoyed "Fearing Well," because I prefer the soft sciences, and "Control Freaks," about how TV networks are dealing with the switch to on-demand streaming. Again, however, these pages offer little advice.
Finally, "The Last Party" is a fun little flow chart suggesting activities and travel ideas for "your options for how to ring in Armageddon."
There you have it. In my quest to be useful, I have saved you some time and helped you to decide whether to budget $4.99 for the issue on your next trip to the store. I am living up to my New Year's resolution. If you want online access to the content (more useful for you social studies teachers, perhaps, than ripping the maps out, especially if you don't have a document camera), all access magazine-tablet magazine-online is $30 for one year. As for me, I will save my $30 towards buying a variety of sources from the newsstands.
Happy newsmongering!
I was disappointed in the attempts of the writers to make political forecasts, as these forecasts do not help my quest to prepare for the uncertain future. However, there are some gorgeous maps in the issue that you social studies teachers will want to rip out and share with your students, including "Where the 1% Lives," "A Map of Trouble," and "Million-Dollar Disasters."
This last map was located in the middle of my favorite article in the issue, "Weather Beaten." I suspect that my enjoyment of the story is based on my continuing read of Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm and my lifelong love for Tom Skilling. I was devastated to learn that Tom Skilling isn't on Twitter, although I have recently liked him on Facebook.
Quoting "Weather Beaten:" "...the answer for anyone in harm's way is to quit seeing the warnings as a hassle, an inconvenience, a chance to gather for a hurricane party. It takes only one gust of wind, one loose foundation, to change your life forever. That's not sensationalism; it's the hard truth." Now THAT, my friends, is apocalyptic! Kudos to Jim Cantore. Jim Cantore has a Twitter account.
I also enjoyed "Fearing Well," because I prefer the soft sciences, and "Control Freaks," about how TV networks are dealing with the switch to on-demand streaming. Again, however, these pages offer little advice.
Finally, "The Last Party" is a fun little flow chart suggesting activities and travel ideas for "your options for how to ring in Armageddon."
There you have it. In my quest to be useful, I have saved you some time and helped you to decide whether to budget $4.99 for the issue on your next trip to the store. I am living up to my New Year's resolution. If you want online access to the content (more useful for you social studies teachers, perhaps, than ripping the maps out, especially if you don't have a document camera), all access magazine-tablet magazine-online is $30 for one year. As for me, I will save my $30 towards buying a variety of sources from the newsstands.
Happy newsmongering!
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