Back in Fayetteville, Arkansas, we’d sometimes get a ‘snow day’–a nice break from work or school to watch the snow fall and catch up on daytime TV. Here in the Carolinas, it never snows, but sometimes tropical storms and hurricanes grant us the day off. Gina and I call them “hurricane days,” regardless of the [...]

I’ve been using Writely this semester to store all of the word processing documents I create in a typical semester: lecture outlines, reading quizes, a copy of the syllabus itself. It’s a web-based word processor that Google now owns. It is part of Google’s growing stable of web-based office/personal productivity applications. And it’s good stuff. [...]

I stumbled across this extensive comparison of the two film adaptations of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the original book. I’m a fan of both the 1971 version (featuring Gene Wilder/directed by Mel Stuart) and 2005 version (featuring Johnny Depp/directed by Tim Burton), but I’ve never read the book. Fun.

I found this groovy 18-minute documentary of the “Amen break,” one of those sampled drum loop staples of hip-hop (and other) music. It’s a very thoughtful piece of work: It’s from Nate Harrison. The title of the film is “Can I get an Amen?” (2004).

Finally, a little political validation: the NSA’s eavesdropping program has been ruled unconstitutional (something any 9th grade civics student could have told you). You can read up about it at the ACLU’s site (they’re the ones who brought the case). If you’re feeling vigilent, you can help the EFF defeat Arlen Spector’s attempt to sweep [...]