Sunday, July 27, 2008

Another BLAH!

My brain is flying around like a witch on a broom.
How do you keep your focus?
What sort of things can you think to do that
IRON out your brains creases
direct the jets of wind into a thrust
and not lose your momentum--
I admire your ability to do this and cannot
for the life of me--
maintain that pinpoint accuracy that
reads the groove of the
record called my life

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Anger--for better or worse?

I have long held my anger as a part of myself--something that defines me.  In recent times I have found it useful to put aside anger, allowing me a broader ability to accept the world with less clouded a view.  However, I feel like my resolve is crumbling without it.  Where is that inner drive to fight injustice in the world?  How do I protect that innocence inside me if I don't shell it in forceful resolve?  And YES it's worth protecting.  Everyone should have it.  

So how do you separate the "good anger" towards injustice and stupid things you put yourself through from the "bad anger" that threatens to grow into a consuming force of its own?

Monday, July 14, 2008

Imago

Just got back from wikipedia. I was trying to answer a question one friend asked: what is the stage of development after chrysalis. Of course it's butterfly, but is there a standard biological term, we wondered?

The answer is imago. Imago is synonymous with the adult (sexually mature, winged) stage of development not just in butterflies, but in all Holometabola (Endopterygota), insects that undergo Holometabolism (metamorphosis).

These include: beetles, flies, lacewings, fleas, caddisflies, mosquitos, ants, bees, and of course butterflies. There are more, but you can just go to the link for a complete list.

So it's embryo (egg), larvae (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and imago (adult).

Incidentally, the plural of imago is imagines.
Also, the pupa stage of a mosquito is called a 'tumbler', FYI.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Hamsterdam

A game to kill time and turn your grey matter soupy:

Start with the name of a country.
Merge it with the name of an animal.
Laugh


or alternately...

Start with the name of an animal
Merge it with the name of a country.
Chuckle-snort.


For example:

Hamsterdam



Japanda


(both of which are already in use on the internet)

...and Uz-gecko-stan


(which, incidently, is entirely new to the blogosphere!)

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Teaching Methodology

"I know the subject matter and I can convey it to children." This is all that the hiring people want to hear.

Why would a class full of 3rd graders want to do what I say they should do?

How do you build that trust?