I’ve mentioned this before, but if you’re looking for a great collection of educational videos streaming on the Internet, check out HippoCampus.
Creating a template in pbworks
January 11th, 2012 by Brian No comments »
This is a really quick tip that will save you a ton of time. When viewing a page as an administrator in pbworks, you can add a tag. If you type the word “template” all lower case as the tag, you can reuse the page as a template for when you create a new page.
Bloody Times by James L. Swanson
January 10th, 2012 by Brian No comments »
Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis
You may be familiar with the concept of Bloody Times: President Lincoln is assassinated and the country stages a funeral procession from D.C. to Illinois. At the same time, Confederate President Jefferson Davis tries to keep the Civil War going despite General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
The details are great and help to dispel some myths, like what Davis was wearing when he was captured. The myth is that he tried to sneak away in women’s clothes. In reality, he woke up one morning, saw Union soldiers outside of his tent, and put on an overcoat and a shawl to keep warm for his journey. The shawl was the same type that many men wore, yet newspapers printed mocking photos to discredit Davis. Circus owner P.T. Barnum wanted the shawl and overcoat for one of his shows, but when Edwin Stanton, secretary of war, saw that it wasn’t women’s clothing, he held onto it and the myth was born. Swanson’s attention to detail challenges what many people have accepted as fact.
Even though most readers know that Lincoln will die, Swanson still builds up the emotion leading up to and after the event. He also does a skillful job of intertwining the rival presidents’ lives. Also, no one will soon forget the descriptions of how the embalmers kept Lincoln presentable in the hot summer months.
It’s history at its best. Students who have checked it out enjoyed it. I’m going to booktalk it in time for President’s Day and I predict it to be a popular checkout.
Floppy drives as musical instruments
January 9th, 2012 by Brian No comments »I just found this video of five floppy drives playing a cover of daft Punk’s “Derezzed” from Tron Legacy:
So, that’s a lot of fun, but the really cool thing is that YouTube user Sammy1Am uploaded a how-to video for how to do this with your own old floppy drives:
Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams
January 6th, 2012 by Brian No comments »This one’s a Star Wars book, but it’s a little different because it’s built around the MMORPG The Old Republic.
Sean Williams also did the novelization of The Force Unleashed
That being said, Fatal Alliance feels like an online role-playing game. Each character represents a playable class in the game. You have your grizzled soldier, your naive Jedi, and your conniving diplomat. Williams did creatively twist some characters, but for the most part, these are characters we’ve seen before.
There is a mystery driving the plot. A planet not in the charts promises wealth for both sides of the galactic war and two different parties try to get there first to stake a claim. You may have guessed already that the planet has a hidden danger and that there will be some kind of alliance…a fatal alliance…that forms to defeat the common enemy.
What I really liked was seeing main characters from both the light and dark side of the Force. This is one of the first Star Wars books that I’ve read where one of the Sith may actually be a protagonist alongside a Jedi. (I know there are books that detail the bad guy perspective, but not one that I’m familiar with where both sides are the heroes.) It makes sense, though, when you consider the source material is a game where players can create characters from any place on the moral spectrum.
I enjoyed reading it. Granted, I’m a Star Wars fan, but someone picking up this book is probably going to be a fan. I more want to highlight it for students who know about the game and want something to read that’s connected to it.
“Best Football Game Ever” now available through Musa Publishing
January 3rd, 2012 by Brian No comments »One of my short stories, “Best Football Game Ever”, is in Musa Publishing’s electronic magazine, Penumbra. Go pick up a copy to support independent publishers.
Update to the My Books page
January 1st, 2012 by Brian No comments »I added a link on the My Books page to one of my current short stories, Rust. It was picked up by Cast of Wonders and is read phenomenally by Graeme Dunlop. It’s a free download, so definitely go check it out.
I have another short story that was picked up by a magazine coming out this month that I will tell you more about once it is available for purchase.
Google Maps is a fan of Tolkien
December 20th, 2011 by Brian No comments »In Google Maps, type “The Shire” as destination A and “Mordor” as destination B. Choose the walking directions.
Do you see the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings joke in there?
The Hobbit trailer
December 20th, 2011 by Brian No comments »I didn’t expect the trailer to have so much stuff from the book already. Check it out here.
3D tours of the Smithsonian and a virtual dinosaur dig
December 16th, 2011 by Brian No comments »Even if you don’t get to travel this break, you can still explore the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History by clicking here.
Want to see what the process is like when you dig up fossils? Click here
