DrWeil.com Question: Had It With a Hacking Cough?: "If you have a productive (non-dry) bronchial cough but bacterial infection is not present (the sputum culture will confirm that), I do not recommend taking antibiotics. The best treatments are the usual rest and fluids plus frequent herbal (sage and/or eucalyptus) steam inhalation. Warm steam soothes the irritated lining of the bronchial tubes, loosens secretions and promotes healing, and the aromatic herbs discourage secondary bacterial growth. An expectorant cough syrup might be of help."

5/19/04, Commencement Address by Bono - Almanac Between Issues: "Sing the melody line you hear in your own head, remember, you don't owe anybody any explanations, you don't owe your parents any explanations, you don't owe your professors any explanations. You know I used to think the future was solid or fixed, something you inherited like an old building that you move into when the previous generation moves out or gets chased out.



But it's not. The future is not fixed, it's fluid. You can build your own building, or hut or condo, whatever; this is the metaphor part of the speech by the way.



But my point is that the world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape. Now if I were a folksinger I'd immediately launch into 'If I Had a Hammer' right now get you all singing and swaying. But as I say I come from punk rock, so I'd rather have the bloody hammer right here in my fist.



That's what this degree of yours is, a blunt instrument. So go forth and build something with it. Remember what John Adams said about Ben Franklin, 'He does not hesitate at our boldest Measures but rather seems to think us too irresolute.'"



Inspiring words from Bono! (he's a rock star, you know.)

class:



I"m sicker today than I was Wednesday, and don't want to share the fun with all of you. Frankly, I've been too worn out from this to finish responding to your papers. In the meantime, revise what you can, and I'll extend all the necessary deadlines to compensate for this.



I will be checking email and the comments section of this page if you have any questions. I'm sorry about this, but my lungs are just chock full of . . . you know.



I am on campus, briefly, and will be going home to recuperate about 10 am. Thanks.



Please read chapter eight for next week. And don't forget to post a summary of chapter 7 to your weblog, so show me you've actually read it.

Theories of Psychological Treatment | Theoretical Approaches: Psychoanalysis, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy



"Prayer, although not much understood in the field of psychology, is an extraordinary—and I mean that literally: extra-ordinary, beyond the ordinary—form of cognitive-behavioral treatment. It can free you from all neurotic anxiety if you pray out of pure love, with all your mind and all your heart and all your strength as a renunciation of your social-psychological identity and pride."

It looks like most of you still haven't submitted the third paper to webct, so I'll work off of your weblog posting of the paper. Look there for comments--

Miller showing his age: "AUBURN HILLS -- A 38-year-old man playing a young man's sport looked every bit his age Wednesday night. Though foolhardy to declare Reggie Miller null and void in any playoff series, since few players have produced postseason dramatics with his career-long consistency, the scrutiny exists."



Oh great. I turn 38 in August.

TheFeature :: An Architect in the City of Bits: "What have you learned from the research so far?



Mitchell: The implications of location-awareness are far from obvious. The technology enables you to reconsider things as fundamental as, say, signage in a city. For example, we traditionally think of a stop sign as part of the fixed infrastructure of the city. But if you have a location-aware automobile, you can shift the stop sign to the dashboard so it pops up when you approach an intersection. If you have whole networks of location aware vehicles, the system becomes more elaborate. Perhaps the stop sign only pops up when there's another car coming from the opposite direction. You could even have elaborate intersection priority schemes. "

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > For Some, the Blogging Never Stops: "Sometimes, too, the realization that no one is reading sets in. A few blogs have thousands of readers, but never have so many people written so much to be read by so few. By Jupiter Research's estimate, only 4 percent of online users read blogs.



Indeed, if a blog is likened to a conversation between a writer and readers, bloggers like Mr. Wiggins are having conversations largely with themselves."

Dear writing students,



I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is I forgot to create a place to submit your third assignment until about 10 minutes ago. The good news is you have until noon on Thursday to submit it, and with all that extra time I'm confident that every single paper I get is going to be amazing.



We had grilled chicken for dinner tonight, and it was ok, but I have to tell you--marinating works so much better than just brushing on the lemon and garlic. That is all.

Links to images of class members, so I can place names with faces:



class pics

Dear class:

I am sick today, and my throat feels like I have been gargling Drano (tm). Please forgive my absence. (update: I managed to heroically make it to class) But wait! There are still some things you can do until we meet again on Friday. And here they are:

1. Post your latest draft of our third assignment to your weblog.

2. Go to the class webpage, and respond to the paper of the person whose name is linked with yours below. If there is no paper posted at that site, then go to the next person in line. I've put you in pairs below. You should respond in the comments section of the weblog.

Mandy Melissa	Brigham Aimee	Afton Isaiah	Shaun Lauren
Johnathan John S.	Jon Hunt Ben H.	Michael F. Annie P.	Kirsten O. Jennifer C.	Diego P. Adam B.	Chris T. J. Martin

3. How should you respond to each other's papers? Good question. I would like you to answer the following questions, in mind-numbing detail:

I. Your author has been asked to describe the same scene from both positive and negative angles of vision. Of the two descriptions, which one seems most accurate to you, and why? Include examples from the original text



II. What was the best part of this paper? What part didn't work? Include examples of each, with a justification for your choice.



III. What are the most useful points made in the conclusion? What else could be said in the conclusion that was overlooked?

For Wednesday: Read chapter 7, and be ready for a quiz!



also, bring in your current draft of assignment #3.

English 1010 Class: "I didn't go to sleep last night till 3 in the morning because I went Off Roading with a couple of my friends and we did that till 2 in the morning then when I got home we continued to stay up a watch Zoolander the movie"

1010 Journal: "There is a three year old boy running around my table, his father calls him over. The kid decides he isn't going to listen to his father and he takes off running. The dad takes off to chase him down. The kid needs ridilin. Girl fixes her shirt as she is walking buy, takes a glance in my direction. An overweight couple storm out of the store, there cart seems to be full of junk food. They probably wonder why they are over weight. "

My over conservative VIEWS: "Relating to older kids, there are bullies, but this is the only time I will intervene: A eleven year old tires to throw his weight around and begins to call a younger girl a number of nasty (I don't need to elaborate upon it)names, I tell him if he continues this crap, then I will show him the fastest way to the principals office, or even to the police office. He didn't listen, so a stronger show of force was required. More or less to say, being much larger and older has its values"

first two chapters: "The parking lot is no respector of persons or their rides. There are the tall the short the thin the fat the okd the young the white the black and everthing inbetween.



Some have ridden their bikes to this place. Others have walked. Some come in gym shorts with a powerful walk as though this was their training center.



Most women have their children whith them. Some of the elderly have bbruoght their husbands. Still ather women are in groups of two or thhree. Very few come alone."

English 1010: " When the car stopped the odometer read 112 miles, that is a long time to be on a dirt road going 30 mph"

English 1010: "-cartboy brings a load of carts in from teh parking lot and leaves the carts with out a word to the greeter and turns and leaves, scratching his butt"

English 1010: "-a future Relief Society president enters the building and with the fakest smile i've ever seen

-she laughs after everything she says to the greeter and prances into the store as if on a cloud, no one is that happy"

english1010:

"The two mexicans are still talking but at a new location, the kid with the tractor looks really bored for now he's just sitting there impatiantly looking at the two mexicans. A guy appears to be talking to someone on the level below, but he looks funny with all his hand gestures for I only see him and no one he's talking to."

:: Xinhuanet - English ::: "The Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy in France are trying their best to handle properly the affairs of the Chinese victims, make arrangements for Chinese survivors, and conduct negotiations with the French side on compensation issues, said sources with the Foreign Ministry here Monday"

Mobile Phones Move Beyond Voice: "Currently a cultural phenomenon in the UK, text messaging is catching on with U.S. mobile phone users. More than one-third, or roughly 38 million, of U.S. wireless phone owners use SMS [define], and increased usage will likely spur further adoption. "

USB webcam driver for Mac OS X: "Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can you include support in your driver?

A: Generally, no - not because we don't want to, but usually we don't have such a camera for testing available and we don't have the necessary developer documentation. If you can provide me with both, contact us. "

quote to get us moving: "Sooner or later in life comes a time when it is performance that counts - not promises, no possibilities, not potentialities - but performance...the law of improvement is the law...of participation, of performance.

- Richard L. Evans

so we have to finish our theses... "

For your third assignment: Angle of Vision



It's based on chapter five, so re-read that chapter in Allyn and Bacon's Guide to Writing if you need a refresher. Specifically, your assignment is to



(1) locate a research site with people in it: work, school, library, car wash, meeting, club, church, health club, and



(2) observe that site for at least a solid hour. You can break that down into several visits of 20 minutes each, or one single visit of 60+ minutes. You need to then



(3) take detailed, descriptive notes of everything you see. It's not uncommon to get 3-5 pages of notes from a single observation. Next, you should



(4) Expand those notes with even more descriptive detail, then



(5) write an essay in which you describe the scenario you witnessed, first with a negative angle of vision, then with a positive angle of vision. Again, refer to chapter five for numerous examples of this. Each description should be at least 250 words long. Finally,



(6) write a conclusion of 400 words or so, describing what you learned from writing from these two perspectives.



PLEASE BRING YOUR OBSERVATION NOTES TO CLASS ON FRIDAY

1. get poster software on laptop

2. write a. about labs

3. record streaming radio (radio paradise) and look for mp3 slicing software.

4. audio hijack

5. two clips for crosman

6. optical sight question.

7. put assignments online, as well as Torino's response

8. download and respond to draft 2.

9. respond to bronwyn's note

10. use google for tasks and addresses, perhaps.

11. grab more dvds for trip. Connections.

12. Mark out good passages for presentation.

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "As the previous owner of used VWs - a Golf, a Jetta, and a Passat, I can answer that question with a hearty 'YES'. Go get a new car. Once a VW starts to go, it just sucks up money like a high-dollar stripper."

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "I'd walk away - I loved my 85 GTI, (and my family has owned an original Beetle, 5 Rabbit/Golfs and 2 Passats) but once it crossed 150K, it was just to expensive to continue the affair. The problem with a car that age (as scarabic has pointed out), even with a relatively young engine, is all the other stuff that doesn't even fail, per se, but just reaches the end of its useful life. Brake discs and rotors, shocks and struts, shift linkage, CV joints, instrument lights (you don't even want to guess the labor charge to pull apart a dashboard and replace a 50-cent bulb, not that it's a critical repair) and on and on.



If I had $6K and a car older than say, 7 or 8 years, I'd rent a Sawz-All, chop the roof off the existing car, drive my new convertible into the ground (we did this with a '79 Rabbit) and put my remaining $5950 down on a new car or something used coming off lease with a manufacturer's warranty. If the payment is still too high, I'd look for something else. $6K will buy you a mid to late '90s Honda Civic, for example."

CarFilter: Pimp out my 88 VW Golf, or put $5k into a newer, more reliable car? [more inside]



I've got an inherited 1988 VW Golf. It seems like every three months I'm dropping $3-500 bucks on a repair--wheel bearings, front end work, o2 sensor dead, etc.



the average repair cost per month for this car is about $85, not counting mileage, tires, oil changes and other consumables. It gets 27 mpg on my 40 minute (one way) commute.



My practical need is to get something that won't require as much maintenance and get my to work reliably and reasonably quietly. I'd like to keep my loan payments to around $100-$150, so maybe a low-mileage Saturn or something will do the trick.



However, I'm 37, we own a minivan, first mortgage, etc. and I'd really like to get something a little more fun to drive, that corners well. Despite its age-related creaks and rattles, and the fact that the steering is getting mushier, I like the feel of the VW steering. Oh, and the VW has about 60k on a transplanted Scirocco engine (8 valve).



So, do I:



1. get the boring commuter car, and satisfy my midlife crisis needs with a good stereo,



2. Get a Geo Metro or Suzuki Swift, something with great mileage, and then tweak it into a snappy little autocross car/commuter



3. Put $5k into the VW, turning it into a reliable, funner car to drive.



4. See a therapist about trying to find fulfillment through consumerism.

I've responded to your first essay and uploaded the responses to webct, with the exception of those who were locked out of webct and had to upload late. Please bring an electronic version of your draft to class Monday.

Here is the next spyware scrubbing utility we'll be using: spybot seek and destroy.



Gotta love those macho titles.

Australian IT - Man fined for downloading music (, MAY 14, 2004): " US federal judge has ordered a Bristol man to pay more than $US4,000 ($5,817) for downloading five songs from the internet.



US District Judge Janet C Hall Wednesday directed William Martinez to pay the minimum statutory damages of $US750 per song for infringing a copyright as well as $US289 for the costs of bringing the lawsuit.

The judge ruled because Martinez failed to answer a civil complaint brought against him or appear in court for the hearing.

Martinez was the second Connecticut resident caught up in the lawsuits filed by the recording industry ordered to pay for illegally downloading music.

Jennifer Brothers of Andover was recently found in default when she also failed to answer the complaint or appear in court. Brothers has been ordered to pay $US6,000. "

The Corner on National Review Online



Loads o' controversy in here.

Kinja, the weblog guide



Here is a great source of links to good topics for the doubting/believing game.

topic: what do you think about the Iraqi prisoner abuses? Who can we blame for this?

topic: are we justified in damaging Iraqi holy sites during the war?

The Australian: Rumsfeld rolls with the punches [May 15, 2004]:



"FRESH from his flying visit to Baghdad, Donald Rumsfeld looks more secure at the Pentagon than he has been in the two weeks since the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal first broke.



The 71-year-old US Defence Secretary apparently has no plans to heed the advice of critics and quit. 'I've stopped reading newspapers - you've got to keep your sanity somehow,' Rumsfeld told the troops. 'I am a survivor.' "

Ad-aware



Please open this link and install AdAware, then run the program. Our technician hasn't been able to get to the labs for the past week.

Hey!



Please make a blog entry today. Your choice of topic.

Today in class we are going to:



1. fine tune blogger

2. sign up for presentation groups

3. discuss chapters three and four

4. do some informal writing

5. read each other's stuff

6. discuss assignment #2: believing and doubting

7. go home



Assignment #2: The Believing and Doubting Game



Your assignment is to choose an interesting engaging, problematic statement, preferably taken from an actual newspaper or editorial, and hopefully connected with a local issue or concern, and play "the believing and doubting game" described in our text in chapter two. In essence, you will write approximately a page stating why you believe the claim and provide supporting evidence. Then you will spend approximately a page (250 words per page) writing as if you don't believe the statement, and arguing against it using clear examples. For the remaining half to full page you will explore the issue at greater length without passing judgement either for or against it. I should not be able to tell what your real opinion is by reading the paper, at least not until I get to the last section. In the last section you can describe if your opinions changed, remained the same, were called into question, etc. You may also wish to answer the question, "How is this issue connected to my identity? How is my identity connected to what I believe?"



This is somewhere between "open" and "closed" writing. Have fun with it. Include pictures if you'd like. Double space the entire thing. Use a legible font.



First draft due: 5/17/04 (Wednesday) by 5pm. Bring an electronic version to class.

If you have any comments about the course, please use the anonymous feedback link on the right------->



There are also comments available after each blog entry. If I can get them working.

Soprano Ukulele - Geared Machines - Mahogany: "A New Ukulele superbly built from the finest woods. Clean workmanship and excellent fret dressing are the first things you'll probably notice. The necks are expertly shaped and finished in a satin lacquer for a professional easy playing feel. The tone is very close to those selling for those 6 times the price.



Satin Matte Mahogany Finish



Inlaid Position Markers



Carrying case included - a $13.95 value



Uke Parts



Compare up to $69.95 retail



But it Now for $18"

The recent revelations about mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by inexperienced guards, anxious to please authority figures (such as interrogators, CIA, etc.) reminds me of the famous prison simulation conducted at Stanford in 1965, by Philip Zombardo and Stanley Milgram. Stanley Milgram strikes me as the Andy Kaufman of Sociology. He's the same guy who got people to electrocute strangers.



(the BBC reenacted the experiment a few years ago.)

In some cultures, freewriting is used as a form of psychological torture. The North Koreans, for example, fully integrated writing as part of their brainwashing process. Right now I'm practicing freewriting along with my class, and frankly, I'm afraid of what horrible crap is going to gurgle out of my subconscious for all to see on this weblog. Driving to work today I listened to Marsha Sinetar's True Wealth. It's somewhat new-age-ish and cheesey, but it made a few great points about money. One of them was that if you feel uncomfortable or guilty about having money, you'll never get any, and that our attitudes about money come from our parents. My parents have the most screwed up relationship to money I can think of. Initially, I thought it was just that we were poor-ish, but upon reflection, everything they say and do about money is completely screwed up. Happy Mother's day, mom!



The computers in our room are completely hosed today, despite having been "deep freezed" and rebooted. This sucks, and gives people even more reason to hate technology, this class, and, of course, me.



This weekend I shaved my head. Why? Because I thought it would feel interesting. It feels almost the exact same as having a crewcut. I feel ripped off, and now I have to walk around looking like a chemo patient.

CourseInfo @ UVSC



This is webct

Please email a copy of your paper to yourself before class on Monday.

sample paper

Today in class:



1. respond, as a class, to a student draft

2. respond to each other's drafts in small groups

3. work on revisions to drafts

4. submit drafts electronically to webct for additional feedback.

I don't know if any of you will read this, but please bring an electronic version of your draft to class on Friday. You can email it to yourself, save it to a floppy, burn it to a cd or stick it on one of those usb-thumb drives. Or post it on the web.

Class weblogs:

Mandy

Melissa

Brigham

Aimee

Afton

Isaiah

Shaun

Lauren

Johnathan

John F.

Jon Hunt

Ben H.

Michael F.

Annie P.

Kirsten O.

Jennifer C.

Diego P.

Adam B.

Chris T.

J. Martin

English 1010

Assignment #1: Literacy Autobiography

Length: 750 words (three pages)

Due: Friday, May 7, in-class.





The purpose of this assignment is for you to reflect upon and analyze your own literacy narrative, the story of your encounters with writing and language up to this point. It is also an opportunity to compare and contrast your experiences with the information found in chapters 1 and 2 of our text, the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing. You may wish to answer some of the following questions, using specific examples from the text, and the text of your life.

• You may invent one event or example, but it must be plausible, convincing and you must tell us in a footnote at the end of the paper which anecdote you invented.
  
  
  
  
• You should use specific examples of “literacy events,” moments of writing, reading and learning that have somehow affected your literacy practices
  
  
  
  
• You can answer questions such as:
  
  
  
  o What is your relationship with writing?
  
  o What are your earliest memories of the written word
  
  o What are your favorite/least favorite types of writing. Of reading?
  
  o What classes, if any, have influenced your writing methods? How?
  
  o What kinds of informal writing do you employ on a regular basis?
  
  o What are ways in which you avoid writing?
  
  o Who is your ideal reader, and why?
  
  
  
  
• What counts as literacy? What doesn’t? Who decides?
  
  
• Does your experience as a writer correspond with the descriptions of writing in our textbook?
  
  
• You may write in either a closed or open format.
  
  

Discuss the assignment here.

English 1010 Syllabus



Literacy Autobiography Assignment

Stay tuned, your assignment sheet will be up shortly.

datacloud: Why I Hate Blackboard