Quick Hits and Varia on a Holiday Friday

A little gaggle of quick hits and varia on a rainy holiday Friday (it seems fitting that Good Friday be rainy and dark):

• For the first time in a few years Eastern (Greek) Easter and Western Easter coincide. While both groups use the same method to establish the date of Easter, the has to do with the differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the lunar calendars upon which the two churches use to reckon the date of Easter. The holiday will also coincide next year.
• Some interesting conversation about inter-disciplinarity here at Prof-Hacker, and here at the Electric Archaeologist, and in the comments on this post here in Teaching Thursday. Keep an eye on Teaching Thursday for more discussions on the inter/trans/multi/cross disciplinary moment.
• At Tomorrow Museum, it's all about curating.
• I am counting the hours until my iPad arrives (and it left Anchorage, Alaska early this morning). The best review is probably this one on Boing Boing, but I also liked the slightly bigger picture perspective offered at (gasp) Time. I had a great (but too short) discussion with a few students about it this past week and I love that the iPad makes people angry. It reminds me of the early 1990s when being serious about a Mac was seen as an insult to the serious and sacred power of the PC. But before I get too excited, I read this and then felt a tiny twinge of guilt. There is, however, something slightly disingenuous about Doctorow's critique. The idea that the iPad or any "walled-garden" type product is bad because we can't get inside to manipulate how it works falls apart when pushed too far. The goal with a product like the iPad is to enhance the experience of consuming content. It's the equivalent of getting a nice pair of new speakers or getting a favorite book rebound in a classy new binding. It enhances the pleasure of consuming music and reading. We can complain that no one should own stereos because, after all it deprives the individual from creating music -- like on a piano -- or that we shouldn't spend time reading books or even sanction their distribution because it will slowly crush our desire to write. These are just silly arguments. The time when the only way to enjoy technology was when you built it or customized it yourself is over.
• So, one of my graduate students in my public history internship continues to blog, and she's pretty good at it!
• The University of North Dakota is slated to begin a major construction project in the heart of campus. It will involve an expansion and renovation to the College of Education Building. I want to start a campus wide drive to call rename it the Woodworth Building (if you don't know, you better ask somebody)
• You can also follow how UND is revising their website here. I served on one of the committees involved in some of the decisions making. It was an education on how the university works.
• This was quite a display by Mitchell Johnson. I just wish he was more consistent.

One last thing, I brought my breakfast to work this morning in this plastic bag photographed below. It was mixed in with our assorted other plastic bags. It must have entered our collection from Cyprus somehow. There isn't a Carrefour (a French supermarket chain) in the US or even in North America. How's that for the movement of plastic around the world:

Comments

[Chuck Jones-]

I suppose you noticed that the Time review was written not by a techie but by a (gasp) regular person with a good grasp of the language - Stephen Fry. Well, maybe he's not quite so regular...

[renaissance costumes]

Hmmm.. probably you have now received your iPad. :) enjoy your new gadget and hopefully you can post a review on how the thing is doing.. :)