Colbert, Lessig, and Remix! Recipe for FUN!!!

The other night, as is usual to me, I tuned in to The Daily Show followed by Colbert Report. Anyone who knows me knows I am a big fan of both shows. I even got to go to The Daily Show when I was in NYC on a trip. I got called out by the warmup comedian who said "You look like a little lady who makes apple pies all day and then drinks gin at night." I was thrilled! I do make a mean apple pie as a matter of fact. Anyway, Stewart's guest was a big name, Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary. She acquitted herself very well, and now that I think of it that may be a great verb choice on my part. Anyway, Colbert's guest was some guy named Lawrence Lessig. The name sounded vaguely familiar but did not really grab my attention.

Then Lessig came on and began talking about his book Remix, about copyright. My librarian sensors immediately started to tingle. His premise was that copyright laws are updated, impossible to enforce, and inadequate for today's media. In particular he wants us to "stop making criminals out of kids" for the mashups, remixes, derivations, and other cool things they do with publications today. Of course Colbert hogged the limelight, but their conversation was both entertaining and informative about the problem. And Colbert was once again daring viewers to take something from his show and make something more from it, as he has done in the past with his green screen challenges. Great stuff!

I immediately thought of all my cohorts on LM_NET and TLC who would love the sequence, and posted about it to both lists. Weirdly, the next day the clip had been TAKEN DOWN from the Colbertnation website "at the request of the publisher, Penguin Press." I got several messages about this the next morning from people who went looking for it. Good grief! I thought, this is rich irony if Penguin is blocking the clip about making material available. I still don't know the real story behind this, and it seems odd in view of the fact that the entire book will be available at Creative Commons. Anyway, you can go to the Colbert site now and see the entire episode, or if you just want to see the copyright part, move the slider over to the last part of the show. Doug Johnson, I know you are out there. This goes so well with your recent presentation about copyright!

And here is the best part! Go to YouTube and search for "Colbert Lessig" and you get the remixes of the clip about Remix! Someone emailed me about them yesterday, when I think there were two. Now there are at least three, all fun, and I am willing to bet there will be more. Colbert was clearly calling for them. The dance music one is probably my fave. Putting this all together you have A GREAT LESSON ABOUT COPYRIGHT AND CREATIVITY! Oops...I forgot...you will be blocked from the TV sites and, of course, from YouTube as well. Still, go and see for yourself. I love it when you can laugh, learn, and think all at the same time.

Time time time

OK now the music box in my head is playing another old song, Pete Seeger's "Turn Turn Turn." Only the words I am hearing are instead "Time time time," as in I never, ever have enough! I am thinking about time for a couple of reasons.

• This week my university is still on break, though of course I am working every day. However, I have allowed myself to work from home most of the time and also have indulged in some things that I have been dying to do but not having time, such as trying out the Sony eBook Reader, the Asus Eee, and some other new acquisitions. I also took time for my computer startup smackdown, described in my previous entry. This really took all of two minutes to do, but first I had to get the three computers all lined up, have my iPhone out to use the timer, and then execute. Another thing I did today was try out an external cd/rw drive I have had for around ONE YEAR and have never taken time to unbox. It worked with the Eee right out of the box with no installation or problems of any sort. Trying it out took about 10 minutes. But first I had to FIND the drive and get it in place, plugged in, and connected to the netbook. Needless to say, having it is a huge plus and I cannot believe I let it sit unused for so long. I don't know how to free up time for anyone other than myself, but do recommend finding a way to sneak off and do the things you know you want and need to do.
  
• The other reason I am thinking about time is that I am working on an article (gotta find time to do THAT) about making wise purchases of equipment and software. I queried LM_NET, EDTECH, and TLC members for examples of purchasing mistakes and have received a number of sad stories. In a large majority of the accounts, a big reason why a poor decision was made was because it was something that was done in a hurry. "Haste makes waste" is very, very true. I will be writing an article about this but would offer this one suggestion here and now: Just as librarians do for books, have a consideration or wish list of equipment needs. Make this list after researching the products via reviews, listserv inquiries, visits to vendor booths, and if at all possible, personal experience with the item. And when you do place an order, start with just one of the item rather than buying in bulk. Try it out first and then order more if it meets your requirements and if you have interested and committed users.
• By the way, I do presentations about time management, which may seem a bit ironic to anyone who knows me. But there are some great online tools out there that can really help with organizing your life and getting things done. Here is a link to a presentation that references some of these great tools: http://forwhomthebelltold.pbwiki.com/21st+Century+Time+Saving Two of my favorite tools from the presentation above are 43 Things and Tadalists. They are ones I use all the, uh, TIME.
  

Startup Smackdown!

Is there no limit to my geekiness? I have been wanting to do this for ages: Race my two fast-starting computers and see who wins. My workhorse is a MacBook Pro that I have had for about a year, and which I dearly love. One reason I like it better than any PC in recent memories is how quickly and cheerfully it starts up or wakes up. She is ready to go so far ahead of my 2 year old Compaq clunker that it is stunning. BUT, right now I am trying out an Asus eee and have noticed that it is quick off the blocks as well. So I whipped out my iPhone, went to Stopwatch, and had a race. I pressed the ON button on my Compaq first, giving it a head start. Then I pushed the Mac and Eee buttons simultaneously. I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but I actually got a bit of an adrenalin thrill from doing this. I was pulling for Mac, because I do love her so much.

And the winner was.....DRUMROLL...Eee with 45 seconds!!!

Mac came in with a respectable 1 minute. Poor Compaq finally got to the login screen at 2 minutes, but after that I know there is another couple of minutes before he actually gets himself ready to go to work. I should add, of course, that the number of apps per machine does enter in, and probably some other stuff that hurts my head to think about. But there you have it, Eee is a fast starter. Next I will get my Eee to race with a new Dell Latitude that is up at my office, thus pairing up a netbook and a very small notebook. This time I am betting on Eee. I do plan to do some more serious comparisons and discussions about new equipment that we are trying out:

• Eee--really cool!
  
• Polariod PoGo Printer--compatibility problems so far
  
• Dell Latitude--love it
  
• Sony eReader--like it
  
• Kindle (not really new but I will be comparing it with the Sony)--love it
  

Here is an aside... Do you have a constant soundtrack running in your head? I do. And it plays, without my summoning, appropriate songs for the moment. As I was doing this little experiment, I noticed a song in my head, and NOT one I would consciously call up. It was that George Jones canard, "The Race is On." And guess what else I learned because of this? There is a MySpace Karaoke Page. It came up when I searched for the song. I think you have to log in and maybe friend the page to hear the whole song but I heard enough to satisfy me and, since I cannot carry a tune, do not feel the need to join. But how cool that MySpace provides karaoke tunes! Who knew?

Waking up in 2009

Oh whoa....is it really 2009? This is the longest I have ever neglected my blog. At first I was not posting because of holiday activities. Then when I felt guilty for being such a slacker, I started telling myself my first blog of the year should be REALLY GOOD, but not feeling any of my ideas were scintillating enough so postponing more. That gets me to today, when I hope to start up again no matter what! Sooo...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I will go the resolution route albeit belatedly. Two years ago my resolutions were to launch a blog, start up a wiki, and get myself over to the campus health building for regular exercise. I achieved the first two. Last year I vowed to become a Twitter user and to go to the gym. I achieved the first goal. Yes, there is a trend here. I am now entering my third year of promising to use the gym. In 2007 I did zero, zip, nada. In 2008 I did get over there ONE TIME and tour the facility which is great. I am counting that as a baby step in the right direction. I am telling myself that this year I will really, really start using, and putting it out there publicly in the hopes that doing so will spur me on.

And here are goals for this year:

1. Post to blog at least 3 times/week (previous goal being 2/week), even if some posts are short and just sharing a link or tidbit.
2. Yeah, yeah, get over to the gym and get with the program. Anyone who wants to email and nag me about this is encouraged to do so.

To all readers...best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR as this historic and unique time in our history unfolds.

Me 'n my iPhone

I was in Wal Mart when I missed my iPhone. I knew with 95% certainty that it was on the table by my chair at home. But there was that 5% that was working on me. Going to Wal Mart is a strain on my system in and of itself. I can walk in feeling great but always leave needing a nap--the place just seems to sap my energy. And today I was not even feeling great when I entered. I forced myself to finish shopping and make the two other stops I needed before going home. By the time I opened my front door, my anxiety was way over what it should have been. And yes, there was Idella iPhone, resting peacefully by the lounger. I pounced on it and found a nice long text from my daughter. Ahhhhhh...exhaling felt lovely. Now I am in the chair and settling down for a nap, dog on floor, kitty on couch, and iPhone nestled in my pocket. Do I love the thing too much? Yes. I know it can be replaced but it is so much more than a phone. It is my lifeline to all my friends and family, my texting buddy. my picture repository, my alarm clock, my friendly little entertainment center and, OK, my status symbol. I am guilty of something even more insidious than technolust, I fear...dare I say...technolove? I wonder if anybody else has similar attachment to a favorite gizmo.

Wild Dogs/Whackamole Wordle

Whackamole and Wild Dogs

I was talking with an acquaintance today about a mutual project. She said she wanted to tackle it "just as soon as things calm down" for her. I was reminded how often I say the same thing. Problem is, things never calm down, do they? Sometimes I feel like my life is an ongoing whackamole game. Just as soon as I pound down one head with the mallet, another pops up. In a previous life, when going through a divorce, I spent a lot of time at ChuckECheeze with my daughter since it was safe, cheap, and fun for her. That's when I started my love/hate relationship with whackamole. Yes, I did pretend the popup heads were my ex's noggin. It gave me a bit of satisfaction to smack them down, and I got pretty darn good at the game. Just now I went looking around for information on whackamole (or whack-a-mole) and discovered that lots of people make this same comparison of the game to a busy schedule. Here is a business blog with some tips about dealing with this problem that are relevant for anybody: http://www.cmoe.com/blog/whack-a-mole-management.htm

In the spirit of do-as-I-say-not-do-as-I-do, I have actually given presentations on the topic of time management, and here is a link to one of these:
http://forwhomthebelltold.pbwiki.com/21st+Century+Time+Saving

Lately I fear my stress has been ratcheted up, caussing a more dire mental image to haunt my thoughts. Ever since I took my latest job, I have had the feeling that I am being pursued by a pack of wild dogs. These are very big bad snarling dogs with slathering muzzles and sharp pointed fangs, and they are after me as I run down a dirt road. Sometimes they fade back into the woods a bit and I gain some distance on them, but other times they are literally nipping at my heels. These dogs are my unfinished (unstarted?) projects and obligations. I have even given them names. One is named Belltones, after a column that I love to write but whose deadlines I seem to crowd more and more. Another is named 591, the number of a class I teach. Other dogs have names such as: Grant (I am administrator of an IMLS grant), Cohort (I am working on starting up some cohort groups), TCEA (presentation coming up), TLA (another prez), and those that hound me every day such as Email, Budget, Travel Study, TExES (I help students review for this standardized test) and Blog (yes, this blog is one of those wild dogs). Blog dog always runs back in the pack. I cannot even pay attention to him unless I have dealt with some of the others, much as I would like to. Today was a good day. I subdued Belltones by finishing a column, so he will not come to the front of the pack for up to six weeks. I also pacified email and TExES. Thus I was able to give Blog a bit of attention. No, I am NOT caught up everywhere but I did make some progress.

Postscript: Here is the one thing that I find most useful in keeping the worry dogs at bay: Tadalist. This free online service allows me to keep to-do lists that are essential for reminding me what I need to do, when deadlines are set, etc. The URL is: http://www.tadalist.com
This plus Google Calendar are my online saviors. The other reminder and assistant I cannot live without is my department secretary. Thanks Rebecca for all you do!