UUinfo

resources at CLF.org

soundclips

from Yahoo!Picks:

SoundTransit
This collaborative hub dedicated to field recording and phonography features a huge collection of far-out sounds. Clicking around the catalog at random, we found percussive chants from a Hindu ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, lively strumming from street buskers in Berlin, some deeply unsettling bomb concussions from the invasion of Baghdad, and the gentle lowing of angus cattle on the Isle of Amrum. With the transit map, you can sample sounds by geography, and there's even a nifty travel feature that encourages you to book "sonic journeys" from one country to another. And if you're new to the whole field recording genre (guilty!), the artists' page features links to a number of informative individual resources. So tune in and turn on. (in Computers & Internet)

to turn off or leave on: that is the question

My husband and I frequently have the argument, either silent or live, about whether or not to leave computers on or to turn them off. Here is a perspective.

weirdism novelists

from Yahoo! Picks:

The Modern Word
Lovers of literature that opens new vistas, creates fresh modes of communication, and screws with your head 'til its ready to come off, take note. This site tackles surrealism, magical realism, modernism, postmodernism, and plain-old-weirdism (our term) with a "network of literary sites dedicated to exploring twentieth century writers who have pushed the envelope of traditional narrative and structure." Heavyweights such as Beckett, García Márquez, Kafka, and Pynchon receive the full treatment, with reviews, essays, and some surprises thrown into the mix. Other features include reviews of like-minded authors such as David Foster Wallace or Philip K. Dick, a section on small presses, and an index of experimental writers. After indulging in the worlds of these lunatic-geniuses, good luck in distinguishing up from down. (in Literature > News and Media)

what's on my iPod

rock, classical, showtunes, blues, pop, jazz:

yahoo! music songs with classic rock and modern rock as a focal point (Simon & Garfunkel, 10cc, Phil Collins, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Cray, Foreigner, Jimi Hendrix, The Doobie Brothers, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller Band, Gary Wright, Leadbelly, Meat Loaf, Kansas, The Police, America, Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Sublime, Collective Soul, Nirvana, U2, Green Day, Live, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead)

albums:
19 th Century Guitar Favourites
Herbie Hancock: A Jazz Collection
Smash Mouth: Astro Lounge
Caliban Quartet: BasOOnatics!
The Beatles: 1967-1970
Bread: The Best of Bread
Supertramp: Breakfast in America
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence Gold
Southern Culture On The Skids: Dirt Track Date
Barbara Streisdand in Funny Girl
C&C Music Factory: Gonna Make You Sweat
Harry Connick, Jr: Harry Connick, Jr
Herbie Hancock: Headhunters
George Martin: In My Life
Janis Joplin: Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits
Jesus Christ Superstar
Nat King Cole: Love Songs
Robert Plant: Manic Nirvana
Mississippi John Hurt: Revisited
Judge Roughneck: Rude One's Moneymaking Scheme (demos)
Russian Piano Collection
Shrek
Judge Roughneck: Skankin' Naked (demos)
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Soul to Soul
The Buddhahood (demos)
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Heinz Holliger: The Oboe (vinyl; couldn't find on Amazon)
Joe Walsh: The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get
Judge Roughneck: True (demos and full-length songs)

no more pet dogs?

from SciTech Daily:

Between fangs and faeces, barking and biting, it's about time we considered getting rid of dogs as domestic pets [the story]

----------
As a person who is owned by two tiny dogs (and two cats), I would not subscribe to this proposal, but it is intriguing after suffering through a meal attended by a couple of whining K-9s.

e-voting

from Wired News:

Machine Politics
The lowdown on e-voting

noise <> heart

from SciTech Daily:

Wear your earmuffs -- loud noise is bad for the heart [the story]

Wave of moral support lifts youths at anti-violence rally

from Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:

Some young people look to gangs for moral support, jobs, a feeling of community, a little bit of everything, says Joseph Joyner, youth pastor at Jesus Christ the Chief Cornerstone church.

"We want them to come to us," said Joyner, one of the religious leaders who organized an anti-violence rally and prayer vigil that drew about 400 young people to the Diplomat Banquet Center Tuesday night.

The rally, along with efforts to get more youth involved in positive activities, comes after an especially violent year for Rochester teenagers. Six youth between ages 12 and 17 have been killed this year, five in shootings and one in a stabbing. "

Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning

from ICUJP.com:

All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena risks losing its tax-exempt status because of a former rector's remarks in 2004.

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election. [the story] [the sermon]

computer research

from SciTech Daily:

The computer research agenda is as big as ever before [the story]

huh?

from SciTech daily:

When intellectuals East or West exalt local truth systems over the universality of science, there is nothing left to prevent society's slide into tribalism, religious sectarianism and nationalist passion [the story]

information vending machines

from SciTech daily:

Grassroots projects use comics and information vending machines to narrow the digital divide [the story]

how to roll your r's

from Yahoo! Picks:

How do I replace the starter in my 1998 Tacoma? How do I properly care for my bonsai tools? What is corpsepaint, and how do I apply it? These are just a few of the questions answered at wikiHow, a collection of user-submitted manuals that currently offers over three thousand articles. In case you're wondering, a wiki is a web site that anyone can write or edit. As a result, popular wikis tend to gather a lot of information very quickly. Granted, some of these how-tos are more helpful than others ("How to Animate Clay" features the helpful instruction, "Begin animating your figure."), but it's a nifty idea that's quickly gaining traction. And even if you don't really want to know how to roll your r's or give a small dog a bath, wikiHows can make fun leisure reading. (in Reference)

Linguists Go High-Tech

from CareerProNews:

High-tech companies are eager to hire linguists to help make computers understand human language. There's lots of opportunity for these language specialists. [the story]

Defiant Episcopal church may be closed

from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:

In a move that could cost them their church, parishioners at All Saints Episcopal in Irondequoit are withholding money from the Episcopal diocese because of a disagreement [about "gay bishop"].

Pope to Darwin: yo!

from Arts & Letters Daily:

“Fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim.” That is why the new Pope is backing Darwin... more»

Anglican Communion strife

Our diocese and congregation are "liberal Episcopalians", which would not be in the same group as the "conservative Episcopalians" that are mentioned in this article. Ever since Aug'03, when Gene Robinson (aka "the gay bishop") was made bishop, churches in Africa have threatened to leave the Anglican Communican if the Episcopal Church (the US Anglican Church) did not. I'm guessing that the conservative Episcopalians have been discussing how awful the liberal Episcopalians have been . . .

From Religions & Ethics Newsweekly:

News Feature: Anglican Communion Network Meeting

This week, the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes is hosting a special conference in Pittsburgh that brings together conservative Episcopalians from the U.S. Church and primates from Africa, South America and Asia.

The conference, entitled "Hope and a Future," represents an historical effort to forge an alliance between American evangelical mainstream and the Anglican Churches of the Global South in response to the current crisis faced by the Church over the issue of homosexuality. Relationships in the 77-million-member global Communion have been severely strained since the Episcopal Church USA consecrated an openly gay bishop -- Gene Robinson of New Hampshire -- and permitted the blessing of same-sex unions. Leaders of more conservative Anglican churches in Africa, Asia, and South America called these actions a violation of Scripture and Church teaching, and many American conservatives expressed their desire to no longer be a part of the U.S. Church. In February 2005, the primates formally rebuked the Episcopal Church USA for consecrating Robinson and allowing the blessing of same sex unions.

Kim Lawton reports from Pittsburgh on the conference and how this gathering could impact the future direction of the Anglican Communion.
Read the full story

science class

from Bridges.com

Center for Science Education

Improving the quality of science education is the goal of the National Center for Science Education. Educators will find this site a useful resource to learn more about new trends in science education and advice on how to incorporate new teaching methodologies into their school's science programs.

Visit the site: http://cse.edc.org/
____________________

My son thinks science class is boring, yet he gets 100+ grades on his tests! I wonder what his teacher might think of this site.

software forensics

from Bridges.com:

Cyber Crimes Increase Demand for Software Forensics Experts

With computer crime on the rise, opportunities are expected to bebooming for computer forensics investigators in the next severalyears. [the story]

maps R cool

I can't get enough of Google satellite maps. I mentioned an article about it back in October. Here's our neck of the woods:

more gifted youth sites

last month I researched some gifted youth sites. Here are some more:

• NAGC - National Association for Gifted Children
• AGATE - Advocacy for Gifted and Talented Education in New York State
• Mensa
• "links" from CTY

low-down on riots in France

from BBC News:

Urban crisis
France's response to riots exposes depth of society's wounds [the story]

poli-sci

from Arts & Letters Daily:

George Bush may be the most powerful man on earth, but he will never change the nature of politics. It’s time for the U.S. to get real... more»

Unity church

I played hookey from our Episcopal church today and went to an online Unity church instead. The Episcopal Church is the most liberal of the mainline protestant denominations, but still I feel too liberal for it. So I very frequently don't go. Instead I do some reading, or visit another live church, or visit an online church broadcast.

The speaker for the sermon today was very motivational. I recommend his message to anyone, secular or religious.

soccer mom (& dad!) politics

It is very sad that parents of super kid-athletes get angry at each other over volunteer positions. I don't know what happened between some parents in our kids' team, but all of a sudden we got a note from the coach telling us to chill out. I am clueless as to what might've happened, but my curiosity is eating me up (kinda like wondering why everyone is slowing down so much when passing a car accident). My husband and I are like, "wtf, mate?" [WARNING: R-rated language]

dance lessons

When my husband and I were about to be married, we took some ballroom dancing lessons. Initially, we took them so that my soon-to-be husband would feel at least a little comfortable doing the occasional slow dance that would happen during the wedding reception (occasional as opposed to frequent in that he would only be willing to dance occasionally). By the time the first set of lessons were through, though, we'd signed up with the instructor to choreograph a "first dance" for us - that is, the first dance we would dance as husband and wife.

We really enjoyed ballroom dancing, and intended to continue our practice after the wedding & honeymoon, then after our busy schedules let up, then after having children, then after the business of buying a second home (when the only child was four), then after . . .

So we never did re-enlist in ballroom dance lessons. But every once and a while I'll see something that looks interesting. Like the following:

• tango article in Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

These days our son is in ballroom dancing lessons. He is 11 next week, and is very uncomfortable dancing with a girl. He even found a loophole in the "put your hand on the girl's back" rule. Apparently he holds his hand close to the girl's back but doesn't touch it (cheater!). His Dad and I noted that not touching the girl makes it difficult to lead. Maybe by the end of the lessons (this year or next?) he'll have gotten the point. Hopefully he won't understand *too* much yet, but alas . . . (my little boy :-} )