Christina Dulude

Luna likes to bite water as it sprays out of the hose.

I’m not yet sold on Twitter. I signed up for an account back in March to see what all the fuss was about, but haven’t done much with it yet. My ambivalence essentially boils down to: Who cares that I’m sitting in a meeting at work? Or just returned from an excellent Indian buffet lunch? Or am in desperate need of a fourth cup of coffee?

And if you really want to split hairs, the only possible response to the “What are you doing?” koan would always be: “Updating my Twitter.” And how much fun would that be?

It’s easy to write Twitter off as just another example of Generation-Y narcissism. But Wired has an interesting article on how Twitter is actually the opposite of narcissism. “Tweets” taken by themselves don’t mean much. But en masse, they can help users plug into a larger sense of community; either officially as a “favorite” or “follower” of specific people, or just by browsing what folks all over the world are up to on the “public timeline.” And here’s a cool mashup with GoogleMaps on that theme.

I’ve read a few articles on applications for Twitter in higher education. EducauseConnect posted 7 Things You Should Know About Twitter. While most of the article consists of a primer for university staff and administrators on Twitter basics, a sidebar to the story details how Twitter can be used as a brainstorming tool by researches in separate locations.

And CollegeWebEditor.com suggests that Twitter might be used as in emergency response communication. The author does emphasize that Twitter shouldn’t be used as the only tool to broadcast crucial information, but it can be used as a temporary fix or part of a larger emergency communication plan. I thought this was interesting; ever since the Virginia Tech tragedy, there has been a lot of talk in higher ed forums about emergency response preparedness. SMS and other forms of text- and instant-messaging are hot topics, but this was the first time I’ve heard Twitter mentioned in this context.

I saw Sicko earlier this week, and overall I thought it was great. The first three-quarters of the film were very effective in delivering the message that our health care system is flawed, and — shocker! — the US is not the very best at absolutely everything.

Sicko wasn’t as sensationalist as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 or even Bowling for Columbine; and in my opinion, this lent a greater credibility to the film.

However, things start to go downhill when Moore rounds up three 9/11 rescue workers and heads to Cuba in an effort to prove that Guantanamo detainees (and later, average Cuban citizens) receive better medical care than these 9/11 heroes do in their own country.

This section, particularly when Moore & Co. are trying to cross into Guantanamo Bay from Florida, comes across as a stunt more than anything else. It does little to support the premise of the film, and actually undermines the very convincing arguments put forth earlier.

Even worse is when Moore mentions at the end of the film how the man who runs a well-known anti-Michael Moore website ran up staggering medical bills when his wife became very ill. Moore sent him an anonymous check for $12,000. Okay, but self-aggrandizement aside, what does this really have to do with the rest of the film?

But other than these two quibbles, I thought Sicko was very well-made. Go see it.

My last computer at work was the 12″ PowerBook G4. I really liked it because it was small and light and easy to fling around. And it fit neatly into my small backpack. We switch computers every two years, and mine was up for renewal recently. I was debating between getting the 13″ MacBook (small!) and the 15″ MacBook Pro (more power!). I finally decided on the MacBook Pro, and have been using it for about a month now. Overall, it’s great, and lightyears faster than my old PowerBook. And it doesn’t crash Second Life nearly as often. But I do miss having a very small computer.

And then, I just read this today. D’oh.

I packed up the puppy and headed to the mountains for a weekend of backpacking in the Shining Rock Wilderness area of Pisgah National Forest. Unfortunately, plans were cut a little short when lightning and torrential downpours broke out.

And I saw this sign on the way back:

I hear St. Francis is in charge of their Animal Control department. And St. Matthew runs Tax Administration. I wonder what one has to do to get on the Board of Commissioners?