Tuesday Tips, January 26, 2022

 TECH TIP:  ListenNotes: Podcast Search Engine

I love to listen to podcasts (a few of my favorites:  Smartless, Extremities, Serial, Dr. Death, The Office Ladies, Rabbit Hole, This American Life...) and think they could be a great resource in the classroom.  Listen Notes is a search engine that allows you to find podcasts for specific topics.  There is a Discover tab with curated lists that might also be helpful.  

BOOK TIP:  Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel

  The novel Station Eleven came out in 2014, but is weirdly prophetic in its description of a global pandemic (in this case called the Georgia Flu) that wipes out much of society.  The novel travels back and forth in time between the pandemic period and the future dystopian world and a group of traveling Shakespearean actors.  There is a common story that connects the many characters, all of whom come under the threat of a dangerous prophet.   Station Eleven was just released as an HBO limited series (which is good, but the book is always better - or should at least be read first).

Tuesday Tips: January 18, 2022

 TECH TIP:  Google Status Dashboard

Thanks to Tom Roy for this week's tip!  If you ever find that any of your Google Apps aren't working (like Gmail, Docs, Meet, Calendar, etc), you can quickly check the Google Status Dashboard.  This will tell you if the issue is one at Google globally or something on our end.  As long as the item has a green check at the Status Dashboard, it is good with Google.

and if you want to see if your computer is on, go to:  http://ismycomputeron.com/

BOOK TIP: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family by Patrick Radden Keefe

 Empire of Pain is an incredible work of non-fiction by Patrick Radden Keefe (author of another of my favorite non-fiction book of 2020: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Mayhem in Northern Ireland).  It tells the story of the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma.  Purdue Pharma is the company who makes OxyContin, and might be fully responsible for creating the opioid crisis.  It's a masterpiece of narrative non-fiction and will make you think twice about the pharmaceutical industry.  

Tuesday Tips: January 4, 2022

 TECH TIP:  Turn Pictures into Geometric Shapes with IMGOnline

Want to jazz up your presentations with some cool images?  Use IMGOnline to turn any pictures into a shape.  I chose a star for this one:

But there are hundreds of different shapes you can choose from, including animals, household items, etc.  You simply upload your image, pick your shape, and hit Create and Save.

BOOK TIP:  The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Amor Towles is the author of one of my favorite books, A Gentleman in Moscow.  The Lincoln Highway is his latest novel. It is a road trip novel wrapped up in a coming of age story.  In 1954, Emmett Watson gets released from a juvenile prison camp.  He goes back home to Nebraska to get his brother with the hope of driving away and starting their lives over.  However, things don't go as Emmett planned.  The novel is told over the course of just ten days and through multiple perspectives of a captivating cast of characters.  Really good.