- kudos:

Prensky coined the term “digital native” to talk about people my age, but I have a colleague younger than me who is using the term to refer to our undergraduate students. This sums up so much of why I think this term is useless.

- kudos:

Inspired by a sci-fi book I’m reading, I made an off-handed quip this morning about becoming a disembodied simulation. Kiddo responded that she preferred to have a “huggable, play-withable” daddy.

- kudos:

This is an admittedly fuzzy memory, but I was thinking today about the time some unit at BYU brought in a French thinker to speak on the importance of “the family,” but instead of the conservative religious arguments I was expecting, the guy’s talk had monarchist vibes.

- kudos:

Last day of kiddo’s summer, so no matter how behind I am on course prep, we are unapologetically going to the zoo.

- kudos:

Every semester, I give a guest lecture on internet research methods for an undergrad class in my unit. A few days after scheduling this semester’s lecture, I’ve realized it’s the first time I’m giving it after Musk borked Twitter as a data source.

- kudos:

I get why folks in ed compare ChatGPT to Wikipedia, but there are important differences. Wikipedia is entirely non-profit, lays bare its knowledge generation process, can be fixed on the fly, and can’t actively generate problematic content. It’s not just about reliability.

- kudos:

Does anyone have experience arranging for language lessons for kids? I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m reasonably competent as a French teacher and as a dad, but not the combination of the two.

- kudos:

I don’t like the card game War as a game, but I’m increasingly appreciative of it as a way to spend time with kiddo.

- kudos:

J’aime bien la ville où j’habite, mais c’est fort dommage qu’il n’y ait pas d’Alliance Française ici.

- kudos:

We decided to stuff this weekend full (early anniversary dinner and movie, then visit to friends across the state, then family visit to water park) so naturally kiddo tested positive for COVID-19 tonight.

- kudos:

A few weeks ago, I added a tin of tea that tastes like Andes mints to my growing collection, and it’s taken a lot of self control to drink anything else in the morning.

- kudos:

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been working to digitize journals, letters, and other documents from my past. It’s interesting to see how much of present me is different than past me—but also what’s still the same.

- kudos:

I was exhausted last night when I went to bed, and then I started imagining an argument with someone over research methods where I was pointing out the eugenicist views of early statistical pioneers, and that got me so riled up that I couldn’t fall asleep.

- kudos:

C’était le 1er août (où peut-être le jour d’après) la dernière fois que j’ai quitté la Suisse pour rentrer chez moi. La fête nationale marque donc un rappel d’y retourner un jour.

- kudos:

Lire Guy Delisle en traduction, c’est déjà bon, et je suis content que ses albums sont disponible dans les bibliothèques près de chez moi. Pourtant, je viens de reprende Pyongyang en version francophone, et c’est parfait.

- kudos:

Every interactive object lesson in a purportedly hybrid worship service is a message that in-person attendees are more important than virtual ones.

- kudos:

I don’t want to contribute to the misconception that professors don’t work during the summer (which is hilariously false), but I’m really glad I took advantage of my nine month contract by prioritizing time with kiddo these last few months.

- kudos:

Using Siri Shortcuts and an API, I just made a crude-but-functional Apple Watch implementation for Habitica. Very pleased with myself.

- kudos:

Now that I think of it, that seems to sum up how I increasingly feel about productivity books. I find useful ideas in them, but I also feel like the worldview they promote is broken.

- kudos:

I’m reading a productivity book that has some useful advice in it, but I’m bothered by the running encouragement to find a project I’m willing to get up early or stay up late for. I’ve learned in recent months that getting enough sleep is really important for me—more important than any project.

- kudos:

It’s good to ask whether generative AI is good or bad for students, instructors, or education, but it’s arguably more important for ed. stakeholders to ask who else generative AI is good or bad for. Edtech needs to pay more attention to broader contexts.

- kudos:

Update: I’ve figured out the basics of the Habitica API, and now every feature that isn’t native to the service is a challenge to up my programming/Siri Shortcuts game.

- kudos:

I’ve spent a few days considering switching habit trackers, and now that I think I’ve found one, I’m wondering if I know enough to mess around with the API.

- kudos:

In the spirit of ultra obscure references, I really want to name something “Waughmp Rat,” combining a Homestar Runner onomatopoeia and an unseen Star Wars creature.

- kudos:

I’m not the only instructor out there with an idiosyncratic but very specific mental style guide for LMS content, right? Right?

- kudos:

Quand ma fille demande du pain grillé pour le petit-déjeuner, je pense souvent à une affiche publicitaire Migros des années 2000 où un papa un peu crétin fait des courses en se demandant « Des toasts et quoi encore ? »

- kudos:

In a current side project, I’m using Markdown footnotes for the first time, and I’m really impressed. Writing fully in Markdown is seeming more and more feasible the more I tinker with it.

- kudos:

Slowly realizing that I have no choice but to make generative AI one of the themes of my content management class in the fall.

- kudos:

We’ve had so many severe storms recently that when the weather sirens just went off for their monthly test, I reflexively panicked even though there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

- kudos:

Parfois, quand un.e Dijonnais.e s’en fiche, on peut entendre un bof bourguignon.

- kudos:

When now-spouse met my siblings, we all went to see Spider-Man 3 together in a near-empty theater. My siblings and I mortified her by cracking each other up making fun of the movie (including making Babe jokes when James Cromwell was on screen). Fun memory.

- kudos:

After five years of teaching in an LIS program, I’ve finally had the moment I’ve been dreaming of: Running into a former student during a family trip to a local library.

- kudos:

It just occurred to me that I know the fight song for CGNU (a fictional university from an early 2000s web cartoon) better than the fight song for the university that pays my salary.

- kudos:

After nearly thirteen years of life as a one-car family, we’re buying a second car today. I wish we didn’t have to, but I keep reminding myself this is as much a natural consequence of the systemic failures of American public transit as it is a deliberate family decision.

- kudos:

Today’s the day tenure takes effect; time to change my business cards, email signature, and CV.

- kudos:

I’ve tried to scale back my media consumption recently. My RSS client feels empty, and it’s weird not to check social media as much. Every time I think about stepping it back up, though, it just stresses me out.