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Nablopomo for January: Energy Week 1
Jan. 6th, 2013 03:09 pm
Good news for food and energy in the Fiscal Bluff deal
Nablopomo for January: Energy
Jan. 6th, 2013 03:00 pmHappy New Year! What's the theme for the first month of 2013?
Based on the description above and the prompts, the theme refers more to motivation and inspiration than it does to energy as I use the term on this blog. Take today's prompt, for example. "From where do you draw your energy?" When it comes to motivation and inspiration, it's my love of knowledge and teaching that knowledge so that people can improve their lives, along with my intense desire to perform and be appreciated. But that's not how I'm going to treat this theme. Instead, I'll take the part about "how well we'd do with an extended power outage" and run with it.ENERGY
It's the first month of a new year, and it's time to get energized. This month, we'd like you to think of ways that you're going to gather energy to use throughout the year as well as stave off any energy drains by realizing what is taking away from your productivity. Of course, we'll also be doing a lot of daydreaming about superhuman powers -- for instance, the ability to never sleep... would you take it if it also meant the chance removed to ever dream? -- and how well we'd do with an extended power outage.
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So start thinking about how to best utilize your energy and ways you can change the world in 2013.
When I blog about energy this month, I'll write about how many calories of food I metabolize, how many BTUs of natural gas is burned on my behalf to heat my house, heat the water I use, and cook my food, how many gallons of gasoline and diesel move me and all the things I need to where I need them, and how much dirty coal and Uranium-235 it takes to keep the lights on, refrigerate my food and drink, and run all the electronics. On top of that, where does all of this come from, how much does it cost, including all the hidden environmental and human costs, and what happens to all the waste that is produced. Finally, is there a better way and, if so, how can we get there?
Of course, I'm subverting the monthly theme to mean what I want it to mean, and what I do here anyway, except in a more intense form than usual. But that's OK. As the theme description always says:
The theme and writing prompts, as always, are there as a guide if you want some structure to your month, though you can always sign up for NaBloPoMo and chart your own path.Fair enough, although I had enough fun subverting today's prompt that I might just do it again.
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NaBloPoMo is what you make of it. At its core, all you need to do is post daily on your blog. The point of NaBloPoMo is not to be restricted by the theme, but instead to either take it or leave it. If you'll do better blogging every day based on what's happening in your world, throw aside the daily prompts.
Crossposted from Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Nablopomo for October: Mask final week
Oct. 31st, 2012 11:38 pmThe end of the series.
Next up, Nablopomo for November: Blogging for blogging's sake!
- Hurricane Sandy, the Frankenstorm
- The state of the presidential contest 10/28/12
- Examiner.com article on AnnArbor.com endorsements
- The Frankenstorm and the election
- Happy Halloween from Crazy Eddie the Motie!
- Not the way I wanted the state marching band championship to make the news
Next up, Nablopomo for November: Blogging for blogging's sake!
Nablopomo for October: Mask Week 4
Oct. 28th, 2012 08:08 amResuming the series.
As you can see, I've been busy, and I've already posted the first entry for the final week.
- Health and education news about Latinos from campuses on the campaign trail
- The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 7 of several
- Free and Equal Debate tonight
- Examiner.com article about Free Press referendum endorsements
- Examiner.com article on renewable energy events at U of M
- Food Day News from Overnight News Digest on Daily Kos
- Johnson and Stein in final third party presidential debate on Russia Today
- WXYZ weather reporters forecast this winter's snow
- Examiner.com article about campaign signs in bars
- More late space and astronomy news
As you can see, I've been busy, and I've already posted the first entry for the final week.
Nablopomo for September: Eye
Oct. 24th, 2012 08:49 amBetter late than never.
Time for this month's theme.
Originally posted at Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Time for this month's theme.
I'm a visual person, and this blog is full of myself and my point of view, so I don't have to do much of anything different to accomodate this theme. All I have to do is be sure to include a image or video in each posts, something I almost always do anyway. In fact, since the Nablopomo badge for September is part of this entry, I've taken care of my self-imposed requirement already. Lucky me.EYE
Eyes are said to be the windows to the soul, and what else are you doing on your blog except baring your soul by writing about your hopes and interests day after day? This month, we're going to explore what we see... and what we don't... with our eyes. We're going to think about how we build memories, and which senses we use to access them later. And in delving into our Wordsworthian "inward eye," we're going to explore how you see the world around you.
This is NaBloPoMo and we love to play with words, so as much as we're going to be examining that body part, we're also going to think about how often you use the word "I" when you write and focus on your unique point-of-view.
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So start thinking about what you're seeing around you and whether you have your eyes wide open.
Originally posted at Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Nablopomo for August:: Sweet final week
Oct. 23rd, 2012 09:02 am
- R.I.P. Neil Armstrong and other space and astronomy news
- Examiner.com article on Coffee Party history
- Science crime scenes 7: Crimes ancient, modern, and weird
- Climate news from archeology and history for July and August 2012
- The Way of the (Political) K00K
- Old man yelling at chair accidentally reveals a deeper truth
That's it for August. Now on to September,
Picking up from where I left off in August.
One more week of August and all of September still to go.
- Friday at the 2012 Dream Cruise
- The Cruise in Shoes: Saturday at the 2012 Dream Cruise, Part 1
- Tom Tomorrow on Ryan and Rand plus bonus anagram
- The Dream Cruise attracts visitors: Saturday at the 2012 Dream Cruise, Part 2
- Economix blog forgets energy prices plus gas roller coaster update
- Curiosity's first driving destination and other space and astronomy news
- Science crime scenes 6: Accidental and intentional responses to GOP war on science
One more week of August and all of September still to go.
Nablopomo for October: Mask Week 3
Oct. 20th, 2012 07:07 amContinuing the series. With this post, I'm all caught up for October so far. Of course, I still have September and half of August to post, too, along with an explanation of why I didnt post much then. Looks like I'll be busy.
- First anniversary of Occupy Detroit
- Examiner.com article on Free Press endorsements
- ABC News panel on presidential debates
- Rock the Vote in Madison, Wisconsin, today
- Last week's space and astronomy news a week late
- Last U.S. Senate debate in Virginia tonight plus state of the race
- The importance of the Latino vote from Purdue University and Nate Silver
- Next Media Animation on Detroit Tigers in the World Series
- Yelling "WHEE!" as the gas price rollercoaster descends
Tags:
Nablopomo for October: Mask Week 2
Oct. 19th, 2012 09:02 amContinuing with the series I started yesterday, here are the links to the entries I posted the week of Wester.
- Debate creates a buying opportunity for Obama's stock
- The gas price rollercoaster jumped the tracks in South Haven
- Why the well-off turn out to vote and what happens when they do
- The state of the presidential contest on 10/10/12
- Election news from campuses on the campaign trail
- Nate Silver and others on the VP debate
- WXYZ thinks Michigan is being left out, then Ryan and Ann Romney visit
- Democrats are paying attention to Michigan, too, plus follow-up on the VP debate
Nablopomo for October: Mask
Oct. 17th, 2012 09:06 amSo, what's the theme this month?
At first I looked at the theme and thought it would be another one I'd pay lip service to, but then I read the prompts and changed my mind. Here's today's: "When you saw the word mask, was your first interpretation protection, covering up, persona, or performance?"MASK
Whether it's as common as make-up or feigning happiness, every person spends time wearing a figurative mask, concealing features, thoughts, or feelings. This month we're taking off our masks and laying bare the truth beneath: how we feel about growing older (and whether you'd ever cover up the effects of aging with plastic surgery), how much of ourselves we reveal online, and why we chose the picture in our profile.
Of course, it's also Halloween, which means that we have to talk costumes and candy.
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So start thinking about what you're hiding, and what you're ready to reveal by taking off your mask.
Without the prompt, I might have responded with "persona," but with the prompt, my answer is "performance." I've been online since January 1990, and very early on I realized that I was performing for an audience.* I'm still performing here. My strategy with this blog, just as with all the rest of my public online communication, is to inform or persuade while entertaining, even if I'm only entertaining myself. As I've discovered when I'm teaching, if I'm bored, my students are bored. If they're bored, no one is learning. I try to keep that in mind while I'm writing here, too. May I succeed more than I fail.
*I shouldn't be surprised at this. I spent years around drum corps, where performance is king, and I can't even get away from the activity here.
Above orginally posted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Because of a change in my online habits resulting from a double health crisis,* I haven't been posting my weekly summaries here for about two months. Time to get back on track.
*I'll get around to writing about it in a friends-only entry later. Those of you who are my friends on Facebook will have read about at least half of it already and some of you will have had to opportunity to read about all of it.
Here's the blurb I left at Kunstler's blog at the beginning of this week.
While Jim never did get around to discussing the Olympics, I finally did, as well as updates on gas prices, Americans driving less, Michigan's election on Tuesday, sustainability videos, and the Green Cruise, the Sierra Club's answer to the Dream Cruise, Detroit's celebration of "Happy Motoring." With that, I bid you "Happy Motoring--for now-from Detroit!"I went into even greater detail about Dream Cruise during the week.
Americans not getting enough exercise while watching Olympics
The future of the Olympics
Green Cruise 2012
Dream Cruise Week of 2012 kicks off
Lessons in the psychology of sustainbility from MSU
Wednesday at the 2012 Dream Cruise
Thursday at the 2012 Dream Cruise
Time for a Paul Ryan label
On August 7th, I voted for myself
Last week's summary here (LJ Mirror).
Nablopomo for August: Sweet Week 2
Aug. 17th, 2012 01:57 am
- Projection is the Right's favorite defense mechanism
- Examiner.com article on Curiosity's landing
- Driving update for August 2012 with bonus gas price rollercoaster
- Examiner.com article on U.S. House primaries
- Giant African Snails invading Latin America
- Science crime scenes 5: Tourism, prevention, restitution, and recovery
- Student sustainability video festival 5: previous years' winners
- FBI declares ICP and Juggalos a gang; ICP sues
Last week's summary: Nablopomo for August: Sweet Week 1 (LJ mirror).
Nablopomo for August: Sweet Week 1
Aug. 5th, 2012 02:47 am
What's this month's theme?
More at Nablopomo for August: Sweet on Crazy Eddie's Motie News, including some fanart of manatees as superheroes.SWEET
That perfect bite of watermelon, that time when a reader left the perfect comment, a picture that a child drew for you: NaBloPoMo is celebrating the sweet things in life this month. In fact, NaBloPoMo is kicking off during a very sweet time of year: the annual BlogHer conference where 4500 people are coming together to meet up with friends and talk blogging. This is the perfect time to jump into daily blogging when the creative juices are running high.
Of course, we're going to have to talk about what qualities make a person be described as "sweet" as well as our favourite candies, the best dessert you ever had, and who is really made of sugar, spice and everything nice.
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So start thinking about all of your favourite sweet things.
The rest of the week's posts:
Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 5
Aug. 2nd, 2012 09:08 pm
- Narb asked for more posts about Jell-O
- Science Crime Scenes 4: Plagiarism, mysteries, and the usual looting and vandalism
- Last week's weather news from Nebris
- Ted Cruz, Agenda 21 conspiracy theorist, leading in Texas polls
And that's it for July's blogging. I've already started Nablopomo for August: Sweet.
Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 4
Jul. 30th, 2012 08:56 am
Follow up to Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 3.
Here's the blurb I wrote to promote my blog in the comments to James Howard Kunstler's site. This week's entry isn't up yet, so my flist here at Dreamwidth and LJ get to read it first.
As for the future of the Olympics, I'm sure they'll last until at least 2020 and maybe decades longer. After all, it took the Roman Emperor Theodosius banning the games to stop the original after more than 1000 years, and world wars to interrupt the modern version. They'll definitely have more longevity than the activity I described in last week's "Christmas in July," the videos for which have already been taken down from YouTube for copyright violation. I knew that would happen; I just didn't think it would occur that soon. After all, people in the First World, particularly Americans, are quite clear about their screwed up priorities. They want their entertainment to continue. Bread and circuses, everyone!Now, the links to the posts.
Over at Crazy Eddie's Motie News, I haven't blogged about the Olympics yet, although I have a post or two about the science of the games planned. Instead, I have a retrospective of one of my posts from last year that I did compose with the readers of this blog in mind, about how a group of artists and designers completely avoided the real problems of surburbia. Their solutions were quite impractical, but they did become an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art that is showing for another three weeks. By their standards, that would count as a success. I also posted some videos about sustainable agriculture I showed to my students, including one about the MetroFoodPlus project Michigan State University is planning in Detroit. I also continued my series about science crime scenes, space news, endorsements for the upcoming Michigan primary, and climate news. Finally, I razzed the best man from my first wedding, who trolled my blog asking for Jell-O recipes. I found a good one for him.
- The fear premium pushes the gas price rollercoaster uphill
- Christmas in July
- Climate and heat wave news from Texas A&M
- Videos: Urban agriculture in Detroit and sustainable parasite control
- Science crime scenes 3: Restitution and crime prevention
- Examiner.com on Between The Lines' endorsements
- The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 6 of several
- Two space anniversaries plus more space and astronomy news
The top post of the bunch was Christmas in July. Too bad the videos for it have been taken down.
Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 3
Jul. 22nd, 2012 05:01 pm
Follow up to Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 2.
- Science Crime Scenes 2: Timbuktu
- Field trip highlights
- Heat wave and climate change news for the week of Bastille Day
- Water now an issue in record heat
- Examiner.com article on Detroit Free Press endorsements
- Examiner.com article on Michigan Chamber of Commerce endorsements
- Sierra Club, LCV, Clean Water Action, and Environment America endorse Obama
- Examiner.com article on Sierra Club endorsements
- Space and astronomy news: Discovery of Pluto's fifth moon
Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 2
Jul. 15th, 2012 04:48 pm
Follow-up to Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 1.
- A Michigan angle to the Higgs boson discovery plus bonus coverage
- Heat wave and other weather and climate stories from Discovery News
- The gas price rollercoaster ride continues in July
- Space and astronomy news for the week of July 4th
- Science crime scenes 1
- Friday the 13th: Revenge of the back catalog
- A-10s on parade
- Happy Bastille Day!
Nablopomo for July: Kids Week 1
Jul. 8th, 2012 10:38 am
- Nablopomo for July: Kids
- Happy Canada Day!
- Reaction to the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act
- The gas price rollercoaster kept going down in June
- Happy July 4th from Crazy Eddie's Motie News!
- Space and astronomy news: Shenzhou 9 returns plus video extravaganza
- Kids: Best Prank
- Today's forecast from WOOD-TV and Marylin Monroe
Nablopomo for June: Jump Week 4 and final
Jun. 30th, 2012 06:19 pm
- Gas price rollercoaster returns to this month's low
- Video updates from WXYZ and WOOD on "Vagina" and bridge
- Space and astronomy news: Voyager, China, ice on the Moon, Mars landing, and more
- Health care policy news from campuses on the campaign trail
- Possibly (not) the last Detroit Fireworks Show
- Examiner.com article on U.S. Taxpayers Party
- Tom Tomorrow and The Political Minute on Lisa Brown
- Heat advisory in Metro Detroit and most of center of U.S.
- Examiner.com article on heat advisory and air quality alert
- Republican war on higer education and social science
- Examiner.com article on Detroit Regional Chamber endorsements
Nablopomo for June: Jump Week 3
Jun. 22nd, 2012 07:41 am
- Total Recall of Troy Mayor: A serious to silly update
- New Detroit-Windsor Bridge: Up with Snyder and down with Maroun
- 'Vagina' goes viral
- Happy Father's Day!
- Fantasy and reality about immigrants
- Space and astronomy news: First female taikonaut
- What will nine billion people eat for protein?
- Happy Solstice from Detroit!
