damtiela.net

n.  Liberty to teach, pursue, and discuss knowledge without restriction or interference, as by school or public officials.

For the past Semester and a half, I’ve been a student at a community college, not far from home.

This semester, I’ve been taking a History 11 course, dealing with American History up until the Reconstruction Era (which was quite a while ago, if I’m not mistaken).

When a professor rambles on about topic not related to course materials, attacking the United States structure, government.  Claiming that the United States is a predator.  Why does it count as academic freedom?

going back, over and over again, to the claim that the US is only after oil.  That there is no United States.  Only us (public) against THEM (rich people, the Polity of our days).  And THEM are taking our money and drinking it up.  Why does THAT count as academic freedom?

Ending the 15 minute ecstatic speech with the notion that Iraq was first, Iran is next and that the CIA killed JFK, using more and more Marxist terms when reviewing topics, ignoring students moving uncomfortably in their chairs as he goes on and on about racism, religion and OIL.  (Oil comes up a lot).  Academic freedom, again?

Academic freedom is key here.  It does not matter that course materials are mostly untouched, since the instructor keeps losing track of his (terribly planned) presentation, being carried away into long speeches about the topics above.

The most important thing is:

we are committed to academic freedom, but recognize that academic freedom precludes discriminatory conduct from anyone.  The discussion of diverse ideas, which is an integral part of course content is not discrimination.  An essential part of education is to encourage opinion and explore ideas, which may cause some students discomfort. Faculty have the right to teach, students the right to learn

Where does the college stand in regard to Academic Freedom when classes are not taught properly? Or is it not important, what is actually taught in class, as long as the instructor has his damned academic freedom

Class notes are here

Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were returned to Israel on Wednesday morning.  2 years of uncertainty came to an end with the sad truth of their death.  2 years of two families and a whole country worrying, hoping and praying for their safety.  Hizbolla, acting almighty, decided to keep that information to itself, to get a better “deal” for the return of their bodies.  War and conflict are inhuman.

On such an emotional day, I’d rather cry with the Goldwasser and Regev families, and hope for a quick and happier ending in the Gilad Shalit abduction. The young soldier, who is pretty much my age, being held in Gaza for over two years.

A young friend on mine wrote about this Wednesday morning.  I’m still trying to believe that they are gone.  Never gave up the hope of them returning alive.

If only world peace was a reality, and not a beauty queen candidate answer…

Hancock, John Hancock, is a superhero.  Not the nerdy spiderman or superman, but a filthy drunk who scares children, women and dogs.  He’s got an attitude and I like it.

Problem is when he saves a PR specialist, who in return decides to help him change his image in the public eyes.

This is where the movie goes downhill.  From a movie that could have finally given us a fun superhero (and no, hellboy does not count) - it turns into a CHEEEEESY chic-flick.  with happy endings, love, care and that annoying need for the egocentric superhero to do good.  As Adam Sandler says in “little nicki” - Release the GOOD (before or after he covers Henry Winkler with bees…

A fun to view movie, a nice idea and a lousy script.  who comes up with this crap anyway?

John Hancock is the one superhero we all like to see.  A human (sort of) with ups and downs, with temper, ‘tude and that ability to blow up roads, highways and buildings without anything bad happening, except for 500 or more warrants for his arrest, ones that could not be enforced (no one messes with the Zohan, ehmm, Hancock)

So here’s a quick thanks to my buddy Frank who suggested that we watch a movie.  You rock, man (not that he’ll ever see this short, confused post, but still…)

Night y’all.  all y’all one and a half humans who read.

George Carlin passed away on June 22, just 4 days ago, in Santa Monica, right here in California.

I only made the connection between the name and the man today, as I watched his Defrags the 10 Comandments on YouTube.

I first saw George Carlin perform in the Bill&Ted movies, later in Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob strike back.

This post doesn’t seem to flow that well today, too much work on my hands, but I just wanted to mention this talented man, encourage you to view him on YouTube and get a few laughs.  Look for a piece called “Seven Dirty Words“.  It is hilarious, but too inappropriate for me to link directly to.

George Carlin died this week.  So it goes.

Have a funny day, y’all.

There’s something about standing in front of a class, or a group of people, presenting.
I usually freak out before.  Just a little.  or a lot.  And then it happens - the flow.

The flow is this stage when all the pieces are put together.

I was working with a small class yesterday about blogging.  It was more of a technical class, using a specific technology (Angel ePortfolio) that we use at the college.

After the nervousness I was feeling as I was preparing for the class, all it took was for the professor to introduce me to the class - and I went into my instructor mode.  Words, descriptions, anecdotes and ideas flew out, putting the whole process in a logic structure, and there I was.  Giving a presentation, and it wasn’t that bad.

This ability grew into me.  or perhaps I grew into it.  When I first started here, several months ago, I had to meet with a class, give them an introductory to PowerPoint and public speaking.  I froze, sweat, stutter and lost all my words.  Only once I shifted to a more workshop type of approach, things went into place.

Since then I gave approximately 12 workshops and a presentation.

The workshops were work related, but I really wanted to mention the presentation.  It was my final exam for my English 101 course.

My final paper was not completed properly.  Mostly due to a week of illness that caught me off guard, and somewhat due to some other issues.  The final exam was a presentation.  Each student had to stand up and present his/her final paper.  It was to be a 5 minute long presentation.  Covering our topic, the research process, conclusions and a nice “what if…” question, which was more of a “well… you wrote a paper, now what?”.

Final exam day arrived.  I wrote some notes on my pretty Mac, but haven’t had a chance to print them.  One by one students stand up, all holding papers, reading some, explaining some, and I knew that with my bad paper I needed to shine.

My turn is coming up and it clicks.  I leave my laptop behind.  flying solo.  I stand up and present my topic - “US military presence in South Korea”.  My research was based on original agreements and official documentation, avoiding opinionated articles.  US was “abusing” its power, I even compared it to two characters from Titus Andronicus, and I ended my little presentation with a summary.  US was not playing nice, ok.  It happens, but it’s in the past.  The US revised its methods and the agreements, and is doing pretty well.  What next?  well, use that change and study it, applying correct methods to future agreements.  The US already did that with its new agreement with Bulgaria.

As I was speaking, I carried an occasional glance to the board, where my posted notes were projected.  I made eye contact with a few students, related to other presentations and smiled at my professor as I ended my presentation.  It went very well.

So here is my bit of advise on presentations, which may not be all that good, but works for me pretty well:

• Know your material.  improvising is good, I do it often, but it has to have some grip in reality.  so — PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE.
• Be confident.  What’s the worst that can happen?  someone getting bored?
• Make eye contact.  Don’t read off notes or the screen.  Pick a person who smiles encouragingly at you, and talk to them.  look around the room occasionally.  People like attention - give it to them.
• Relate to others. Give examples that most people can relate to.  Don’t be afraid to give an example that shows you in a funny light.  it’s human.  In my powerpoint workshops, when I go over color schemes I often tell the participants that I use the pre-loaded ones, because the guys at Microsoft know how to match colors better than I do, pointing at my not-always-matching-amazingly clothes.  It gets a couple of laughs and it calms everyone down.
• Summarize your whole topic at the end, emphasizing the important points.  That way your message gets across.
• Thank. Thank your audience for their time and patience.
• Smile in relief.

* This document was originally created as a cheat sheet/handout for a PowerPoint Office XP workshop. Some ideas are relevant to all versions.

• When you create a presentation, be sure to use the Task Pane: (View -> Task Pane).
• Create an Outline for your presentation. Think about what you’re trying to communicate and have a strong structure:
  • Opening slide
  • Overview
  • Content
  • Closure
• Choose a template
• From the Task Pane, click the little arrow.
  • Choose Slide Design
  • Pick a template
• Add slides by clicking Ctrl+M
• Add title, text and images for each slide
  • Remember — slides should not be too crowded:
    • 5X5 rule – 5 words a sentence, 5 sentences a slide.
  • Use scanned images or clip art.
• Go over your presentation.Does it support your verbal presentation?
  • Does it keep your original structure?
  • Are the images relevant to the slides?
  • Are the colors clear and easy to read?
• Add Animation to your slides, but remember:
  • The animation is there to help YOU control the rhythm of the presentation. Your content matters, do not let it take over.
  • Less is more. Flashy animation distracts the audience.
• To add animation, choose the Custom Animation menu from the Task Pane arrow. Pick an object and apply an animation for it.
• When you are done, go over the presentation.
  • Rehearse – does it fill your whole presentation time? Is it too long? Too short?
  • Print an outline (File -> Print -> Outline) and keep it to help you track your presentation.
• Print an outline by clicking on File -> Print and choose “Outline View”.
• Print handouts by choosing Handouts. Pick 3 slides per page in order to have notes space next to each slide.

Saturday evening. Last night was crazy. The guys at the office had a big project to do over the weekend, and I joined at some point, ending a long work-day at 4 am. Saturday morning was all about keeping awake and going for conferences with my professor, getting some tips and ideas for my final essay. then to nap for a bit, mini-shopping and out to Pasadena, for a drinking engagement that was scheduled a couple days earlier.

Sitting at 35’s and on to Barney’s Beanery, conversation at the smoking area got to Vegas, and the fact that I’ve never been to it. Stating that I’m planning on driving down there on July, ends with I’s suggestion that we go. or — “July? why wait till July? Let’s go now”.

So we went. Little Mike was a brave little car, driving down all the way, starting at about midnight. It did real well, until I noticed it was running out of gas. 50 miles from Vegas we refueled and Vegas started spreading in front of my eyes. It’s HUGE! not the city itself as much as all the hotels and attractions. It seemed that each hotel had its own roller coaster. And the city is alive. it’s about quarter to four when we arrive and everything is happening around us. Casino’s are full, streets are crowded and I’m falling asleep, being so tired from the long day behind me.

I and I sit at the Paris hotel bar. Dan is our bar-tender and we ask him to determine who had a worse day. Me or I.

At about 7 am it’s time to go to sleep, knowing that there’s a long drive back tomorrow, so we end up going to the Hooters hotel, where I find out there’s a dead roach in my bathroom.

At about 12 o’clock I’m finally ready to go, still half asleep, and we go to eat a burrito. I have this burrito problem, I really like them. So we end up in this small Mexican restaurant, where they still serve breakfast burritos and loads of other dishes whose names I can’t even pronounce.

Heading back out to LA, there’s a sign stating that in about 45 minutes of driving, there’s a Fashion outlet mall. Being the girl I am, we HAVE to stop. I run into the Lucky Brand jeans store, to find out that my jeans size differs according to the cut and model, since I am “between sizes”, which is a nice way of saying I gained weight and can’t fit into my old size anymore.

At approximately 6 PM we’re back in LA.

After dropping off I at his place, I drive home and listen to the remaining of my audiobook, Company, by Maxx Berry. It was a great book to listen to, and after 11 or 12 hours of listening to it, when it finally ends, I feel like my perspective over work and life has changed a bit.

It was a spontaneous short trip that was so awesome that I think I might just do it again. Gotta find a partner for the next one, any volunteers?

There is a man. He does not have red hair, does not wear glasses and has no special features. He never thought of white elephants.The white elephants, on the other hand, thought of him all the time. They thought of him when they woke up in the morning, while they ate, drank, ran, farted and right before they went to sleep.

The white elephants never thought of purple rain. And purple rain does not have consciousness.

I have thought of a good draft beer, about dancing as if I do not own a body, sing as if I could hold a tone and dream as if I did not have to wake up early in the morning.

I never thought of white elephants.
Up until today, when I bumped into one in the parking lot.

The white elephant walked over, real polite and shy, asking whether I had a spare minute.
Being shocked that I’m actually seeing a white elephant – I shook my head, agreeing.

That’s when I heard about the man who did not think of white elephants.  Since they haven’t crossed my mind before Jimmy (that’s how the white elephant introduce himself) walked up to me five minutes earlier, I tried to defend the man by saying that no one thinks of white elephants. They just don’t mean anything, they’re not important.

Jimmy looked at me, disappointed, and then walked away, slowly.

As his humongous figure drifted farther, I finally came to a realization that something pretty strange has just occurred. I did not think of white elephants.

Sure, I was playing the whole conversation with Jimmy in my mind, but Jimmy’s kind was not mentioned there.

There were two men who did not think of white elephants.

The next morning Jimmy in the parking lot again, only this time he wasn’t alone. He had two friends with him, and one of them was sitting on what used to be my car, right before it lost its shape under a few tons of a white elephant.

What the hell do you think you’re doing? I yelled at Jimmy, who looked at me, quite peaceful, asking quietly – are you thinking of white elephants now?

OF COURSE NOT! I’m thinking of my car!

Jimmy looked at me and I could tell he was not pleased. He gave me a nasty look, called his friends, and walked away.

A woman was walking towards her car when she saw what was left of my car. –What happened here? She asked.  I told her that a white elephant sat on my car, because I told him I never thought of white elephants. –well, I never think of white elephants either, she said.

Two men and a woman did not think of white elephants.

The next day, at the same parking lot, another woman walked by the car and asked what has happened to it. After explaining the situation to her, she also declared she never thinks of white elephants.

The man and the two women met in the parking lot the following day, telling the whole long story to everyone who walked by. By the end of the day there were 20 men and 16 women who did not think of white elephants. A week later there were over 700 people who did not think of white elephants.
Exactly on the one year anniversary to the car wreckage incident the entire population of planet earth did not think of white elephants.

Seeing that his plan to get one man to think of white elephants had the opposite influence, Jimmy decided he will make amendments.  Alas, since Jimmy was a white elephant, and as we said – white elephants do not think of purple rain, Jimmy could not make things right.  You see, when people think of purple rain, white elephants come to mind, because EVERYONE knows that white elephants do not think of purple rain