the importance of being a rectangle...

In case you're interested, here's a link in the whole APPLE vs. SAMSUNG trail, which is being decided by jurors today:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/31/3207848/apple-vs-samsung-complete-trial-coverage

I love my iPhone...and I know that it's truly important to respect patents and copyright, etc. etc...
But, really--can you REALLY 'patent' or 'trademark' a rectangle-with-a-bottom-center-button?!

I mean, 'SUBWAY' can trademark 'SUBWAY'-sandwiches--but ANYone can make a 'SUBmarine'-sandwich, and no one gets all litiginous: "Hey--you can't make a long sandwich! MY sandwich is already long..."

Of course, sandwiches aren't as high stakes as smartphones...

lunchtime links to a chilling 1909 short story

Most of you know that for my day-job, I am a high school teacher. So, yes, I'm posting during the day, BUT I'm on my lunch break; I'm not stealing time from my employer...(are you?)

Anyway, so I'm reading this column on the NYTimes website, which includes a link to an essay on this science-writing website entitled "The Philosophical Roots of Science Fiction." And then within that fascinating essay is a link to the full text of a chilling short story, "The Machine Stops," written in 1909 by E. M. Forster, chronicler of Edwardian mores...

I'd no idea that he also wrote a bit of spookily prescient speculative-fiction.
(Disclaimer--A Passage to India, A Room with a View, Howard's End, The Longest Journey, and Where Angels Fear to Tread are among my favorite novels/films...)

So--want something to read on your lunch-break? Click on the link and check out "The Machine Stops." Then, later, when you send a text, update your facebook, navigate the blogosphere, check your e-mail, or steal a glance at Twitter, you'll wonder what E. M. Forster and his contemporaries would think of our world just over a century later...

What do we think of it?

This year's origins

Week number two of the school-year begins today. (And the heat continues--yesterday was a record high of 109; today should match it.)

Last year, I had the most-diverse group of students I've ever had. This year's list of countries is a few shorter than last August, but still--it shows how medium-size cities across the western U.S. are no longer defined solely by Anglo/Hispanic/Native American relationships...

So, the list:

U.S.

Mexico

Lebanon

Jordan

Iraq

Somalia

Ethiopia

Nigeria

Liberia

Sierra Leone

Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana

Sudan

Nepal

Vietnam

Marshall Islands

Bosnia

England

...eighteen countries...and then from within the U.S., students are hailing from at least as many states; coming from 'back east' to Tucson can be just as 'culture-shocking' as moving here from abroad...

I don't have any quotable gems from my students yet--too early in the school-year for hum-dingers such as "OMG, turkeys lay eggs?!" or "Hey meester, what do they speak in Spain?"--but surely, they will come...

Oh wait--yeah, the other day, a kid said: "Is 'Mexico City' a country?" Ahh, high school...

end of another summer-break...back from NM, back to work...

My summer break is over. Tomorrow morning, bright and early: day one of the new school-year with my students...

Briefly, a few photos...

I spent a few days in New Mexico last week--my first time to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos...A very full short trip, involving eating copious amounts of red and green chile, trail running along the Rio Grande, and admiring adobe architecture...More later, but tonight, just a few scenes, all iPhone shots; I haven't had time to sort through the photos from the 'real' camera...

 --just over the border from AZ into NW New Mexico--approaching the Zuni Pueblo...

--wildflowers near Enchanted Mesa, near the Acoma Pueblo...

--the iconic adobe church of San Francisco de Asis, in Ranchos de Taos... 

--bridge above the Rio Grande Gorge; 800 ft above the river... 

 --Taos Pueblo and Taos Mountain, under a threatening monsoon sky...

--19th c. French Romanesque Cathedral in Santa Fe; the steeples were never built...

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...and AFAR travel magazine is sponsoring another "Catch" contest;

here's a scene of a meal from last summer, in Sokcho, Korea,

and it just won one of the rounds of the contest--the "Eat" theme!

After this past spring's attempt at Condé Nast's "Dream Trip Contest," I'm trying again for free travel!
(To find out, alas, who won, click here.) So, S. and I can dream of getting to Europe again...to Belgium.


And the one below was a runner-up in the same contest's "Eat" theme--from Santa Fe last week:

I continue to be amazed at the possibility of discreet restaurant-shots with the iPhone...


Now, to bed--tomorrow's a school day: to work!