Sticky post
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 5:29:25 AM
life, personal, blog
In fact, I have developed a taste for blogging. Maybe it's a simptom of terminal boredom, but here I am. And I am also over at
"Blogger." The other blog, parts of which I import here, is called
"Cocoon", and the URL is:
http://ozcocoon.blogspot.comCheck it out. I hope you enjoy it.
Sticky post
Thursday, December 1, 2005 5:47:37 AM
I was once a reader – books, fiction, non-fiction, magazines, newspapers, whatever. Now books just gather dust. My own 17 year old son was an avid reader and writer – quite a good one I might add – but now writing is a bit of a chore. I have my own company and do a good deal of writing, after all it is my job, it’s what I do. But the first chance I get where do I go? Not to a book or a pencil and paper but to the keyboard and monitor. I teach a college class. My students are bright but with few exceptions, no – without exception – they hate to write. They want multiple choice questions. I want them to think, to come up with their own answers - to be inventive, resourceful. I am having a little bit of success in getting them to think and feed me their own answers and not my own.
What has brought about this sea change in our lives? I am convinced it can be traced quite cleanly to the mushrooming accessibility of not computers per se, but of the internet. How did I get my college class to share ideas? We went to IM and opened up a chat room. After a two hour session I was exhausted and they were still going at it. Yes, it was a success, but at what price?
More another time.
Sticky post
Friday, November 25, 2005 11:06:07 PM
general, media, personal, news
...
Before I start jotting down my rambling thoughts I think it's a good idea to find out who is reading this. Anybody? I talk to myself enough as it is, so I don't need the encouragement.
Since you happened to come across this, take a second to let me know.
Thank you,
Oz 
Monday, September 11, 2006 4:58:29 AM
I just got notice I have the honor of being today's
Blog of the Day
. Easier to get than an Emmy, and with fewer people watching. Thank you. I only wish I had a photo to go with
gratitude
. Just click on the title to go to that site.
Monday, September 11, 2006 4:50:53 AM
This is the view looking south from my office. New York is famous for the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Wall Street. But there is a silent, unassuming symbol that, to me, represents this city more than any other. While other cities have tall buildings, statues, and famous streets, only New York has my loved wooden water tanks. It is possible here because ingenious civil engineers of the late 19th century built an aqueduct that works almost entirely on gravity. The city's water supply comes downhill for hundreds of miles and reaches, unaided, to the sixth floor of any building in Manhattan Island (water seeking its own level), after the sixth floor a little help is needed. That is where the tanks come in – it is much easier to slowly pump a little water up a small pipe and store it on the roof, than to pump water for the entire building. When the water is pumped up to the roof it stays there, stored in these hushed water tanks until gravity takes over again and down comes the water. If you look to the left of the picture you’ll see a building with a triangular top. It was behind that building that until a Tuesday in September five years ago two tall towers stood. It was on a Tuesday, and no matter what anyone says, this city has never been the same. I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet even those towers had water tanks hidden on the roof.
Photo taken July 7, 2006;
Friday, September 1, 2006 6:58:14 PM
Perhaps it is true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but our 12 year old dog - Apples - "learned" on her own how to open our refrigerator and eat all the cheese, meat, yogurt, apple sauce, and anything she could smash or tear open. She never touched the salad. She learned this trick while we were all out of the house for the evening. The first few times this happened we unfairly attributed it to our typically distracted teenage son leaving the fridge open. It took a while for the reality to sink in – Apples had learned how to open the refrigerator. In time we found a way of locking it, but not before she ate us out of several meals.
March 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006 2:50:47 AM
What else can I say? One second he was there, beautifully framed, and then he wasn't.
Sunday, August 27, 2006 4:37:05 PM
End of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The noise - visual, auditory, sensory, from all directions and origins - is so intense, our inner voice is drowing in a sea of distractions.
Times Square, New York
July 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 5:12:16 AM
The beginning of the "August" chapter from "The Twelve Seasons" (1949) by Joseph Wood Krutch.
New York State
August 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006 6:47:14 AM
An old house with dreams of grandeur, or maybe just pondering memories of times past.
Charlotteville, New York
August, 2006
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My Opera
This is the view looking south from my office. New York is famous for the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Wall Street. But there is a silent, unassuming symbol that, to me, represents this city more than any other. While other cities have tall buildings, statues, and famous streets, only New York has my loved wooden water tanks. It is possible here because ingenious civil engineers of the late 19th century built an aqueduct that works almost entirely on gravity. The city's water supply comes downhill for hundreds of miles and reaches, unaided, to the sixth floor of any building in Manhattan Island (water seeking its own level), after the sixth floor a little help is needed. That is where the tanks come in – it is much easier to slowly pump a little water up a small pipe and store it on the roof, than to pump water for the entire building. When the water is pumped up to the roof it stays there, stored in these hushed water tanks until gravity takes over again and down comes the water. If you look to the left of the picture you’ll see a building with a triangular top. It was behind that building that until a Tuesday in September five years ago two tall towers stood. It was on a Tuesday, and no matter what anyone says, this city has never been the same. I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet even those towers had water tanks hidden on the roof.
