When I purchased my current laptop in May or June of 2007, I was smitten. It finally had a hard drive that could store all my music, pictures, and files. My previous computer, an iBook with a small hard drive, needed external storage to manage this feat. Because of the convenience, I […]
In the realm of the completely unexpected, my uncle Dan gave to me (and my sister and two teenage cousins) a Flip Mino HD handheld digital video recorder. Basically, it’s the camera for amateur video, designed around the web. It has a solid case, with flash memory recording (no tapes) and a flip-out […]
Tonight, at our local discount cinema, Lauren and I saw the movie 500 Days of Summer. I had high hopes for this movie after reading some positive reviews and hearing good things from friends. The story is relatively simple. Tom, wannabe architect and current worker at a greeting card company in LA, […]
Here’s my idea. Apple can have it free of charge. Indeed, I’m sure I’m not the first person to come up with the idea. Instead of a trackpad on my laptop (or in place of the trackpad on my NEXT laptop), I want an embedded iPod Touch. It can do all […]
Classes ended this semester on a Tuesday. That’s unusual, and it helped create one of the most anticlimactic ending to a school semester ever! There’s something thrilling, for me anyway, in ending the semester with a bevy of final papers and exams. Believe it or not, I like sitting for final exams. […]
You can read the word classless in two ways with Sarah Palin. The best part is that both parts are illustrated through a recent trip she took to beautiful Hawaii. Ostensibly, she was there to relax. But actually, she was probably there to get a look at President Obama’s birth certificate for […]
Email has become the de facto method of communication between my students and me. This semester, I sent out an email to all students in my class at least once a week. Often times, it was just a way for me to help them stay organized. Students also seem to feel reasonably […]
Update (12:19 PM, December 16): It seems that Borders may NOT be planning to release any sort of eBook reader, just an eBook store. This furthers my claim that they are wasting their money!
My hatred of eBooks is well established. For over 2 years now, I have been writing about […]
Why is Google designing a phone? Because why NOT design a phone. They’ve already produced an operating system for mobile devices. They’ve mastered other domains. And they’ve got a phone service with Google Voice. So why shouldn’t they release a phone? If there’s money in it, then they have […]
Once again, I have written a terrible poem to encourage my students to do well on their final exam.
Another Cheesy Poem
By Michael Braun
Written December 13, 2009
Your knowledge and study are keys to success.
I know you can do it, I must confess.
Don’t trust your fears. Watch them fall back.
The road you’re on is the right […]
Today marked the final meeting of my class on deliberative democracy and framing. One of the essential themes of the writing in these areas (especially deliberative democracy) is that the more people can get together and talk about issues, the better decisions they will make. There are other benefits posited as well, mostly […]
Short item: Cheers to Chancellor Martin for canceling classes at the University of Wisconsin - Madison today. Whether this snow storm is truly terrible or not, there is too much at risk in having people on the roads. With so many people needing to travel to campus, shutting down the University keeps […]
In case you hadn’t heard, Tiger Woods got into a little car accident on the day after Thanksgiving. Seems like a normal enough problem that could happen to anyone. Except that it happened at 2 AM, was a one car accident, and happened right outside of his home as he was leaving, not […]
I’ve read several articles discussing how the marketing for the Motorola Droid has a severe masculine bent. With images of space ships, dark colors, and scoffs at suggestions that the Droid’s looks are a weakness, Motorola is pushing marketing to its limits. Their ads project the Droid as powerful and strong, contrasting it […]
When I first joined Facebook, back in fall of 2004, I thought their “groups” feature was neat. Here was a way to create clever organizations that people could join to express themselves. For example, I joined groups related to my college major, favorite daily student newspaper, and hobbies. I also created groups […]