Red Space Rocket

Newspapers by Meriluoto

You never know what interesting bits and pieces you’ll find in the newspapers especially the weekend ones for good long articles.

However they can be a bit frustrating for finding information on a specific topic unless you it happenes to be news right now.

This is where something like ProQuest comes in handy. If you have a library card from a local library chances are excellent that you can just put in the number from your card and use this. It let’s you search hundreds of newspapers years back and it’s dead handy.

For example I just typed in “weblog” and got 408 articles about them to choose from. This strikes me as a very handy tool.

Roald Dahl Museum by Paul Wilcock

I know when I was much young my mother insisted that we read Roald Dahl and enjoy it. At the time I didn’t really appreciate it but now I am much more into the weirdness and poetry of it.

I notice there is a quick doco on him this week which is probably worth a look. I saw a longer one on a DVD, perhaps the recent Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and it was really good.

BOOK BOX: WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT…ROALD DAHL? – HEROES AND MONSTERS

This fascinating documentary analysis of Dahl’s life and work shows how he drew upon his experience and vivid imagination to create stories: Today Heroes and Monsters – Dahl’s characters.

Monday 30 October 2006 10.15am, rpt Mon 20 Nov
ABC Rating: (G, Rpt)
Duration: 15 mins

I have been thinking about how to use comic strips to tell simple stories or explain ideas. I can’t draw to save my life so I have been looking at online tools that do this sort of thing.

Here are a couple I have found. If anyone knows of other good ones I’d love to hear about them.

Strip Creator
Comic Creator
Garfield Comic Creator
Witty Comics

Mars Bar by David Cowie

There’s a plan to limit students comsumption of junk food, such as chocolate, and for some things this means only being able to buy them from the school canteen once a month.

The main motivation is to reduce kids being overweight rather than to spoil fun but chocolate and choice can be emotive issues.

If you’re a student reading this I’df be interested to know what you think of the plan? Will it drive you to the black market for a Mars Bar or just help you cut down on the junk food? Feel free to leave a comment.

Modern Library: 100 Best Novels by sassenach

I thought this piece in Slate Magazine, called The Novel In The Age of the Internet, was quite interesting.

It talks about having connections all over the world and the lack of a consistent story and the lack of clear endings. It has certainly set me thinking.

leaving by jojosephina

The national workforce has changed radically in the past 20 years, with many unskilled and semi-skilled jobs disappearing, and young people are the worst-affected group…Full-time work for teenagers has become more difficult to find, and while casual and part-time opportunities have increased, these are poorly paid, mostly short-term, and lacking in development or long-term prospects.

I saw this interesting article this morning about young people who leave school and how they manage.

Conventional wisdom and things professionals say lead me to believe it’s worth your while to stay at school but I found it interesting to read this both because of the personal stories and the statistics and information.