Palanhniuk has an unique ability to dreg up the darkest of the dark and the most disturbing of the disturbing. I wonder what he's like in real person. In my mind, I picture him with a scruffy beard, a hat with ear flaps, blackheads the size of ticks on his nose and glasses so smugged that windex would downright refuse. He would be sitting in a smokey bar, next to an ashtray overflowing with butts in an army jacket and orange hunting overalls which are brown with mud and possibly blood. His boots however would be impeccably maintained. The taint of his leather shoe polish would waif like a warm summer levanter. The shiny sheen of his his cochroach laquered boots would tap left and right, looking for a rabid carcass- a hexed wanderer brimming over with tales, to first befriend and then deconstruct. Dan Dawn wrote: Palahniuk is one of my favorite writers. I have an autographed copy of Lullaby on my bookshelf right now, and I have - or have read - some of his other stuff (besid...

ARRRGGHHH! I can't hear what people are saying when i try to record my podcast through Skype and Garageband!!!!

You work with someone from Weirton West Virginia? That's so strange, huh, did we fix his/her house? I am currently sitting in my office and freezing to death because my school tends to leave the heat off until the frost tends to build up on the lenses of our glasses and our every breath blinds the computer screen with a sheen of foggy exhale. I only have a half hour to go, so I'm going to drink cup after cup of hot coffee to keep my core temperature up. So you're moving to DC? That's great. I always loved going to see the cherry blossums in the spring. I would go there with my parents, but being young I don't think I ever appreciated it enough for them. It sounds like you are doing well. Working for the Navy sounds like fun, so do you get special perks like 50% off on anchor tattoos or marina rides? Oh, do you have a little sailor outfit! Sorry, I think working around elementary students is reducing my mentality to their level. My last class and I had an insult con...

I'm going to bring Henry and I to the world stage, so I'm trying to figure out how to get this thing to work. I can record Skype now, but I have to get rid of the latency. This is off of www.360east.com Yeah this is a problem of so-called latency. To reduce the echo problem (you will not get rid of it completely) go to GarageBand preference and under Audio/Midi, select ‘Minimum delay when playing instruments live (small buffer size)’. I used Audio Hijack Pro to record a Skype call and there is a degree of latency too (depending on how many filters are used to process the audio). In my case, I am using an external audio interface (M-Audio MobilePre). This has a headphone jack that reproduces the input into my professional mic without latency). The problem of course is that when recording skype, I also need to her the other person. If I set the computer’s audio output to the external interface and have the recording monitoring on, then I will hear myself twice too (the...

I’ve been going audio-crazy over the past few day. Will write more about that later.. Ok.. In the spirit of sharing solutions with other Mac users out there, here is how I managed to record a Skype call on GarageBand using the apps LineIn and Soundflower: I just kept messing around with the settings and then it worked perfectly using the settings below. GarageBand: Audio output: Built in Audio Audio Input: Soundflower (2ch) Skype: Audio output: Soundflower (2ch) Audio input: Soundflower (2ch) System Preferences/Sound: Output: Built-in Audio Input: Audio line in (I am using a Mic) LineIn Application: Input from: Built-in Audio: Line In (ie the Mic) Output to SoundFlower (2ch) Dont forget to click the ‘Pass Thru’ Button in LineIn. I was amazed that it worked! Thank you www.360east.com/?p=133

From Michelle, this is a really fun game.  Check it out! I've really gotten into these "escape the room " types of games and they're great for making the kids practice giving directions like, "lift the pillow," "look inside the drawer," "put the key in the box," etc. Teach them the key phrases and objects in the room before they play the game, and leave the sentences on the board. Before you know it, they will ALL be giving you directions and using a lot of english. http://www.fasco-csc.com/works/ crimson /crimson_e.php Um, play the game yourself first or you will find yourself stumped and unable to give hints in front of panting children. And if you're a real dope, here's the walkthrough: " http://www-jcsu.jesus.cam.ac.uk/~rah56/walkthrough.html " jkjk Michelle

More strange things in the Land of the Not Quite Right julian wrote: Today i saw the strangest thing. There is a woman who sells milk/soymilk/coffe/ et al in the mornings on the street. She has a little cart thing, and a stool, and sits there.    I'm walking up to her to buy a little carton of milk as I often do, when 6 guys in black jumpsuits jump out of a van, hold up and take pictures of a whiteboard with the date and some information I didn't understand on it (and her in the background), grab the pieces of her cart and all the stuff she was selling, and put it in the back of the van. I was so shocked, and a lot of the people around were just kind of watching with moderate surprise, but not like me. She was begging them not to take any more of her stuff, and I saw she did make off with one of her trays and some cash. They didn't pursue her anymore or try to take anything from her. I don't need to emphasize that the woman di...

And all my dirty laundry is coming out with me. My next lesson will be directions. I need to make it easier for the 3/4 graders. I might make a story, or I'll see if I can find a story about directions. 5/6 I'll make it a bit harder. I have a map from Explorer English I could use, or turn the classroom into a small town and play a blindfold game. Dan 

iPod vending machine. Cool huh? Dan 

I would like to try stories in my third grade classes. The animated stories from Canadakids.com were too difficult. I'm going to try Peter Rabbit today. www.wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm  

So I was walking to school and there on the park bench was a pair of womens stockings sitting on the bench. I don't know what the deal is. I could imagine all sorts of nasty thoughts about a randy ajumna getting it on with a high schooler after a night of soju, but I forget. This is Korea. She probably just needed to air out her panties :) Check out my planet! http://planet.angelfire.com/indie/ipoddan  

I've been using stories in my third grade and 4th grade classes.  I've been using flash animation stories.  I used the ones that Christian showed us a while back and I found a lot of great ones on this site.  http://www.childrencanada.com/directory/index.php?cat=50 just click on the right. Oh, and just for fun everyone should check out my planet :) http://planet.angelfire.com/indie/ipoddan    Lycos planet is so much cooler than Friendster and all the other sites.  It's like Cyworld for Americans :) Dan -- Daniel Lee Gray Yeoksam, Seoul, South Korea MSN dnlgray e-mail: dnlgray@gmail.com homepage: www.homepage.mac.com/happylunatic Read my blogs at www.happylunatic.blogspot.com Sometimes you've just gotta put it all on the line and go for broke in this poker game we call life.