The Learning Brain

"If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things."

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:13:28 -0400

“If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things.”

- Haruki Murakami - 1Q84

Flip Mino HD Cameras (4gb/8gb) for sale

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:52:19 -0400

I have some Flip Video Cameras available for sale. Each connects to a computer via a built-in usb adapter to charge/upload video.

I have 3 still available, that I bought over time to have a classroom collection.
the price in bold is the price I’m selling them for.

2 (8gb/2 hr of Video) Flip MinoHD: (my price= $100 each) (originally $230 each)
1 (4 gb/1hr of Video) Flip MinoHD: (my price=$50 each) (originally $115 each)

Message me if you want one or email: sheamusburns@gmail.com. Already shipped out 2 today and sold 3 to some teacher colleagues. If I have to ship it it will probably be about 6 bucks more inside the US.
I can do payments over paypal, but that will be a few extra bucks because of their fees (how else are we gonna make paypal rich!)

Inspirational Book of the Day! I just finished You Can’t...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:55:00 -0400

Inspirational Book of the Day!

I just finished You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train by Howard Zinn, American intellectual, activist & historian. If you want to get inspired about social justice, pick up a copy and dive in. It’s one of those books that reminds us to critically examine the systems we find ourselves in, to imagine where we’re headed, and to dream about ways we might change course.

gjmueller: Digital Trends Shifting the Role of Teachers “I’m...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:49:00 -0400

gjmueller:

Digital Trends Shifting the Role of Teachers

“I’m no longer giving 40-minute lectures four times a day and wondering which class got the raw deal, or collecting and grading exams only to discover too late that they weren’t getting it,” said Mr. Merkert, who rotates among small groups of students, each with a laptop wide open.

As increasing numbers of school districts go digital, many teachers are witnessing a simultaneous change in their roles. To be sure, some see it as simply traditional teaching in disguise, but others describe a seismic shift—from being the lone purveyor of information to assuming a new role of facilitator, coach, and guide.

image via flickr:CC | SMI Eye Tracking

As someone who would really like to embrace ways to move my practice toward a digital pedagogy, I feel completely frustrated in a school that wants to embrace technology but really doesn’t have the imagination to do so. It’s one of the reasons I’m self-imposing a sabbatical — to step away and and look at what’s happening at my school from a broader perspective and consider whether their vision of the future really matches where I see things going.

You picked little ol’ me? I don’t know what to...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:26:00 -0400

You picked little ol’ me?

I don’t know what to say!

Regards,

Just thought I'd let you know that you have gained a follower in light of your LGBT posts. I appreciate an open dialogue that is built on questions and reflection rather than binary answers. As an openly lesbian teacher in a small rural school, I empathize entirely.

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:26:00 -0400

Thanks. I appreciate it and would love to hear more about your experience being lesbian and teaching where you do!

Would you mind sending me a link to the Independent program video, I'm trying to get as much information the subject as possible and I can't find the video.

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:25:56 -0400

http://sheamusburns.com/post/44871694243/the-independent-project-two-people-have-sent-me

If you’ve never tried Yasiv.com to discover new books...

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:24:00 -0400

If you’ve never tried Yasiv.com to discover new books based on ones you like, you should.

fuckyeahanarchistbanners: We Won’t Fight Another Rich Man’s...

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:00:20 -0400

fuckyeahanarchistbanners:

We Won’t Fight Another Rich Man’s War !!!

The implication may not be fair to everyone, true. But when I...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:22:00 -0400

The implication may not be fair to everyone, true.

But when I do imply, my intention is to engage and provoke: to wonder idly & publicly I suppose, while implying something that may or may not be true about the intentions of those individuals. All the while peppering my implication with a certain cynicism.

Like most wonderers, I’m only human, and having accumulated a lifetime of memories doused in emotion, I can never fully prevent my own bias from mixing in the cauldron of reason.

And as a gay person, I can’t help but wonder, having had my struggle repressed, ignored and and brushed aside by those whose straight privilege affords them the opportunity to do just that: repress, ignore, and brush aside the experiences of LGBT people — I am never free from wondering how those same dynamics might be playing out on the interwebs. Until the day arrives when I am free from wondering that, I know that straight privilege still wins the day.

So while I understand your point about correlation and causation, I’m not looking for an objective truth here, but instead for the opportunity to provoke and engage those who might want it, or those who might need it, or even those who would rather avoid it altogether.

Cause that’s where and when the interesting discussion takes place. So thanks for being provoked and provoking in return.

I just found a new show! Why hadn’t I known about Continuum before?!

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:36:39 -0400

I just found a new show! Why hadn’t I known about Continuum before?!

I simply notice that followers fall off after I post LGBT posts...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:47:37 -0400

I simply notice that followers fall off after I post LGBT posts and I wonder. Don’t we all wonder about things?

It’s funny — I always lose a few followers when I post about LGBT issues. I wonder if...

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:03:00 -0400

It’s funny — I always lose a few followers when I post about LGBT issues. I wonder if those followers feel threatened in some way by seeing that LGBT people care so much about their rights as individuals and would like more than anything to express their sexuality or gender freely. That they would like more than anything to know that in their free expression of sexuality or gender LGBT people would be compassionately and warmly embraced as human beings, instead of as a label that’s ignored, shamed, or carefully hidden from the dashboard of society.

TheLearningBrain is also an artist! SheamusBurns’ Etsy...

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:26:00 -0400

TheLearningBrain is also an artist!

SheamusBurns’ Etsy Shop

20 Drawings and Paintings have disappeared from the inventory thanks to some great people who have chosen to support my art, work and travel this coming year.
If you’re interested, I’ve still got 30+ pieces left. All the proceeds go to help fund my year living and traveling through out asia (starting July), where I’ll be spending my time volunteering and making artwork.

"I’m not necessarily “Queer” in Cherokee contexts, because differences are not seen in the same light..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:43:17 -0400

“I’m not necessarily “Queer” in Cherokee contexts, because differences are not seen in the same light as they are in Euroamerican contexts. I’m not necessarily “Transgender” in Cherokee contexts, because I’m simply the gender I am. I’m not necessarily “Gay,” because that word rests on the concept of men-loving-men, and ignores the complexity of my gender identity. It is only within the rigid gender regimes of white America that I become Trans or Queer.”

- Qwo-Li Driskill: “Stolen From Out Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic” (via livelaughawesome)

Not a TWoC, but the point is very much relevant to our struggle within white-centric society.
- Saandusti

(via trannypowah)

HOLY FUCK YES! My identity is so linked to my Indigenous culture and White Queers need to fucking stop.

(via lasiguanaba)

“It is only within the rigid gender regimes of white America that I become Trans or Queer”

and when I started embracing my cultural identity more, and actively started resisting whiteness, I realized there was nothing wrong with me and my sexuality and gender….I realized there was something wrong with the eurocentric society that tried constantly and so aggressively to force me into boxes for everything from what color I was, to what my sexuality and “gender” were, to how “educated” I was, and how much money I had…

and that’s when I said fuck gender [I’m for gender abolition, if it destroys eurocentric partriachal construction of the shit because that’s the only form I’ve seen that becomes oppressive], fuck capitalism [because they profit of of the marginalization and boxes they force us in, via making us by things to appear to fit into those boxes, or by forcing us into those boxes and exploiting us i.e. higher food prices in poor neighborhoods at grocery stores etc] and fuck eurocentrism period.

I don’t need to transition, our bullshit society does so it can become a society that accepts people for who they are instead of forcing them to adhere labels to themselves and confirm to certain images of those labels to be able to get housing, employment, healthcare and just treated like a human being.

-A poc who tried to transition once upon a time…..

(via militantbyexistence)

What do I do about my phone?

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:43:00 -0400

okay travelers — what to do about my phone — I’ll be in Asia for a year. I have 10 months left on ATT contract for iphone 4s so they won’t let me unlock it. Should I cancel my Att contract early, buy new unlocked iphone 4s sell my old one on ebay and get a sim card in India?
Will those sim cards I get overseas cover data?

(unless the phone is unlocked, putting another sim card in won’t work)

So I don’t have to teach class tomorrow (we usually have saturday classes), which means I have...

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:47:51 -0400

So I don’t have to teach class tomorrow (we usually have saturday classes), which means I have a real weekend. Too bad I’m so exhausted that all I want to do tonight is lay down and read.

teachersworldwide: Saudi Arabian girls will be allowed to play...

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:41:06 -0400

teachersworldwide:

Saudi Arabian girls will be allowed to play sport in private schools for the first time in the latest in a series of incremental changes aimed at slowly increasing women’s rights in the ultraconservative kingdom.

Saudi Arabia’s official press agency, SPA, reported on Saturday that private girls’ schools are now allowed to hold sport activities in accordance with the rules of sharia law. Students must adhere to “decent dress” codes and Saudi women teachers will be given priority in supervising the activities, according to the education ministry’s requirements.

The decision makes sport once again a stage for the push to improve women’s rights, nearly a year after two Saudi female athletes made an unprecedented appearance at the Olympics. (via Saudi Arabia to allow girls to play sport at private schools | World news | guardian.co.uk)

thedailywhat: Stats Pr0n of the Day: U.S. Map of Hate Speech on...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:09 -0400

thedailywhat:

Stats Pr0n of the Day: U.S. Map of Hate Speech on Twitter

Since June 2012, Dr. Monica Stevens of Humboldt State University in California has been mapping more than 150,000 geotagged tweets that contain homophobic, racist or abliest language. The result is the Geography of Hate, an interactive map of the U.S. which reveals the hotspots of “hate tweets” across the country. A deeper analysis of the project is available at Floating Sheep.

To the critics of the #Fitchthehomeless campaign

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:33:00 -0400

Okay, I understand the points being made about exploiting and de-humanizing “the homeless”, but how then is one to respond to a CEO that says that they burn the clothes instead of giving them away to the homeless/charity because doing so would hurt the brand?

No offense to the people being critical of this project, but you, my consumer friends, are being marketed to all the time and being used as tools to sell a brand. Why no uproar about the fact that your gender is constantly being objectified/sexualized to sell clothes to particular populations with cash, and to make money to preserve A&F’s (and other similar companies) corner on the market? Why no uproar about that? You might think that you choose to buy whatever clothes you want, but you do so based on urges and whims that are manipulated through advertising over and over again by individuals who run companies.

So a guy comes along and decides to make a statement, and he gets flack for using homeless people as tools? For dehumanizing them, while giving them clothes! How often, exactly, are you making an effort to “humanize” homeless people? How often do you have conversations with them, call them by name, make them feel part of society? Make them feel welcome, accepted?

A&F has made specifically clear that their idea of who should wear their clothes is class-based (and surely there are some racial overtones in there as well — look at the pictures of their models). How is one to fight a corporate entity whose policies are overtly and explicitly classist without exploiting the company, as they’ve been exploiting you/me/us/the consumer?

There are two instances of exploitation going on here. First, there is corporate exploitation of the consumer who has or can find the resources to afford these clothes, and who is taught, implicitly to care enough about how he or she looks by the same companies that are trying to make a buck or two or a billion off of those consumers.

The other instance of exploitation uses homeless people, the same group that’s being overtly discriminated against by A&F (which is still also exploiting the consumers), to make a point about corporate control, douchebaggery, and classism.

Now if this is an issue of the lesser of two evils, I know which one I’m going to value, because you know what — it’s not everyday that someone finds a way to attack the corporate capitalist control system — the same system which can be thanked for the dire homeless situation in the first place — but when someone does, I’m going to applaud and support it, even if that example isn’t the most perfect, ethical, humane way of doing it.