Finished reading: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 📚
I just taught a 3-hour face-to-face class (with good social distancing). The first one I’ve done since November. I am utterly exhausted. It’s interesting to note this reaction. These days, teaching on Zoom doesn’t wear me out. I’ll have to work on being w/humans again.
Copy Google Doc. Rename. Sharing – Anyone with the link can Edit. Copy Link. Paste in Bit.Ly and give it a friendly name. Repeat 6 more times for the 7 Breakout groups in tonight’s webinar. Repeat for each breakout in each webinar. I wonder if I can automate this?
Currently reading: Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon 📚
Daily Shutdown -- Tomorrow must be written down on paper and in ink
I’ve realized that I can’t consider that I have completed my Daily Shutdown — MacSparky routine if I don’t actually use my paper notebook and write down the big goals for the next day. It’s not enough to look at my online project management system and calendar. If I don’t write it down, then when I come into the office, I’m confused and murky about what to do.
Finished reading: The Danzig Trilogy: The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, Dog Years by Gunter Grass 📚Started reading it in February, finished in April. I could only handle 10-20 pages at a time of these 1000 pages. But absolutely worth reading.
Currently reading: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 📚
Finished reading: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 📚Well-written but traumatic to read: child abuse, unfaithful marriage, people unable to speak to each other. I was tense the whole time I was reading it.
COVID-19 and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
Covid-19 hyperinflammation and post-Covid-19 illness may be rooted in mast cell activation syndrome
Another mystery about the Covid-19 pandemic is why the infection is mildly symptomatic or even asymptomatic in the majority of those who are infected but is severely symptomatic, often life-threatening, in a sizeable minority. In other words, what causes the immune system to so catastrophically suddenly overreact in certain Covid-19 patients while remaining properly regulated in the majority?
Gabe Weatherhead has the best “I’ve just revived a dead blog” post ever:
Welcome back to everyone too lazy to unsubscribe from a long dormant RSS feed Secret Karass
I feel like a genius. I’ve figured out how to use Apple Pay Cash to load up my Apple ID balance. Feels like getting money for free. AFAIK, the only way to do it is to first buy an Apple gift card using Apple Pay Cash. Then use the gift card to load your Apple ID balance.
Lots of people have neurological and psychiatric issues post-COVID
Our study provides evidence for substantial neurological and psychiatric morbidity in the 6 months after COVID-19 infection. Risks were greatest in, but not limited to, patients who had severe COVID-19. This information could help in service planning and identification of research priorities.
This New York Times piece about a Mughal miniature is really worth viewing. I like it best on an iPad. What a Tiny Masterpiece Reveals About Power and Beauty - The New York Times
Just submitted a nomination for a very deserving artist for New Hampshire’s Governors Arts Award in Folk Heritage. Fingers crossed that they are selected!
Peer Learning
In Trust, safety, and learning at meetings : Conferences That Work, Adrian reminds us of the importance of peer learning 🏫:
Peer learning allows anyone to be a teacher and/or a student, with these roles switching from moment to moment. Potentially, everyone has something to contribute and to learn.
He’s talking about it in the context of Conferences. I’m thinking about this in the context of the classes I teach. I’ve been experimenting with Pair Share breakouts in Zoom this term. Twice I’ve had students do Pair Shares to share their most recent homework assignments with each other. It’s worked extremely well and I’ll definitely do this again next term.
Thinking about Micro.Blog highlights and maintaining a research page
I’ve been using the new highlights interface since MB 2.0 was released. It’s by no means perfect and there are plenty of weird bugs that mean some source pages can be archived and others cannot. But when it works, it’s a delightful way to maintain a “light” research page. For example, I try to stay up to date on research into “Long COVID” because my brother suffers from this illness. At my Long Covid page, I save the stuff that I think I’ll want to look at again, or that I want easy access to so I can share the links with my brother or other family members.
“The new highlights interface in Micro.blog Premium provides an easy way to go from reading and highlighting to publishing your own post.” Micro.blog News - Press Release: Micro.blog 2.0 Makes It Easier to Customize Your Blog
Long Haul COVID: Physicians review what's known
Long-haul COVID: Physicians review what’s known – ScienceDaily
“But really, any of these issues can happen to any patient who had COVID-19,” says Wan. “For example, we’ve seen young patients without prior medical illness who developed autonomic dysfunction and fast heart rates after COVID-19. It’s not just the most vulnerable who have issues after COVID.”
His goal: learning all he can about how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, affects brain tissue, potentially leading to long-term symptoms of the virus.
What brains could teach scientists about the lasting effects of Covid-19
Long Covid Questions but few answers
What we know and don’t know about long Covid - STAT
Is there a viral reservoir? Is virus hiding in some of the organs? Maybe there is no virus, but some components of the virus, like proteins or RNA or genetic material of the virus, are lurking, and it’s causing a low-level activation of the immune system
A struggle to come up with a set of User Stories for my students to split during a breakout activity next week. 🏫 Stories needed to be challenging but not too challenging, and had to exemplify a variety of splitting techniques. My brain hurts but I think I have what I need.
Apple Keynote has been updated recently. They added a feature many people wanted: not only the ability to play a sideshow within a window, but also be able to see the Presenter view. They’ve done this by giving you two windows. I think I like it.
I’m really looking forward to the @jen4web class in HTML, delivered via email every day in April.
Syllabus design links
Creating a syllabus for a new course: The answer-seeking method – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD
Spent the AM preparing for tomorrow night’s webinar. 🏫 The students will be doing Pair-Shares where they look at each other’s recent homework. I decided to force the pairing for the first round, to pair students who I think can help each other. The second round will be random.
Currently reading: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 📚