MSM 627: Ennui, Embarrassment, Envy, and Anxiety
Summary:
Shawn and Troy share summer plans, hint, Moodle is involved, resources and more. Dave goes National on the park.
Jokes:
I have decided to give up tap dancing, it’s too dangerous.
I fell off and twisted my ankle in the sink.
Did you know you should never brush your teeth with your left hand?
Because a toothbrush is much more effective
I have a friend who always uses stilts.
- I look up to him
I just burned 2000 calories in 20 minutes.
Did you hear what the sun did to the couple that was out riding on a bicycle built for two?
Tanned em.
Sad to ponder but every belief has a lie in it.
I got into a fight with 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.
- The odds were against me.
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
K12Science Podcast: National Parks
I was recently reading the May/June 2024 issue of “The Science Teacher” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.
In this issue, I read the “Right to the Source” section written by Danna Bell. This section included an article entitled, “See America and Its National Parks.”
Today over 300 million people annually visit the 429 individual designated properties that are managed by the National Park Service, covering 85 million acres in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories.
http://k12science.net/national-parks/
Reports from the Front Lines
- Gettin’ Busy w/Moodle
English-Latin Medical Terminology Glossary: https://moodle.net/resource/32qmKBha/english-latin-vocabulary-glossary-of-medical-terminology
Michigan History Day: https://moodle.net/resource/Ve30t2dV/michigan-history-day-2025
Michigan Social Studies Olympiad: Coming Soon
- 8th Grade Celebration
- Apple Conference
The Social Web
Fixing Education @FixingEducation
Breaking Education News NEW: Massive brawl breaks out at a Los Angeles high school graduation for students on probation. The incident happened at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA when someone jumped off a 2nd-story balcony to target one of the students.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1803405886494310853
A pretty etymology to kick off the day: the ‘daisy’ takes its name from the Old English ‘dæges ēage’, ‘day’s eye’, because the flower opens its petals at dawn and slowly closes its ‘eye’ again at dusk.
The @NCMiddle ‘Middle School Matters’ Conference planning is well underway! We heard your feedback and are preparing to make 2025 the best yet! Stay tuned for exciting details coming soon…
Exciting news, Google Docs is adding tabs! Now you can organize multiple docs into a handy notebook just like in Google Sheets. Get ready for this game-changing update coming soon to everyone! Details: https://bit.ly/3JnSB9Z
Resources:
Atomic Hands
https://www.youtube.com/@atomichands
AXIS The Culture Translator
Inside Out 2
What it is: Inside Out 2, the sequel to Disney-Pixar’s movie about anthropomorphized feelings, made more money worldwide on opening weekend than any animated film ever.
Why it’s a breakout success story: It’s been a while since the beloved animation studio had an uncontested hit. Continuing the story of Riley from the first movie, Inside Out 2 explores the conflict that comes with puberty and its new associated emotions: Ennui, Embarrassment, Envy, and Anxiety.
A Cautionary Tale
What it is: US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is urging Congress to require a warning label on social media platforms.
Why it’s such a big deal: Public concern over teen technology use has reached a fever pitch. During his tenure as Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy has issued warnings about the loneliness crisis and the teen mental health crisis—and emerging research connects social media to both of these big issues.
In the 19th century, McMunn’s Elixir was pushed as a remedy to sleeplessness, anxiety, pain, frustration, and generally unpleasant feelings. For some people, it worked as advertised! The downside was that it was actually pure opium, so the side-effects were… well, the standard side-effects of taking opium.
It’s easy to look back at the past and laugh at how silly those people were. How could they not know that giving opium concoctions was a bad idea? And while we have the advantage of hindsight, it took time to learn exactly why taking pure opium was a bad idea. With regard to emerging research on the effects of social media, we might be in the middle of a similar process.
How to spot manipulated videos, including deepfakes and shallowfakes
Manipulated videos are becoming more pervasive online and often spread misinformation and disinformation.
Misinformation is when a person shares deceptive or false information unintentionally, while disinformation is shared with the intent to deceive.
Some altered videos may seem harmless, such as ones that appear to show celebrities performing stunts. Other times, there could be a nefarious intention behind the videos — like when a world leader’s likeness is copied for political or propaganda purposes.
You’re Dead To Me – BBC Podcasts
The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Greg Jenner brings together the best names in comedy and history to learn and laugh about the past. Updated: weekly
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mdbhg
Web Spotlight:
Charles Plumb
https://medium.com/jacob-morgan/this-is-the-true-story-of-charles-plumb-5eeb7eba334e
Extinct Languages
An extinct language may be narrowly defined as a language with no native speakers and no descendant languages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_time_of_extinction
Inside the debate over The Anxious Generation
https://www.platformer.news/anxious-generation-jonathan-haidt-debate-critique
Surgeon General: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms
The Surgeon General’s Fear-Mongering, Unconstitutional Effort to Label Social Media
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/no-online-speech-should-not-have-warning-labels
Pessimists Archive: Surgeon General
https://newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/when-the-surgeon-general-warned-about
Random Thoughts . . .
Click the Play button below to listen to the show!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download