Teachers' Lounge

Simple, yet complex

"Bill Moyers has put together an amazing 90-minute video documenting the lies that the Bush administration told to sell the Iraq war to the American public, with a special focus on how the media led the charge. I've watched an advance copy and read a transcript, and the most important thing I can say about it is: Watch PBS from 9:00 to 10:30 PM on Wednesday, April 25. Spending that 90 minutes will actually save you time because you'll never watch television news again - not even on PBS, which comes in for its own share of criticism."

Record of Iraq War Lies to Air April 25 on PBS

Get your free educational Google posters

here. Recommended.

An ABC picture book

It's like nothing you've ever seen.

Bembo's Zoo

Some other typographic sites for you to try -

Typorganism

Write Like an Egyptian

typogenerator

April is National Poetry Month

I found a cool site that captures the creative-writing process as it unfolds.

Story here.

Site here.

The 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World

Really.

Meth madness

Last week New Mexico State Police Lt. Frank Musitano presented the staff at Conlee Elementary with an eye-opening look at the meth epidemic in the United States. For sheer horror, this beats any zombie movie ever made. (Even Planet Terror, which is the most over-the-top zombie film I've ever seen.) I guess the reason this meth thing is even more horrific is because this is real.

Zombie teeth? Nope. Meth user's teeth.

For an in-depth look at the madness, check out Frontline's investigative report.

For a New Mexico perspective, visit Drug Endangered Children.

What makes meth so addicitive? It's all about the dopamine. And you thought sex is pleasurable?

"In lab experiments done on animals, sex causes dopamine levels to jump from 100 to 200 units, and cocaine causes them to spike to 350 units. With methamphetamine you get a release from the base level to about 1,250 units, something that's about 12 times as much of a release of dopamine as you get from food and sex and other pleasurable activities."

In a related development, the Mexican drug cartels (whom we have to thank for much of the meth in this country) are leaving a trail of blood and guts on YouTube.

Update - The number of visitors to Teachers' Lounge has greatly spiked since I posted Meth madness. Not only that, but the hits are coming from geographical areas I rarely see - Helsinki, Southern Finland; London, Lambeth; Amsterdam, Noord-Holland; Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg City; Louth (Ireland); Leichhardt, New South Wales; Barcelona, Cataluna; Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest; Bucharest, Bucuresti (Romania); Moscow, Moscow City; Poitiers, Poitou-Charentes (France); Burnaby, British Columbia; Horsens, Vejle (Denmark); Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast' (Ukraine); Tallinn, Harjumaa (Estonia)... you get the idea. Having a curious nature, I want to know why the spike, and why the great geographical diversity. Perhaps some of the visitors here will kindly leave a comment as to how and why you stopped by.

Update on the Update - I done figured this one out. Neatorama picked up the picture of the teeth and people are clicking through to Teachers' Lounge. Ummm, neat!