21apples | arvind s grover

Easily analyze a film's portrayal of women

2013-05-17T14:58:54Z

A colleague shared this amazingly simple test with me. It demonstrates how to quickly analyze a film to see how women are portrayed. It is actually quite upsetting and frightening the more that I think about it.

Is this part of your media literacy program? If not, why not?

I moved all of my blogs to Posthaven, including this one

2013-03-10T17:09:51Z

I just used Posthaven's shockingly-simple Posterous importer to pull all of my 300+ blog posts here to Posthaven. Over the years I have written this blog on Wordpress, Typo, and Posterous. Today I moved to Posthaven, even though they have almost no features. Notice, you can't even leave a comment on this post. Yet.

I am not sure why I am confident in them, but I already am. I was struggling getting my three blogs moved to various services, and with Posthaven, they are all easily back again under one roof, as it was under Posterous. My other option was Tumblr, but there is just something about Tumblr, I can't put my finger on it, that I don't like. Not to mention I would have had to pay the JustMigrate.com team to move my posts to Tumblr. I don't mind paying, actually, I pay for this Posthaven account ($5/month) covers all of my blogs. Tumblr just wasn't it for me, even though they have many features like blogging apps for Android and iOs, and integrated Disqus comments.

For now, I am feeling at home at Posthaven. Let's see how their features roll out over the next few months. I, for one, am excited.

A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

2013-01-31T21:58:00Z

via youtube.com

For all my friends out there that need a pep talk, this is the kid who is going to give it to you.

Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model.

2013-01-16T23:40:00Z

Cameron Russel speaks truth to power in this shot, elegant TED talk where she challenges assumptions about modeling. She makes the viewers confront their own stereotypes, while raising awareness of how she benefits from stereotypes (sometimes) while others suffer. Her understanding of privilege is sophisticated and nuanced, and she shares it with us with ease.

Kids turn trash into classical instruments

2012-12-14T14:16:00Z

via youtube.com

Talk about inspiring. Enjoy.

via a colleague

Buy a book, help end sex trafficking

2012-12-07T02:12:00Z

via youtube.com

Sex trafficking is one of the great scourges of our time, and a shame on humanity, in general. Doing even just a little can mean a lot, so do your part and buy this wonderful book, where the proceeds go towards making the world a better place.

Creating electricity with a soccer ball

2012-12-04T16:06:00Z

via youtube.com

Via a colleague at work, an ingenious way to give kids without access to electricity, an environmentally friendly, and healthy way to access light.

How good design can direct ideal behavior

2012-12-02T18:45:00Z

via youtube.com

Human behavior is strongly guided by design, aesthetics, feel, experience, etc. I am very interested in how designing learning environments (schools, classrooms, lessons, assessments) directs student and teacher behavior. I always say to teachers that lessons should be designed in a such a way that every student has to participate, there is no way to avoid being part of the learning. Here is a great video to the concept of good design driving good behavior.

Ellen Degeneres takes Bic pens for women to task

2012-11-03T20:59:00Z

via youtube.com

Ellen Degeneres uses her sharp wit to critique Bic pens new line for women. I am always amazed when major companies can have results like this given their enormous decision-making chains. Understanding gender norms is a complex thing, but this seems so basic as to not even be believed.

One of my favorite things about this is how Ellen uses video and social media for social critique and change. Are our students prepare to do the same things to combat steretypes? If Ellen's 1.4 million views (as of 11/3/12) are any indication, they should be.

"How to Get to Mars" - incredible video of rover landing

2012-10-22T15:56:00Z

via youtube.com

This 6.5 minute video on how we got the rover to Mars is a must watch. I cannot imagine how the engineers felt after landing.