Thursday, September 13, 2007

Vintage Sesame Street - Rubber Duckie (Ernie)

YouTube - Vintage Sesame Street - Rubber Duckie (Ernie)

An absolute classic. Who could ever forget Ernie singing the Rubber Ducky song?



Dan

Monday, September 3, 2007

American Experience | Chicago: City of the Century

American Experience | Chicago: City of the Century

I feel a little bad about adding non-tech, non-education materials here. I've been using this site as more of a repository for everything that I don't add to the IUCALL blog.

However, this could certainly be a good resource to use in the classroom, including the teacher resources that come with the site. I always like to point to materials about my hometown. As a teacher in a foreign land, I find that it helps learners to identify we me as more than just an American. As most of us, I can not just my nationality; I also have regional, religious, professional, and even familial aspects of my identity.

Dan

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Fan death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fan death - Wikipedia

I rallied against the belief in fan death for a long time, but, for the most part, I have stopped pushing the issue. However, I am constantly surprised that even doctors and medical researchers hold this belief.

Still, I try to listen to all reasonable explanations, of which the hypothermia hypothesis seems the most reasonable.

Here's quick video about fan death



Dan

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Art of selling by Alec Baldwin - Video

5min - The Art of selling by Alec Baldwin - Video

Ok. This has nothing to do with technology or language learning, but I just came across this video clip and I had to post it. It's one of my favorite scenes from Glengarry Glen Ross. While some people in sales may not like what he has to say, it hits the nail on the head.

Take a look



Dan

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Lemon Tree video

This was one of my favorite songs once upon a time. I'd never seen the video though.



Dan

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Great phishing mail I just had to share

I recently received the old "The IRS wants to give you money" scam in my inbox. Usually, I just delete these things without thinking, but I took a closer look at this one.

I've posted the email below, but I want to point out some things first.
  1. Note the first URL. This actually points to an image on the IRS site. This can help to assure even some savvy users that this might be legit. The first thing that I look for is a valid URL (not the link text, but the underlying URL). This one is legit. However, it is just a picture.
  2. Now just look at the text. It doesn't seem all that strange, but it should make you think a little. Doesn't it sound too conversational for the IRS? IRS and government communications are usually rather dry sounding. Not to mention, they don't sign letters, "Internal Revenue Service".
  3. Last, but surely not least, is the link to apply for your refund. I may be wrong, but given the current climate in Washington D.C., I don't think that they are going to name their server "tehran". Even if they did, how likely is it that the IRS's server is in Iran? The best thing is that these guys didn't even try to cover it up with misleading link text.
I'd suggest that you NOT follow this link. You never know what nasty stuff they have on the site. I just thought that it was a classic phishing email and that you had to see it.

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http://www.irs.gov/irs/cda/common/images/irslogo.gif
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $109.30. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here http://www.tehran.agri-jahad.ir:84/irs.htm

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A..
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