I'm kind of a big deal in Japan.

This afternoon I played host to a film crew from NHK, Japan's version of the BBC, and my darling husband had to go elsewhere to watch football. Poor guy.
It's kind of a cool thing-- my students and I are being featured in a documentary called Education 2.0 about the use of emerging technologies in American education. They're interviewing me and my students and filming my classes for most of this week. So here's what we did today:
The crew arrived at my house at about 11, set up some lighting and such, and started filming. I answered a bunch of questions about Curriki, how I use technology in my classroom, and plagiarism with students copying things off the internet. Then I had a Skype video-chat session with a teacher in CA who has used some of my curriculum in her classroom. They taped everything, which will get edited down substantially, but our segment will play a prominent role in the finished product.
My students, as you can imagine are pretty excited to be "stars." In fact, when I told them that the documentary was for Japanese television, they were even more thrilled. I think they all have visions of being dubbed over in Japanese with wacky-sounding voices. They have also insisted that we get t-shirts advertising our new star status that proclaim: AP English Language - We're kind of a big deal in Japan. Now that things are quiet, I have to get a few papers graded. I haven't turned over those duties completely to the student teacher quite yet.
And there isn't a new episode of Mad Men on, so I should be able to do it without much distraction. Maybe.

Peace and quiet

The carnival of delegate buses and protesters and police in riot gear is finally over. *sigh of relief* And good riddance. It was quite easy to tell who the out-of-town Repubs were: white, old, male, and sporting haircuts that scream "No way am I letting a gay man touch my hair!"
A few items to note:
According to NPR (and republished on dailykos.com), the DNC claimed to have the most diverse convention in history. So here's how the numbers stack up:
DNC:
Minority delegates: 44%
Black: 24%
Hispanic: 12%
Women: just >50%

RNC:
Black delegates: 1.5% (36 total)
Hispanic: 5%
Male: 68%
Female: 32%

Median age at either convention: 54

And here's what I thought about the little I actually saw od the RNC: Giuliani should just go away forever, Palin deserved a severe beating for her blatantly false attacks and horrible hockey mom jokes, and Cindy McCain's outfit cost 1.58 times the value of my house.

And for those of you who wonder if everything that was said in the convention speeches was based in actual truth, Politifact researches claims made on both sides. Apparently, so few things ring as absolute fact or fiction, that they have to show on a dial how true the claim actually is.