Birthday Twins?

Richard Nixon and Joan Baez share the birthday of January 9.

"Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth--to see it like it is, and tell it like it is--to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth."
--Richard Nixon

"So you are lean and mean and resourceful, and you continue to walk on the edge of the precipice because over the years you have become fascinated by how close you can walk without losing your balance."
--Richard Nixon, (quoted in the Washington Post, 9 August 1979)

You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can decide how you're going to live now.
--Joan Baez

The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence.
--Joan Baez

more January birthdays

Father of Digital Sound Recording dies at 70

You might not know his name, but there's very little chance your life hasn't been touched by Thomas G. Stockham who died January 6, 2003 in Salt Lake City. Stockham pioneered digital sound recording. His work led the the development of the Compact Disc. He was awarded the first-ever technical Grammy for his contributions to the recording industry. He also won an Academy Award and an Emmy for his work that improved sound for movies and television.

Here's an excerpt from a blog entry I wrote about him last year after learning that he had Alzheimer's disease and was a patient at the Veterans Administration Nursing Home in Salt Lake.

(Wednesday, February 26, 2003) I've been thinking about fathers and mothers quite a bit lately. Not necessarily the parents of human children, but those who brought a big idea into the world. Women like Hedy Lamar and Harriett Tubman. Men like Thomas Stockham and Philo Farnsworth.

First I thought about Thomas Stockham, the father of digital recording. I heard him lecture here at the University of Utah in the early 70's as he started to experiment with digital restoration of Enrico Caruso recordings. Now as I listen to Caruso on CD (or any CD for that matter), or edit audio on the desktop, it seems fitting to remember Stockham. (read complete blog entry)

"We now have a generation that doesn't know what a vinyl record or a turntable is. This ignorance is largely due to one man: Thomas Stockham. He pioneered the science of digitally recording music, which is used to make compact discs."--Bill Hammack

Read more about Thomas G. Stockham:

• Salt Lake Tribune
• Deseret News
• Obituary

Change vs. Progress

"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress."
--Millard Fillmore, born on this date in 1800, 13th US President

"Like most of Utah, Brigham Young extended the call and Mormon settlers moved to Millard County. Fillmore, the county seat was settled in 1851. In an effort to gain favor with the president, Brigham Young named the area after Millard Fillmore. No other county carries both names of an American president."
--Millard County Tourism

Learn more about Millard Fillmore with Wilson Biographies at Pioneer, Utah's Online Library.

Carl Sandburg's Birthday

SANDBURG, CARL (January 6, 1878-July 22, 1968), American poet, biographer, prose writer, and folk-song collector, was born in Galesburg, Illinois, the son of Swedish immigrant parents. (From Wilson Biographies at Pioneer, Utah's Online Library)

"Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work."
--Carl Sandburg

"The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring."
--Carl Sandburg

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."
--Carl Sandburg

"Anger is the most impotent of passions. It effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed."
--Carl Sandburg

"Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes."
--Carl Sandburg

2004 Greetings!

Welcome to a new year, a new month and a fresh opportunity to make your teaching more rewarding with resources from UEN. Whether you're seeking technology tools, curriculum or professional development, we've got great maps for your January voyage.

NetNews - January 2004

2005 Deadline

So here I am with you in 2004. We took the same path--one day at a time from January 1, 2003 to this moment.

What did we do with the year? What do we have to show for our time invested? What's been learned so clearly that it will never be forgotten. How have we changed? Learned? Aged? Renewed?

What has stretched, strengthened and supported us? What's enlarged our capacity? What has constrainted, weakened and isolated us? What's diminshed our reserves?

And what do we seek in these early January days? And in the weeks and months ahead?

"A deadline is a negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all."
--Rita Mae Brown