Why nerd culture must die

do you agree?

Pete Warden's blog

Photo by Attila Acs

My first girlfriend was someone I met through a MUD, and I had to fly 7,000 miles to see her in person. I read a paper version of the Jargon File at 15 and it became my bible. Just reading its descriptions of the internet I knew it was world-changing, even before the web, and as soon as I could I snuck into the local university computer labs with a borrowed account to experience the wonder of Usenet, FTP, and Gopher. I chose my college because Turing had once taught there, and the designer of the ARM chip would be one of my lecturers. My first job out of college was helping port the original Diablo to the first Playstation, and I spent five years writing games. I’ve dived deep into GPU programming. I’ve worked for almost two decades at both big tech companies and startups. I’ve…

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Stress? Take Action! PS Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

some ideas on how to handle stress

art predator

Why stress?

It’s not like you have a ton of homework to write or grade (or maybe you like me do!)…

or a snake got loose in your house… (also like at my house this morning!),

but regardless, what good is stressing about it going to do?

As Yoda says, there is no try, only do.

So each day when I feel the stress and the anxiety rise, I calmly assess what I am doing and how and do my best with the least amount of stress as possible. I also recognize that I may have unrealiztc expectations about what I can accomplish in a limited amount of time. I make a cup of tea, I make a cup of coffee, and I get to work.

Maybe the video above by Prince EA will help you. It’s worth a watch. In it, he reminds us that stress is in our…

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#ROCKTHEVOTE #HANDOFPOWER

extra credit, make-up, and research project opportunities here

art predator

Yes YOU have the #HANDOFPOWER and YOU can #ROCKTHEVOTE--at least when it comes to voting in the midterm elections the first Tuesday in November and getting others to vote as well.

How can YOU influence others to vote? What are your skills, gifts and abilities that YOU can use to make the world a better place?

If you can draw, you might take part in a contest like this submission from Ventura County artist Dianne Bennett.

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Why Blog? Blog Post #1538

why should you start a blog?

art predator

What do you do with an extra hour?

I started blogging the night of the time change November 2007.

My poet friends had encouraged me to blog, and so that November night I decided to check it out to see if it was useful for me and for my college students.

Art Predator was born,  and in one month, I will celebrate my seventh bloggoversary!

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Art, Music For A Warm SoCal Night

more extra credit options…

art predator

Tonight’s your last chance to get your gauvin on and catch the “Doors to Dimensions” show at Bell Arts Factory 432 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura, CA 93001. The Doors are scattered about the venue, and many of them are available for purchase. Not sure when they are going down but you can see the show until  9 or 10pm during First Friday Open Studios and Galleries.

Most of gauvin’s work is back to the owners but the garage door he painted for me (pictured) was at Bell Arts on Thursday out in the yard by MB Universe when I stopped by to check on my piece and to put poems inside the VW van for people to take. My door is for sale also; like most, it’s $350.

My door is near the Tool Room Gallery and while you’re there be sure to check out Lynne Okun’s piece of Lucy…

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Americans Don’t Know How Bad Wage Inequality Is; Barsamian Explains at VC 10/2

Read this blog post and attend this event Thurs 10/2 at 1230 and the write about it for extra credit or to make up an absence…

art predator

Did you know that in California 50% of the people make less than $50,000 a year and that 50% make more? Or that if you make over $433,000 a year you’re in the top 1%? (In New York, it’s $511,000). That’s according to US Census data compiled in an article and via links from Business Insider.

Further, according to this report on CEO pay published  just over a year ago,

The modern history of CEO compensation is as follows, starting in the 1960s. Even though the stock market (as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index and shown in Table 1) fell by roughly half between 1965 and 1978, both measures of CEO pay increased by 78.7 percent. Average worker pay saw relatively strong growth over that period (relative to subsequent periods, not relative to CEO pay or pay for others at the top of the…

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Memoirs: Five to Fall For

Here are the fall 2014 Book Club Choices for my VC students

art predator

As a college writing teacher, I have the responsibility to select what my students read. These writers they read then inform  their writing styles, choices, and subjects that they write about this semester –and often, influence choices that shape the rest of their lives.

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“Cuento Cups” Exhibit in Ventura Seeks Submissions; Opens Oct. 3

extra credit opportunities!

art predator

I don’t do fast food very often. In fact, my idea of fast food is getting bolognese sauce from Ferraros and adding it to pasta I cook at home. Sometimes I splurge and get their blue cheese dressing to add to my salad at home with tomatoes I grew. So no surprise I missed out on Chipotle Mexican Grill’s take-out cups and bags getting personal narrative essays penned by ten authors, thought-leaders, and comedians.

Somehow, not one Mexican, Mexican-American or Latina/o writer was invited to participate. 

Huh? What’s up with that?

Anna Bermudez, curator of collections at the Museum of Ventura County and Michele Serros, author and El Rio native, decided to rectify the situation:

“So, artists, writers, and thought thinkers of ALL backgrounds: can you spin a story as original as a staff writer for The New Yorker? Be as funny as Sarah Silverman? As esthetically pleasing as…well, you get…

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