Michelle did it again the other day. I was in a meeting in Toronto when I received her text message:  “As a university professor, do you consider your body to be simply a means of transport for your head?” I replied “yes” with no hesitation. It took me much longer to analyze later why did I do so, and may probably require many sessions of psychoanalysis to understand why.

Later I realized she was poking fun at me when she showed me the clip, “Do schools kill creativity?” that had inspired her question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

In this 20 minute talk, that has over 2 million YouTube views, Sir Ken Robinson discusses the implications of our educational system, the innovation potential of children and the concept that inspiring creativity in schools may be as important as encouraging literacy. Quick-witted, thought-provoking, and endearingly critical of professors, this video is worth watching.

I also stumbled –without Michelle’s help– on this unsettling post in reaction to Melissa Gregg’s article ‘Banal Bohemia’. “Academic blogging is a strange beast: partly an exercise in narcissism, partly a contribution to the economy of free labour on which the global university system is increasingly reliant.”

I am indeed familiar with both sources of motivation!

Don’t miss the story of Sister Maria, who was kicked out of the religious order where she lived the last 35 years in seclusion. Her only sin? The Spanish nun, nicknamed “Sister Internet”, spent too much time on Facebook. There are limits to abstinence.

In other news, work begins on Bill Clinton presidential ….  DVD Library. Clinton’s DVD holdings number an impressive 97 volumes, all of which are currently housed in his den.