Blogging Bits

Went back to Stephen's blog the other day, and I noticed some things that might interest other bloggers. There is a link there to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Basically they are a group of people fighting for the rights of people in the digital world. They also have a link called The Legal Guide for Bloggers. There are many other links on this particular web page that you may find useful especially if you want to use blogging in your classroom.



Graphic from EFF

Well, I just couldn't stand it.

I'd planned to be away for awhile, visiting friends and family, but instead I've had to work a couple of days. Therefore, I thought I'd take a little time to update a couple of things on my blog.

Have you ever heard of Moodle? Moodle is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. What is it? It is an open-source software package course management system. Simply put, you can use it to create online classes. Being open-source, it is free to distribute and use. It is copyrighted, but under the GNU Public License. This means that you can copy and use the work as long as you provide the source to others; not modify or remove the original license and copyrights, and apply this same license to any derivative work. I took an old Dell computer that was originally a 450 Mhz machine, upgraded it a few years ago with a 1 Ghz processor, recently upgraded the RAM to its max of 384 MB, downloaded easyPHP, which includes Apache web server software, PHP, and MySQL. I was completely amazed as I watched the installation work flawlessly. I basically sat back and watched. I did have to edit the config.php file eventually so it could point to an IP address on my LAN, but once I did that I created a few demo courses and logged in from each computer on my home LAN. And doggoned if it didn't work!!! I was very pleased with how simple this process was. Moodle has been compared to Blackboard and WebCT. You can Google them to see for yourself. It is supported by a variety of online users, many of which are developers themselves. You can host your own Moodle site with your own server and equipment, or you can purchase hosting services through a Moodle partner. Visit the Moodle sites and give the demo a try by clicking on the graphic below.



Graphics from Moodle

Christmas!!!!!!

Since Christmas is coming up very soon, I am going to take a break from blogging and the computer for a while. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Cooltext Logos

Need a cool logo for your site? You can create one at cooltext.com. I've made a few there myself. Click the logo below and try it.

Try Open Office

Open Office is an open source office suite that is free to download and use. It has many of the same features that you may be familiar with in other office software suites. You'll need a pretty fast connection to download it. Click on the image to download.

Beethoven's Demise?

According to studies by U.S. researchers in Illinois, it is entirely possible that the famous composer Ludwig von Beethoven may have died of lead poisoning. I've often read stories or heard from past professors that Beethoven was the moody sort, but nobody really knew why. Seems that after his death Beethoven wanted researchers to study what ailed him so others would not have to go through the same thing. By the time he wrote his 9th Symphony, he was deaf. Read the article from World Science here.

Picture from wikipedia

Wanna See A New Ocean Form?

According to an AP report by writer Anthony Mitchell, Ethiopia has a newly formed fissure that scientists believe could be the "birth of a new ocean basin." It is estimated that it will take a million years to fully form the ocean.

Link to Article

Nifty

A co-worker told me about this neat little program today. It's called CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) and it works by cleaning your computer of unnecessary and unneeded files. It works on the registry, history, and cookie files on your computer. I think I'm going to add it to my flash drive.

Get Firefox

With tabbed browsing, faster browsing, improved pop-up blocking, and an overall better Web experience, try the Firefox browser. Version 1.5 has just been released, and I really like it. You can download various themes to use, too.

Another Solar System

According to Yahoo News, another possible solar system has been discovered by astronomers.

Link to Article