Clustr Maps

Well I can't figure out how to make my Clustr Map work, so until I do, here it is.

Overhaulin'

As you can see, I am in the process of giving my blog a major facelift. This is really easy, and hard, to do. This is new ground for me personally, because the code takes a little adjusting, and I'm not used to reading this kind of code. I know, I know. I'm behind the times.

Please bear with me as I get things finished up here.

Trees? In Antarctica?

Can you believe this? Global warming could actually cause trees to grow in Antarctica within a century.

Article on Yahoo

San Francisco

Ahh...one of the most beautiful places in the U.S., or at least it must be because I haven't seen all of them.

I took my first trip to California a couple of weeks ago. I've heard all my life how pretty the city of San Francisco is and how cool it gets in the summer. Well, I'm hear to tell you that Mark Twain's quote of "the coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco" is definitely true. Compared to the heat and humidity of the deep South I felt like I was going to freeze to death as I waited on a cable car to take me back across the city. I had on 2 shirts and a jacket, and I'm guessing with the wind chill it must have been close to 45 degrees or lower! In June!

I took lots and lots of pics. Many of them are over on flickr where you can view them. Before I left the city by the bay, I just had to get a picture of the world famous Golden Gate Bridge. We took a Fire Engine Tour that drove us over the bridge, as our hosts gave us some interesting facts about the city, the Bridge, and the city of Sausalito. It was money well spent, and you can read more about the tour here. If you're ever visiting San Francisco, I highly recommend it!

Money Well Spent?

Some things in this world NEVER seem to amaze me.

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT THEN GO AWAY!

It seems that every month or two I come across an article where someone has received a grant to do a "study" on something. The results are always so painfully obvious to me. Why do we need to spend millions of dollars on things that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out???

The following article is a great example:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060703/ap_on_sc/zoning_out

It seems that "zoning out while reading may impact learning." ??? Hello??? How many times did I study for a test in college and not remember what I just read??? It wasn't because I couldn't read it. It was because I wasn't interested in it or it was difficult to understand, and as a result, I "zoned out." Did it impact my learning?? Well, yeah!!! I couldn't answer that question on the test so obviously I "zoned out." So, I didn't LEARN anything from studying because I couldn't concentrate on the subject either from lack of understanding or from boredom.

A whole lotta computers, software, classroom supplies, equipment, etc., could have been purchased with the money it took to do this study. How many more are out there that are just like it? I'm sure these folks mean well enough and feel that their findings are necessary, but I just get upset about stuff like this at times. It just seems like it's too obvious to me. I'm all for research into the cure of diseases as well as educational research projects such as whether or not Accelerated Reader is working to improve reading in your school.

Oh well...I got that off my chest.

New Computer

Dell has a new version of the XPS that works similar to the iMac. It's a little heavy for me to carry around, but I think the design is really cool!

Check it out.

Dell XPS M2010

Some New Stuff

I've been working on a personal project. I have a friend who has helped me set up a Debian server. I've been playing on it a good bit, and we installed and set up Moodle. I've talked about Moodle before in my blog. It is an open source course management system. I don't have it on the "live side" yet, but I'm getting there with my little demo version of it. I think this will be a good thing for teachers to use as possibly a course supplement to their classes. It would expose students to online classes as college courses using Blackboard and WebCT do.

If you haven't tried out a Linux distro yet, I encourage you to do so. I played with Ubuntu a little bit, and I really like it. I wanted a server install and went with Debian. I'd like to look into the Edubuntu and see what it's like. It's geared for K-12 environments and is open source as well.



Debian

The End of the School Year

Well, it's all over but the shouting this Friday. For the kids, that is. Their last day of school for this year is the 19th. Wow, I graduated from HS myself on May 19th.

This summer is going to be very, very busy for me so I doubt I will be blogging too much. I hope everyone has a safe and fun summer!!

Until next time....


Tech Bits ~n~ Bytes

Gasper

I have to post about Gasper, the beluga whale at the Georgia aquarium. Gasper is sick with a condition called osteomyelitis. It is a bone infection, and the vets don't know if he will get better or not. If you haven't been to the aquarium and seen the whale exhibit you really need to go. While Gasper is sick he is being treated and held in a separate non-public tank away from the rest of the whales. Gasper has lesions on his body that could be related to the infection, but so far treatment has not helped. Gasper is a favorite among the audience and often blows bubbles and chases them.

Let's hope Gasper gets well soon.


Pictures were taken by me.

Information about Gasper was taken from an article by Bill Hendrick in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Out of Touch

I've been really swamped lately, and I know I'm behind with my blog posts. Our tech plan is turned in, and maybe we won't have too many revisions on it. That's was one of the toughest things I've ever had to do since I took this job!

We've got a lot of things coming up at work in the next several weeks, so I don't know how regularly I'll be posting. Kids get out of school on the 19th, and teachers work a few more days. I will probably work most of the summer because we have a few projects to complete.

I'm not completely out of touch, but just may not be posting a lot in the next few weeks. I will try to do better.