Classroom III » Personal News

Summer Begins June 21

John Blake — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:08:37 +0000

Yesterday’s severe weather here in Columbus and Bladen County almost created a tornado. Almost all the needed conditions lined up to scare the tar out of most of us. Damage to some homes, vehicles, out building, trees, and power lines was not as bad as it could have been. No injuries is a good sign.

I spent several hours shooting and editing video and have come to the conclusion that I need to delete some stuff of this hard drive. Also, I discovered that the using the Flip camcorder, model F260, is not exactly what is needed for shooting good video. I am not using the Flip for my next video. It is time to pull out the Panasonic mini DV camcorder and tripod. It takes less time for me to pull video off the DV camcorder into iMovie than downloading clips from the Flip’s flash memory. The next video project will be Father’s Day at the lake

I am experimenting with including movies from Google Earth Pro into my video projects. So far, it is very impressive and easy to use. When this current video project is ready, I will post it online and discuss the procedure.

Eating too Late and Nightmares

John Blake — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:47:37 +0000

I have always heard that eating too late in the evening can lead to nightmares. Is it true?The other evening, my wife and I enjoyed a wonderful meal together at San Jose, one of our famous Mexican restaurant. San Jose is in Whiteville, North Carolina. It is located about 18 miles from our home. It is near Wally-World and Hibbetts Sporting Goods which we like to walk through after eating. The walk usually helps our meal digest. This dream may not have been the product of the meal, but it was weird.In my dream, I had ordered a science kit to use with my students. One of those kits that come with everything we need. The kit arrived and my students were working on another project. Instead of using the kit, I put it way to later. My dream was interrupted by my dog jumping on my head and licking my ear. He does this when my snoring is so loud he can not sleep. I rolled over and fell back asleep.When the dream resumed, some time had passed and I had pulled out the science kit. Students gathered around the box. It was a black box with handles. As the box opened, a plant-like puppet came out of the box. It was like the plant creature in some play I watched years ago- I think they called the man-eating plant–Seymour. Well, as the students participated in the activity, I noticed a packing slip that had written in bold print: “OPEN KIT IMMEDIATELY, CONTENTS ARE…I could not make out the rest of the notice. But in my horror, I realized that the kit had a human-like being in the kit that ran the puppet. It had been in the box, locked in the cabinet. Another piece of paper appeared stating that if the kit was not opened within two days of arrival, the school would be charged a daily rate of use for the kit. [...dreams of fine print? Lord, help me!]The dream seemed to restart at a point where the bill and the overdue fee for the rental of the science kit had come due. The school board had me sitting at a table and were threatening to fire me. This woke me up!Someone could make this into a horror short-film. Maybe this summer, I can make the time to storyboard this nightmare. Powered by ScribeFire.

Bio-tech field trip – continued

John Blake — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:42:02 +0000

Bio-tech lab visited the campus of our community college today. I was impressed by the mobile lab. I really enjoyed chatting with Becky Westbrooks, SCC science instructor. She and her fellow

Top 10 reasons I want to buy a Harley

John Blake — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:15:34 +0000

After reading the blog post titled 101 reasons to buy a Harley, I started dreaming about buying a motorcycle. A hallucination? Maybe that is a better way to describe my thoughts.

Finally, as I crash from my imaginary high, through the haze, here are my top 10 reasons. One might consider this an attempt to sort out my irrational thinking. Why should not buy a Harley? A fifty two year old fart. Should I stay in the ‘frying pan’ of driving an automobile, on a highway with a sea of idiots with cell phones stuck in their ears, or hop on a two-wheeler donor-cycle and jump into the ‘fire’? (I know this paragraph needs editing and revision. Maybe later.)

Top 10 Reasons I want to buy a Harley

#10 Even an old, beaten up one looks good. [sort of like old teachers]
#9 There are thousands of accessories available, so you can make your Harley uniquely yours. [as if I could afford any of them]
#8 You don’t hear songs about Suzuki’s.
#7 You never have to explain or apologize for your choice or ride. [exactly! no need of brown paper bags]
#6 “Arnold” rode one in T2. ["I'll be bac"]
#5 Lots of extra protein from those bugs in your teeth.
#4 Don’t need any weight lifting equipment. Just knock it down and pick it back up. [could save $60 per month by not having to go to the gym ;->]
#3 “Honey, it’s economical — gets GREAT gas mileage!”
#2 Because you’ve wanted one since you were 11 years old.
#1 If you get stuck in boring ~~business~~ teachers meeting, you can always think about that last ride you took.

July Fourth

John Blake — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:13:30 +0000

Our family celebrated the 4th at the lake house.

From July Fourth 7…

What? Huh? I am sorry, what did you say?

John Blake — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:00:08 +0000

Last night, my daughter, my wife, and I attended a wonderfully pleasant wedding. At the reception, the DJ spun his magical mix of jazz, rock, hip-hop, Top 40’s from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. I am not sure how close my old ears got to the speakers, but my ears are ringing a little louder today than usual. My hearing is not what it once was. Add to that loud music and I know I missed some really interesting comments made by fellow attendees at the wedding reception. I could see lips and mouths moving and could catch parts of what was being said. The people at my table must have thought I was ignoring them, but I could not hear what they were saying. The stress from trying to hear conversations made having a conversation a real challenge.

Not to be a grouch, I actually enjoy all kinds of music. So, if I cannot hear well, why not get a hearing aid? My excuse is they are not cool. Call it vanity if you want, but IMHO, hearing aids equate old age. It is like realizing you are too old to ride a Harley without everyone in town laughing at you. Look at that Old Fool, they would say. My father paid several thousand dollars for a set of hearing aids. He would not wear them. He complained that they did not fit right. He kept leaving them here and there. My mother constantly complained about him not wearing them. He had a battery for them. I do not mind wearing ear buds while at the gym working out. IMHO, hearing loss is the redheaded stepchild of the worthwhile diseases, but it is a personal issue to me. This is a depressing predicament for aging Baby Boomers.

While reading the article linked below, it hit me: iEar. Someone please design your fellow Baby Boomers some cool hearing aids. Maybe Apple could launch a set. How about iEars. Imagine “digital hearing appliances” from Apple. Taking design clues from the products like their original iBook and how it transformed the boring black laptop into a cool “must have” tool. Then it was the iPod. They are fabulously popular and user-friendly. Steve- your fellow aging Baby Boomers need a favor- design us a cool hearing aid. If you are planning it already, could it have bluetooth, so we can hear our podcasts, music, iPhone, video, and Apple TV? Also, whip up support and the cool factor by celebrity endorsements. Maybe folks like Bono, Ozzy, Mick, and James Taylor could lend a hand to raise awareness for “iEars for Baby Boomers”. I can see the ads for it now: [wide-shot] Are you tired of the what? huh? Tell me that again? [two-shot] I’m PC and I cannot hear a thing you are saying. I’m Mac, and I am wearing the new iEar from Apple, Inc. I can listen to my iPhone, and all my Beatles music without having to drag around my laptop and iPod. [fade-to-white] iEar, from the corporation that damaged you hearing, we now offer these products to you at a low cost of 99 cents.
[TagLine] iEar: hear like a hawk. Now available at an Apple Store near you, or online at Apple.com.

While reading my RSS feeds on Google Reader, I skimmed across a post from WIRED Blogs about hearing being a worthless cause.
WIRED Blogs: Bodyhack

As one scientist just put it at a briefing for reporters at the AAAS annual meeting, “hearing is considered to be the sort of poor cousin of vision. It also doesn’t have the sex appeal of aids and malaria and other worthwhile diseases.”

<–more–>

2006: Reflecting in a Pond

John Blake — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 22:00:05 +0000

I was so happy to see the license plate on the school bus as it pulled out of the parking lot. I have been sleeping and shopping, and eating, and surfing the Internet, and not taking a shower…too much information…

More thought later.

MacBook Pro Box

John Blake — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 00:50:17 +0000

MacBook Pro Box

Originally uploaded by andrewe.

This is a cool Flickr site. It has images of the delivery of a new MacBook Pro. Almost as good as being there. Well, not really. Our tech department is getting a new one for our network admin. He has been using an old PC laptop and is due an upgrade.

EdTech Predictions for 2006

John Blake — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 15:29:32 +0000

While I am waiting for my family to awaken on this glorious, rainy, last day of 2005, I have reflected a little on ‘05 in anticipation of returning to school bright and early Monday morning for a 5 day week (I loathe a school year calendar that has a full week after a long break. Makes me feel like I am working in a factory–oh, I am )

Rob Hof’s article in the weeks BusinessWeek blog caused me to want to copy his writing idea. Thanks Rob. My writing style really lacks in many areas, but if you do not like it, go back to reading your aggregator, listen to PBS radio, or turn off your computer and go stand outside in the fresh air and run around the block.

It you are still read this, I hope you enjoy my stupid list of edtech predictions for the coming year-IMHO (in my humble opinion).

* In the wake of publicity about mistakes and fabrications on various entries, the online volunteer-written encyclopedia Wikipedia will see growth skyrocket.

* Psychologists will identify a new disease, tagophilia: the obsessive compulsion to label everything on the Web using del.icio.us and other tagging sites. However, when Web 2.0 companies hear about it, they hire them all, quickly turning a neurosis into a promising new profession. My source: Rob Hof BusinessWeek

* Steven Dembo’s video wish list will grow to include a huge HDTV screen, Sony Vaio PC (and a Linux box with all the software, to make Miguel smile)

* Skype conference calls will make their way into the science classroom for students to create podcasts that are more two-way conversations about science topics and less one-way reading of scripts from their textbooks. Marc Pensky will be proud of this.

* Moodle’s new version will be rolled-out. The question is will I be able to safely update to the new version without distroying months of testbank editing. I predict a major backing-up of our back-up.

* Blogging using MySpace.com and others will continue to be of interest between students, teachers, and administrators and the community.

* Video blogs on the Internet will not be as popular in classrooms due to bandwidth and concern of security for students, but will be used more as a way to communicate with homes. this week I learned ____ in math and ____in social studies___and about_____ in science&. Including work samples or video clips of student work. Now, for the hard part, I predict homes will continue to not pay attention to what is happening at school until something goes wrong. Note: this is not true for all homes, but way too many IMHO.